Taylor faced heavy criticism from fans and media during his tenure as England manager and earned additional public interest and scrutiny when a television documentary, An Impossible Job, which he had permitted to film the failed campaign from behind the scenes, aired in 1994.

He was transferred to Lincoln City in the summer of 1968 for a fee of £4,000, scoring once in 150 appearances before being forced to retire from playing following a serious hip injury in 1972.

Indicating the tougher competition, Watford managed only an 18th finish, out of 22 teams, avoiding relegation by eight points and winning only 12 of their 42 games in the 1979–80 season.

[21] In his final season, 1986–87, Watford finished ninth in the league and reached the FA Cup semi-finals, missing out on another Wembley appearance when they lost to Tottenham Hotspur, their chances hardly helped by the fact that both of their first team goalkeepers were injured.

[27] When Taylor was appointed, critics in the media complained that he had never won a major trophy – although he had taken teams to second place in the league twice and an FA Cup final once in 1984.

He used 59 players in total, as he struggled to find a "new spine" after the retirement of Peter Shilton, Terry Butcher and Bryan Robson.

[31] He also faced accusations he could not cope with "stars", after he dropped Paul Gascoigne for Gordon Cowans for a qualifying game against Ireland.

[33] Matters were not helped by Taylor's reluctance to use creative players who were not perceived to have high work rates, such as Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley.

He also suffered several injuries, notably to Gary Stevens, Lee Dixon, John Barnes and Paul Gascoigne, leaving the squad in a makeshift position going into the finals.

[35] In the match against France, Platt nearly scored with a diving header which went inches wide of the post, and Stuart Pearce hit the bar with a free-kick.

During the latter game, Taylor confronted a spectator who was racially abusing Jamaica-born John Barnes, telling him "You're talking about another human being so just watch your language".

The Norwegians had arrived from obscurity and had taken the group by storm; their series of early victories had left England, Poland, and the Netherlands scrapping for second place.

[45] Taylor made wholesale changes of personnel and tactics, which again drew criticism, his actions considered risky in what was now a crucial game.

[48] In July 1993, Peter Newman, an independent candidate in a parliamentary by-election for Christchurch, stood under the banner "Sack Graham Taylor".

[50]For Taylor, the US Cup began with a humiliating 2–0 defeat in Boston, to the United States with Thomas Dooley and Alexi Lalas scoring goals, which was reported by The Sun as "YANKS 2 PLANKS 0!".

[53] The 1993–94 season began with a much-improved performance, with a 3–0 win over Poland raising the nation's hopes going into what was now the crucial match against the Netherlands in Rotterdam.

Paul Merson hit a post with a free-kick moments later, before Dennis Bergkamp scored, despite using his arm to control the ball, for a 2–0 win.

But after just 8.3 seconds of play David Gualtieri, a computer salesman, scored the fastest ever World Cup goal after a defensive error from Stuart Pearce.

"[57] Taylor had also agreed to be filmed during the qualifying campaign for Cutting Edge, a Channel 4 fly-on-the-wall documentary series, in which his portrayal further undermined his authority.

This was during the film An Impossible Job; Taylor was heard to use foul language, and what became his personal catchphrase: "Do I not like that", uttered just before England conceded a goal to Poland.

[58] Sir Jack Hayward appointed Taylor as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 1994, replacing Graham Turner.

Taylor spent heavily on players while at Wolves, paying large sums for the likes of Steve Froggatt, Tony Daley, Mark Atkins, John de Wolf, Dean Richards and Don Goodman.

During his tenure, he attempted to perform a citizen's arrest on a fan who had spat at him, prompting calls for closer crowd controls in the English game.

[61] In February 1996 Elton John, who had recently bought Watford for a second time, appointed Taylor as General Manager at Vicarage Road.

[63] The following season Watford won the Division One Play-off Final, beating Bolton Wanderers 2–0 at Wembley, and with it promotion to the Premier League.

[65] Despite starting the following season well – unbeaten through the first fifteen league games and heading the table – Watford slumped to finish 9th in Division One.

[71] From 2004, he worked as a pundit on BBC Radio Five Live,[21] and managed a team of celebrities for Sky One's annual series, The Match.

He was a Celebrity Ambassador for the Sense Enterprise Board in Birmingham, and worked to raise both funds and awareness, including running the London Marathon in 2004.

He also supported the Royal British Legion and cycled from London to Paris in 2010 to raise funds for the RBL's Poppy appeal.

[78] Taylor died suddenly and unexpectedly of a "suspected heart attack"[79] at his home in Kings Langley early on the morning of 12 January 2017.