Peter Taylor - The Original 'Yo-Yo' Manager.
It is very surprising how a manager as talented as Peter Taylor has never made a bigger impact in club management. Although his England career lasted all but one game in caretaker charge, he is probably the only England manager in recent times to manage the national side with such a patchy CV.
However, he is again working his managerial magic with League Two leaders Wycombe Wanderers. Despite an embarrassing FA Cup exit to Unibond Premier League side Eastwood Town last weekend, Taylor's side are currently the only unbeaten club in the football league and are 7 points clear of challengers Bradford City. With only 8 league goals conceded in 18 games, Wycombe's fine form is built on solid foundations as the chairboys hope to build on failed play-off attempts in previous seasons.
Although Taylor has been given the kiss of death for December (he was awarded the Manager of the Month for November) he will be looking to maintain the consistent form through this busy period. Wycombe couldn't wish for a better manager to see them through the sheer weight of games and the huge weight of expectation after such an impressive start to the season. Taylor is an experienced lower league manager, which maybe a blessing or a curse. A blessing for Wycombe fans, but a curse for Taylor's ambition.
Taylor's sterling work with England's under 21 squad's during two spells between 1996-99 and 2004-07 are a career highlight for the ex-Spurs player. But sandwiched in between these successful periods are patchy moments including his first taste of top-flight management which ended unsuccessfully with Leicester City and virtually ruined his chances of returning to a top-flight club in the near future. Taylor began to re-build his career within a few weeks of leaving Leicester City as he joined Division 2's Brighton & Hove Albion where he made an immediate impact. In his first and only season with the seagulls, he managed the team to promotion to Division 1, however Taylor resigned at the end of the season citing the lack of finances as a key issue for his departure.
Third Division Hull City became the next stop on Taylor's unpredictable path, and in a 4 year spell he transformed a sleeping football city and brought them 2nd tier football for the first time in 15 years. He did marginally better than the Hull team of the 1990-91 season by finishing 18th and keeping them in the division by 10 points.
Taylor seemed to be moving in the right direction and eventually overcoming the Leicester City experience. However, a move to Crystal Palace would signal another low point in his career. 16 months after his appointment, Taylor was again handed his p45 after a run of poor results and the hard work Taylor had put in to resurrect his career were completely dashed as he was yet again without a club. He soon joined conference side Stevenage Borough but lasted 6 months in the job before arriving at his current post.
After two unsuccessful recent stints, Taylor's CV dictates that he should be a success at Wycombe Wanderers. However, Taylor's CV mimics the progress of even the worst yo-yo clubs in the country, so his future is hard to predict. What can't be denied is that he has a knack of transforming lower league clubs and that may be why he has failed at clubs with a larger standing and greater expectations. Wycombe certainly have the right man for the job currently, whether he will still be the right man in the forthcoming years if Wycombe progress up the football pyramid remains to be seen. What can't be questioned though is that Peter Taylor is guiding Wycombe towards some exciting times right now.
