Former England boss Graham Taylor has been appointed as manager of Premiership club Aston Villa for the second time in his career. Taylor takes over the hot-seat vacated by John Gregory a fortnight ago and has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. The 57-year-old revealed this afternoon that the opportunity to come out of retirement as a Premiership manager proved just too good to turn down.
"I would have regretted later in life turning down an opportunity I did not think would come, managing a leading Premiership club," he said. "Originally the talk from the media was that I was seen as an end-of-season appointment and then they would get someone else in. As a member of the Villa board that was never an option. It was always going to be a long-term appointment. I was offered the job on Friday and I requested the weekend to talk further and think about it. I accepted on Sunday evening," he explained.
Taylor left Villa 12 years ago after he had guided them to second place in Division One. However, his time with England was not so memorable as he failed to lead England to the 1994 World Cup finals in America. After spells with Wolves and Watford, he joined the board at Villa in a non-executive role and concentrated on his new job as a TV pundit. But now, he has been tempted once more to delve back into football management despite his claims last year when taking on the position on the Villa board that he was "yesterday's man" as far as management is concerned.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
