Peter Thomas Taylor (2 July 1928 – 4 October 1990) was an English football player and manager. A goalkeeper with a modest playing career, he went on to work in management alongside Brian Clough at Derby County and Nottingham Forest, winning the Football League with both clubs and the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest.
He joined Coventry City in 1945 and spent the 1953–54 season as Coventry's first choice goalkeeper, but was otherwise mostly used a reserve player. He was sold on to Middlesbrough for £3,500 in 1955, and kept goal for the Second Division club for four full seasons after being promoted to the first team in the 1956–57 campaign. He lost his first team place in 1960, and in June 1961 joined Port Vale for a £750 fee. He took a free transfer to non-League Burton Albion in May 1962, where he ended his playing career. Throughout his playing career he built for his future management career by learning from Coventry manager Harry Storer and building a close relationship with Middlesbrough striker Brian Clough, six years his junior.
He was appointed as manager of Burton Albion in October 1962 after impressing the chairman with his knowledge of the game. He built a strong team and led the club to victory in the Southern League Cup in 1964. In 1965, Clough appointed him as his assistant at Hartlepools United, and Taylor helped Clough to rebuild the playing squad. The pair moved on to Derby County in May 1967, taking the club to the Second Division title in 1968–69, then the First Division title in 1971–72, and the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1973. The duo resigned in October 1973 after their strained relationship with the club's board of directors became unworkable. Clough and Taylor moved on to Brighton & Hove Albion in November 1973, and Taylor stayed on as manager after Clough left Brighton in July 1974.
In July 1976, Taylor left Brighton to work alongside Clough at Nottingham Forest. Repeating their achievement at Derby by winning promotion into the top-flight in 1976–77 and then winning the league title in 1977–78, they then surpassed their previous accomplishments by winning the European Cup in 1979 and 1980. Forest also lifted the Anglo-Scottish Cup, the FA Charity Shield, the European Super Cup, and twice won the League Cup. Taylor retired in May 1982, but returned to the game in November 1982 to manage Derby County. He retired for the second and final time in April 1984.
Following a dispute over a player transfer in May 1983 he and Clough had not been on speaking terms and Taylor's sudden death in October 1990 robbed Clough of the chance of reconciliation, something he greatly regretted. In April 2009, a statue of Clough and Taylor was commissioned at Derby's Pride Park Stadium, and in October 2015 Nottingham Forest's main stand at the City Ground was renamed the Peter Taylor Stand.
Playing career
Nottingham Forest
Peter Taylor was born on 2 July 1928, one of eight children brought up in the Meadows, Nottingham, to Tom and Jenny Taylor, an engineer and housewife respectively. He met his future wife Lily Thorpe at the age of 14, who persuaded him to play for her father's team, local non-League side Christchurch. He later moved on to play for Mapperley Methodists, before he was spotted by Nottingham Forest, and signed to their youth team, the Forest Colts. He made his first team debut for the club as an amateur in a wartime fixture against local rivals Notts County at Meadow Lane in 1944, at the age of 16.
Coventry City
He signed with Coventry City on his 17th birthday, though was initially only a part-time player as his father insisted that he also complete an apprenticeship in bricklaying. Under the stewardship of Harry Storer, Coventry finished seventh in the Second Division in 1950–51, and Taylor made his debut in the Football League on the final day of the season, breaking Alf Wood's run of 261 consecutive first team appearances. The Birmingham Sports Argus described how "if Peter's role [back-up goalkeeper to Wood] has denied him the glamour of a glorious achievement in action, he has his share of personal glamour. He's a tall fair-haired good looker, and so comely, that he was described as the film star of Highfield Road. Is single too." Taylor did not stay single for long however, and married Lily Thorpe in June 1951.