Having made his annoyance clear at the time of his fall- out with the Football
Having made his annoyance clear at the time of his fall- out with the Football Association when the Technical Director, Howard Wilkinson, decided to rotate coaches for the various national age groups, Taylor now sees no point in picking over the past and is concentrating instead on future chapters of his twisting career.”It was an honour and such a nice job,” he said of his previous employment “The three years were terrific, but no job lasts forever All I’m doing is looking forward. After doing duty on the touchline and in the dressing-room as one of Glenn Hoddle’s loyal lieutenants for matches like the epic World Cup tie against Argentina, then winning six successive European Under-21 Championship matches for his country, Gigg Lane was not quite the sort of gig he had in mind even a few weeks ago.
If the theme from Howard’s Way is no longer in his repertoire, however, he may well be sitting at the front of the coach whistling “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. Having subsequently lost a job he described as “very enjoyable and a great honour” as coach to the national Under-21 team, he has needed to seek out the silver linings recently and might have to do so again for his first engagement of the new season on Saturday week, when taking his Gillingham side to Bury for a Second Division game. AT THE most depressing moments of England’s World Cup campaign in France last summer, Peter Taylor was the man who could be relied upon to whistle up a chorus of “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life”. “The most important thing is that I find a house so my family can get settled. After that I want to learn the language and the culture.” Deschamps junior, Dillan, whose godfather is none other than Desailly, is three and therefore not quite ready for school.
“But when he’s old enough,” Deschamps senior pointed out, “he will go. It will be great for him to learn English.”Come next May, will he be fluent enough to say “Champions of England and Europe”? He would be talking the Chelsea fans’ language.. “We have had a bit of a dip in form but we still have the potential to succeed,” he said. “Not until we’ve actually made it to the finals and competed, will I re-assess my position. If we do well and the squad is still hungry, then I might continue Obviously, I would love to defend the Cup in Japan Retaining our title would be the perfect way to retire But this is all speculation. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”The immediate future is considerably clearer. Although that is far from certain, as Roger Lemerre’s world champions at present lie second in Group Four, after suffering a couple of setbacks at the end of last season (a 0-0 draw with the Ukraine and a 3-2 home defeat by Russia).
Having competed in four finals, it is a competition he knows well. “Playing in those games, against the best Europe has to offer, is the apogee for any footballer.”Internationally, the No 1 priority is to qualify for Euro 2000 in Holland and Belgium. That’s the one the fans really want.” Not that a good run in the Champions’ League would go amiss. They got close to Manchester United last year and we’ll be pushing hard to win it this time.