Graham Taylor.

Amid all the euphoria of the Cowley brothers agreeing to extend their contracts with Lincoln City FC we now have to suffer the grief and that’s not too strong a word, of the death of Graham Taylor at just 72.

The TV news just said he came to prominence with Watford FC but as we Imps all know he first cut his teeth at Lincoln. It wasn’t an auspicious start and he wasn’t far from the sack and only kept on at the insistence of, amongst others, my late father in law who was on the board at the time. I heard of this from the great man himself when I was at Watford FC as a guest of the Professional Footballers Association.

Taylor showed us that, as Imps we didn’t have to accept the inevitability of the decline that had set in at Lincoln and his team swept gloriously through division four as it was at the time winning the championship by a considerable margin. They were wonderful times.

I see in our present managers many of the qualities Graham Taylor possessed. Their patient rebuilding of the reputation of the club coupled with spectacular success on the pitch are straight out of the Taylor manual.

Sadly Graham Taylor was lured away from Sincil Bank by the millions of Elton John before he had a chance of furthering City’s progress. Let’s hope a fitting epitaph may be provided by our present managers. A promotion for the Imps thus restoring our much coveted league place.

Graham Taylor always had a place in his heart for Lincoln City. Personally having met him a couple of times I’m enormously saddened at his demise. The football world has lost one of the greats.

Rest in peace.