Eric Taylor (football manager)

Eric Woodhouse Taylor was a football administrator who spent his entire 45-year career at Sheffield Wednesday serving as manager, secretary and eventually vice-president. During his time at the club he rose from office boy to vice-president and became known as “Mr. Sheffield Wednesday”.

Taylor was born in the Sheffield suburb of Fulwood in May 1912, although he spent his formative years in Birley Carr very close to the Sheffield Wednesday ground, he rapidly gained a lifelong love of the club, slipping into the ground to see the final few minutes of games when the gates were opened. Taylor started his working life in a law office but In 1929, at the age of 17, he was appointed by Wednesday as office boy to the manager Bob Brown on a wage of seven shillings and sixpence a week. Wednesday had won the First Division championship in the 1928-29 season and it is said the appointment was a reward to the manager for this. In November 1934 Taylor was promoted to the post of assistant secretary when Joe McClelland departed and he remained in this role until 1942.

Part-time football during the Second World War saw Wednesday having to make financial savings and team manager Jimmy McMullan was told that his contract would not be renewed for 1942. Club Chairman William Turner reshuffled the remaining staff and Eric Taylor was given the additional job of part-time manager of team affairs. It seems that Taylor’s rise to team manager was only to be a temporary appointment until the end of the war, he had never played or coached league football. However he made a good impression in the job and led Wednesday to the final of the North Football League War Cup in 1943, losing to Blackpool over two legs. At the end of the War club chairman William Fearnehough rewarded Taylor with a new contract and the title of Secretary/Manager on 14 June 1945.

During his time as secretary/manager, Taylor was very much an office based manager, seen rarely at the training ground, he had negligible input on tactics or team selection. Day to day training sessions were left to the coaches such as Bill Knox, Alan Brown or Jack Marshall with Taylor involved in watching potential signings and negotiating transfers. In Taylor’s first full season as manager after the War, Wednesday struggled and narrowly avoided relegation to Division Three North, however he slowly built a team which gained promotion back to Division One in the 1949-50 season. Throughout the 1950s Wednesday became known as a Yo-yo club being promoted or relegated on six occasions under Taylor’s management. Their best period during this time coincided with Taylor’s signing of Jackie Sewell for a British record transfer fee and the emergence of Derek Dooley as a prolific goalscorer. During this time they were Division Two champions in 1951-52 and then spent three consecutive seasons in Division one, but with little success. After another relegation back to Division Two in 1958, the board of directors and Taylor agreed that he should step down and Harry Catterick was brought in to become team manager.

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