This was the most incredible couple. Elton John, flamboyant, gay, drug addict and alcoholic, multimillionaire who became the world’s best-selling pop star. And Graham Taylor, a Vera Lynn fan whose pastime was going on holiday in a caravan with his wife Rita and their daughters.
They have one thing in common: Watford Football Club. In 1977, Watford were in the basement of English football when John, a young fan turned chairman, recruited Taylor, whose uneventful playing career had been ended by injury before his remarkable work at Lincoln City put him in demand coach, for the post of coach. formed a crumbling club with a one-man scouting department. Male 95 years old.
The interweaving of sports, music and social history is fascinating. Watford forever is a masterfully crafted, sugar-free, true story that shows a different side of Elton John: gentle, down-to-earth, and as eager to please as he is willing to teach.
The book was written “in collaboration with Elton John” so his children could “learn more about a relatively little-known side of Elton’s life,” according to author John Preston, the book’s author. A very English scandal and biography of Robert Maxwell, A fall. Thanks to Preston’s access to the star, Watford forever John could have taken center stage, but as befits a partnership of equals, he and Taylor are given equal weight.
It describes how a rocket and a footballer took Watford to the top level in just five whirlwind years for the first time in the club’s previously mundane history. But it’s really about the relationship between two men.
Taylor had never knowingly dated a gay man before becoming chairman, but even when homophobia was widespread, homosexuality was never an issue. “We never talked about it, not once,” John emphasizes.
For all his naivety, Taylor had an instinctive sympathy for the outsider and could not understand how anyone could be abused because of his sexual orientation, as John was, openly by fans across the country and, even more secretly, by members of the board other clubs. John laughed. Taylor didn’t.
Outside Watford, John was surrounded by sycophants and sycophants. But even though John was a football expert and a hands-on owner, he relied on Taylor, a man who had no interest in John’s day-to-day work. “I always felt that Graham loved me for who I was,” John explains, explaining the key to their partnership, which has only been tested twice.
The first time, John forged Vera Lynn’s signature and gave it to Taylor – a childish joke. The second incident, when Taylor caught John drinking brandy for breakfast before a board meeting, was much more serious. Taylor’s long tirade (“What do you think you’re doing?”) and intense feelings of disappointment changed John forever. “He saved my life. I had to become the person Graham thought I could be.”
These two completely different people enjoyed each other’s company. John often stayed at the Taylors’ country house, where Rita prepared them shepherd’s pie and rhubarb crumble. Rita tried in vain to stop them discussing business, but they shared a vision of football as a game that brought excitement and joy.
Both enjoyed exploring incognito and sought to forge a connection between their football club and the community from which John came.
For all his achievements, Preston’s CV is hardly focused on football, and his lack of football knowledge sometimes gives him away (he misspells Denis Law and seems unaware that only one sub was allowed in the Taylor and John era), but he is ideal storytellers: sensitive, funny and unsentimental.
And he’s a master of detail, like the fan who sent Taylor a letter of complaint. Taylor invited him for a drink. The men became such good friends that Taylor was best man when the fan got married a few months later.
It all ended without any hard feelings. In 1987, Taylor moved to Aston Villa, but still regularly traveled back to Watford and “just sat in his car outside the stadium”. Without Taylor, John was sold, although there was a brief, surprisingly successful reunion in Watford at the turn of the century.
Taylor died in 2017, but he lived to see part of Watford’s Vicarage Road stadium called the Graham Taylor Stand, which overlooks the Sir Elton John Stand. This beautiful book is an equally fitting tribute.
Source: I News
I am Mario Pickle and I work in the news website industry as an author. I have been with 24 News Reporters for over 3 years, where I specialize in entertainment-related topics such as books, films, and other media. My background is in film studies and journalism, giving me the knowledge to write engaging pieces that appeal to a wide variety of readers.