Peter Taylor has been appointed manager for Canvey Island. This is the club were his route in football started. He left Canvey Island in 1969, to start a career in league football with Southend. He played for Spurs at the highest level and had his only job in Premier League management with Leicester.
He took over the Leicester manager job from Martin O’Neill who had just left to join Celtic. Peter Taylor was seen as a young and adspiring manager having promoted Gillingham to the 2nd tier just weeks before.
Peter Taylor has a very special international career, having represented England at amateur, U.23 and full level. He was given his full England debut by former Leicester legend, Don Revie. He later became interim manager of England in the period between Graham Taylor and Sven Goran Eriksson. He continued in the England staff under “Svennis”, later to become manager of Leicester.
He had no previous experience from top flight management. He was seen as one up and coming. The money from the sale of Emile Heskey was available. The kitty of £12million was given to Peter Taylor to invest. He made five summer signings in Callum Davidson, Gary Rowett, Ade Akinbiyi, Trevor Benjamin and Simon Royce.
Everything looked good in the start, taking Leicester to the top of Premier League in October 2000. There were a number of injuries. The sale of Neil Lennon to Celtic also affected the team. Additionally, there was strange behaviour towards Steve Guppy, Tony Cottee, and Steve Walsh. This all ended the first season in a massive decline. He made three major signings in the summer. Ian Walker joined from Spurs. Dennis Wise was signed from Chelsea. James Scowcroft joined from Ipswich. Leicester looked a stronger unit. However, it all crashed. Peter Taylor had to walk just a year after taking Leicester to the top of the league.
Club Statement #Pitcherohttps://t.co/iA9Izb1NkF pic.twitter.com/iJekpePZ03
— Canvey Island FC (@CIFC) May 7, 2025
Peter Taylor left and switched with Micky Adams to join Brighton. Took Brighton a straight promotion from the 3rd tier, again showing how well he can manage at that level. He resigned being stressed by the low budget offered to invest. Later in the year of 2002 he was appointed manager of Hull. He built The Tigers foundation. This provided a platform for other managers to work from. He took the club from the 4th to the 2nd tier.
Junior Lewis, Damien Delaney and Kevin Ellison became pivotal players for Peter Taylor. They gained importance during his time at Hull, as he had them as part of his build.
He left Hull in 2006 for a lucrative chance to become manager of Crystal Palace. Since then, he has taken several jobs all over the planet. At the age 72, he is still attracting interest. He has a CV of very special achievements. His journey is something to be proud of both as a player and manager.
Sadly he will not be remembered much for his job at Leicester. He made fatal errors in decision making. These errors caused Leicester to decline from a cup title winning team. They went from being a top 10 finisher in the Premier League to being relegated.
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