SPECIAL pt 1 of 2 - 'England is booming, don't let Taylor blow it'

During the autumn of 1990, the winds of change were blowing with respect to two of the most prominent positions in British culture, the England National team manager and the Prime Minister.  Two long-standing incumbents, Bobby Robson and Margaret Thatcher were both swept from power and replaced by less experienced and notably lower key successors (Graham Taylor and John Major).

Taylor and Major had both risen rapidly through the ranks during the late 1980s and both had seen off perhaps more celebrated candidates en-route to securing ‘The Top Job’.  The similarities between the two men were clear.  They had both come from relatively humble backgrounds; both men were seen as charming, modest and courteous in their dealings with both colleagues and the media.  In short, they were small c conservatives, exactly the kind ‘safe bet’ required to lead their respective administrations (The FA and The Tory Party).

Over the next few years, the synergies between the respective reigns of Taylor and Major continued.  Despite both having to follow in the footsteps of significant figures and being under pressure to deliver almost immediate results, they both got off to relatively successful starts.  Taylor was unbeaten in his first twelve matches and led England to qualification for the European Championships, emerging from a group containing sides (Poland and The Republic of Ireland) who had undone previous England managers.  

Major’s initial successes were perhaps even more marked, stepping out from the looming shadow of Thatcher and the bitter wranglings that had blighted the latter days of the premiership of ‘The Iron Lady’, he led the Tories to an unexpected fourth successive consecutive election victory.  In the process, he won more than 14 million votes.  A figure that has never been bettered.  Whilst his majority was significantly smaller than that which he had inherited (a fact that would cause him continued strife during the latter part of his premiership), to win at all from the position he had inherited was a remarkable achievement.

In this first part of a two-part special of ‘The Way We Sport, The Way We See Life’ we provide an overview of the early successes of Taylor and Major, charting their respective rises to power, assessing their impressive opening salvos and begin to explore why the seismic events of 1992 proved to ultimately be the undoing of both men.