The bell has finally tolled for Spud Taylor at Bradford City
Bradford City boss Peter Taylor is to leave the club, after Saturday's League Two game with Stockport County.
As well as the Shrimpers Taylor has been in charge, with various degrees of success, at, in alphabetical order; Brighton, Crystal Palace, Dartford, Dover, Gillingham, Hull, Leicester City, Stevenage and Wycombe Wanderers, phew!
And let's not forget one full game in caretaker charge of England, a 1-0 defeat in England I seem to remember, he made goldenballs captian for the first time, and, of course, two spells as England Under-21 boss.
He's been manager of the Bantams for just over a year after replacing Stuart McCall in February 2010. Spud signed a one-year extension to his contract in April 2010, which would have expired at the end of this season.
Bradford are currently 21st in League Two, six points above the relegation zone and the West Yorkshire club were 16th when he took charge and he leaves them five places lower in the table one year on having won just once in their last nine matches. Oh dear!
What we had missed was that Spud had the chance to join Alan Pardew as assistant boss of Premiership Newcastle but he wanted to prove he could turn things round at Valley Parade, sadly that wasn't to be the case.
Taylor told BBC Radio Leeds only last month: "I'm not a fool, I can tell that I'm probably not the most popular manager Bradford City's ever had. I'm not prepared to walk away, I'm prepared to take this difficult job head on."
There's certainly great potential for someone to get it right at Bradford, blimey what Tilly could have done with that dosh, City piss the home attendence averages in the bottom tier with every league game bringing in over 10,000 punters, incredible loyalty, but for now we wish Peter all the luck for the future, he'll need it for wherever he lands his hat at next.
The Taylor Files
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Peter John Taylor | ||
| Date of birth | 3 January 1953 (1953-01-03) | ||
| Place of birth | Rochford, England | ||
| Playing position | Winger | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | After Saturday, none | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1970-1973 | Southend United | 75 | (12) |
| 1973-1976 | Crystal Palace | 122 | (33) |
| 1976-1980 | Tottenham Hotspur | 123 | (31) |
| 1980-1983 | Leyton Orient | 56 | (11) |
| 1983 | → Oldham Athletic (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 1983-1984 | Exeter City | 8 | (0) |
| Total | 388 | (87) | |
| National team | |||
| 1976 | England | 4 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1986-1990 | Dartford | ||
| 1993-1995 | Southend United | ||
| 1995-1996 | Dover Athletic | ||
| 1996-1999 | England U21 | ||
| 1999-2000 | Gillingham | ||
| 2000-2001 | Leicester City | ||
| 2000 | England (caretaker) | ||
| 2001-2002 | Brighton & Hove Albion | ||
| 2002-2006 | Hull City | ||
| 2004-2007 | England U21 | ||
| 2006-2007 | Crystal Palace | ||
| 2007-2008 | Stevenage Borough | ||
| 2008-2009 | Wycombe Wanderers | ||
| 2010- | Bradford City | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
(Spud info from Wikipedia, for the full article go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Taylor_(footballer_born_1953)