The Tommy Taylor Saga
Rewind to 1996 and the infamous Tommy Taylor, who proved the grass isn’t always greener after leaving the Abbey
This post was written by UTAS contributor Owen Kiernan. Subscribe to his Substack ‘The Antler’ for regular U’s match reports
Cast your mind back to November 1996. The U’s were sitting pretty in the automatic promotion spots in Division Three. Manchester City were hovering just above the relegation spots in Division One. England fans were still rueing another summer when we’d come oh so close to glory - some things never change, eh?
United had finished the previous season in 16th, going out of the cups in the first round. Gates hovered around the 3,000 mark, causing chairman Reg Smart to put the club up for sale. As usual, the club were in the midst of an injury crisis, with manager Tommy Taylor sounding out 47-year old Peter Shilton to come in to cover the injured Scott Barrett. That fell through, leaving 18 year old Shaun Marshall to deputise instead…
I digress.
The 1996/97 season was shaping up to be alright for the U’s, even if it was the normal chaos off the pitch. Micah Hyde was firing in the goals in his banana yellow boots, creating a great partnership with on-loan striker Scott McGleish, whilst youngsters Michael Kyd and Matthew ‘Billy’ Beall were exciting attacking prospects. As November started, United found themselves second, four points behind a resurgent Fulham side.
Behind the scenes, Taylor was looking to extend his contract, which expired at the end of the year. Chairman Smart announced he would extend it until the end of the season, claiming Taylor had a contract as long as he wanted the job, but without the actual security of, you know, a proper contract.
“The way I see it, he is on an indefinite contract” - Reg Smart
Taylor, rightfully, claimed that it would be hard to tie down the players to long contracts without his own being sorted.
At the time, these poor dealings with contract affairs caused Smart to be vilified by U’s fans. Aside from Taylor’s justifiable dismay with his own lack of security, the chairman’s stalling on contract negotiations with attacker McGleish caused the player to claim “the offer got worse every time I saw him”.
However, this doesn’t diminish the level of surprise of when Taylor handed in his resignation in order to take up the hot seat at division rivals Leyton Orient. The fuel to the flame in this saga. Smart’s response was to offer a year’s extension with the promise of a further year if promotion was achieved. It was too late for Taylor, who told Orient Chairman Barry Hearn that he would “walk down the M11” to join the O’s.
Taylor was further upset by the fact that the offer of an extension only came from Smart and two other board members, reportedly Roger Hunt and arch-cunt John Howard. The others were seemingly unconvinced he was worth the outlay.
His assistant Paul Clark took charge of the next game against Swansea, with goals from Paul Raynor and Scott McGleish in a 2-1 win. Paul Wanless made his second appearance in the U’s goal, replacing Barrett at half-time and keeping his second clean sheet. The end of the game saw around 200 U’s fans stay behind in the NRE to protest Smart’s handling of the whole affair, whilst in the boardroom Clark was busy handing in his notice to join Taylor at Brisbane Road.
Three weeks after Taylor left, he was back at the Abbey in the away dugout, although it was Scott McGleish who drew most of the ire of the U’s faithful. Jamie Barnwell-Edinboro and Michael Kid ensured McFarland was the happier of the two managers, and later that season John Taylor (an inspired McFarland signing if there ever was one) earned United a draw at a fiery Brisbane Road. The following season saw United do the double over Taylor’s Orient too, he didn’t actually register his one and only win against United until February 1999.
You’d think the saga would end there, but in true United fashion it was only just beginning. Taylor immediately offered contracts to youngsters Adie Hayes and Shaun Howes to join him in East London, and also made an approach for David Preece to sign for Orient. Only Howes took him up on the offer, but the die had been cast. A week later Orient stumped up £50,000 to sign Scott McGleish from P*sh, ending his time at the Abbey. Hearn had his chequebook out again in January, offering another £50,000 for highly-rated youngster Danny Granville, which United rebuffed - he ended up joining Chelsea for £300,000 at the end of March.
Amongst all this, United had appointed a certain Roy McFarland, who had promoted Preece to player-assistant manager, and were swiftly dropping down the table. The “McFarland Out” rivalled only “Smart Out” in popularity on the terraces. Taylor came back to United with another cheque, this time for £10,000 in exchange for Paul Wanless.
United ended the season in 10th, well outside the playoffs as Fulham won the title at the Abbey on the final day, in front of a Habbin Stand packed with 4,000 away fans.
Over the summer, Taylor came to pick again at the bones of his former club, with Tony Richards following soon after for £15,000 (negotiated by tribunal following Orient’s offer of £1,000). United put that money towards an £80,000 fee for Walsall striker Martin Butler, so it worked out in the end. Goalkeeper Scott Barrett followed, and before the year was out Matt Joseph (last season’s player of the season) joined Taylor for £10,000.
With four ex-U’s in the Orient squad already you’d think Taylor would have been happy with his lot, but he wasn’t finished yet. Youngster Beall had cemented his place in the first team under McFarland but wanted a contract extension in light of his contributions to the side. It turns out Beall was talking to Hearn and Taylor over the summer, with United attempting to negotiate a transfer fee when they found out.
Orient were offering £5,000, United wanted £75,000. Beall trained with Orient over the summer whilst being paid by United, and by October 1998 it was clear he wasn’t going to play for the U’s again. United took the deal to a tribunal who eventually ruled on an immediate £25,000 payment followed by instalments and a sell-on fee. United eventually received £50,000, and finished the 96-97 season in 16th against a backdrop of fan discontent against both the board and McFarland.
One thing was for certain, McFarland would have his work cut out for him to win the fans back in 1998-99…