Frank Taylor (footballer, born 1916)

Frank Taylor (30 April 1916 – 1970) was an English footballer and manager who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers and managed Scarborough and Stoke City.[1]

Frank Taylor
Personal information
Full name Frank Taylor[1]
Date of birth (1916-04-30)30 April 1916[1]
Place of birth Hemsworth, England[1]
Date of death January 1970[1]
Playing position(s) Full-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1936–1944 Wolverhampton Wanderers 48 (0)
Teams managed
1948–1950 Scarborough
1952–1960 Stoke City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Taylor was a full-back who started his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1936. He made his senior debut on 13 March 1937 in a 1–0 win at Chelsea. He played in the same team as his older brother Jack 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, where they lost 4–1 to Portsmouth at Wembley. The suspension of league football in September 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II 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.[1]

Management career

In June 1948 Taylor was appointed manager of Scarborough, and then became Frank Buckley's assistant at Hull City, also doing a similar role at Leeds United before becoming Stoke City manager in 1952.[1]

Taylor had the tough task of taking over from the long-serving Bob McGrory who had been at Stoke for 31 years as a player and manager.[1] 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.[1] In his first season Stoke were relegated from the First Division after losing their final match of the season.[1] 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.[1] This came as a big shock to Taylor who vowed never to become involved with football again.[1]

Career statistics

As a player

Source:[2]

Club Season League FA Cup Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1936–37 First Division 500050
1937–38 First Division 200020
1938–39 First Division 41060470
Career Total 48060540

As a manager
Managerial record by club and tenure
Team From To Record
PWDLWin %
Stoke City[1] 1 June 1952 31 May 1960 362 146 79 137 040.3
Total 362 146 79 137 040.3

Honours
Wolverhampton Wanderers
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References
  1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. Frank Taylor at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
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