Frank Taylor (30 April 1916 – January 1970) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and managed

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and Stoke City.

Playing career

Taylor was a full-back who started his playing career with

in 1936. He made his senior debut on 13 March 1937 in a 1–0 win at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He played in the same team as his older brother

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

a handful of times, but it was only after his sibling left the club in Summer 1938 that Frank became a first team regular. Taylor missed just one game of the 1938–39 season that saw Wolves reach the

1939 FA Cup Final The 1939 FA Cup Final was contested by Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley. Portsmouth won 4–1, with goals from Bert Barlow, John Anderson and two by Cliff Parker. Dicky Dorsett scored Wolves' effort. As a result of the suspe ...

, where they lost 4–1 to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. The suspension of league football in September 1939 due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

effectively ended Taylor's playing career. Although he turned out in some wartime fixtures for Wolves, he left the club and playing football in 1944.

Management career

In June 1948 Taylor was appointed manager of

, and then became Frank Buckley's assistant at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, also doing a similar role at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

before becoming Stoke City manager in 1952. Taylor had the tough task of taking over from the long-serving

Bob McGrory Robert Gerald McGrory (17 October 1891 – 24 May 1954) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Burnley and Stoke City with whom he later had a long spell as manager. McGrory played football with Dumbarton before joining ...

who had been at Stoke for 31 years as a player and manager. The first act Taylor did was to erect a sign above the players dressing room which read: '' Are you 90 minutes fit? It's the last 20 minutes that count – train for it''. In his first season Stoke were relegated from the First Division after losing their final match of the season. Taylor's main task now was to gain a return to the top tier but narrowly missed out in 1954–55, 1956–57 and 1958–59 finishing 5th three times. But after an awful 1959–60 campaign which saw Stoke finish in 17th position and could have been relegated to the third tier, chairman Albert Henshall decided that Stoke were going backwards and not forwards and so Taylor was sacked. This came as a big shock to Taylor who vowed never to become involved with football again.

Career statistics

As a player

Source:

As a manager

Honours

;

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 1939

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Frank 1916 births 1970 deaths English footballers English Football League players Stoke City F.C. managers Scarborough F.C. managers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League managers Association football fullbacks English football managers FA Cup Final players