On this day in 1918, Dick Taylor was born. He was an old-school centre-back and eventually managed Aston Villa after hanging up his boots. And although he escaped relegation in his first two seasons at Villa Park, Taylor’s time as manager ended with his sacking the following season after they failed to beat the drop.
Taylor was born in Wolverhampton and played for the club as an amateur before playing for Grimsby Town in 1938. He spent 10 years with the Mariners before moving on to Scunthorpe United where he spent six years before joining their coaching staff after hanging up his boots.
He then moved to Sheffield United for two years to work under Joe Mercer whom he followed to Villa as his assistant in 1958, spending six years in a coaching role.
And at the end of the 1963/64 season when Mercer stepped down due to ill heath, Taylor took over the reigns and impressively kept the strugglers in the First Division, leading to him getting the job on a full-time basis.
Dick somehow staved off relegation in the two seasons that followed but plunged the club into financial difficulty after spending heavily in his final campaign (£140k on new players) which ended in relegation to Division Two and the club firing him.
Taylor was successful in business after leaving Villa, however, and ran a sports shop near Villa Park. He died in 1995.
