Taylor: Philip Henry (Phil)

WW2 Guest: 1942-1943 (Leeds United War-time Guest Player Details)

Inside Right

Born: Bristol: 18-09-1917

Debut: v Middlesbrough (h): 29-08-1942

Height & Weight: Unknown

An England Schoolboy International, Taylor started with Bristol St George in his native City and signed for Third Division South Bristol Rovers in May 1935. He operated as an Inside Forward and had scored twice in twenty-one League and one F.A. Cup games in his first season, when First Division Liverpool paid £5,000 and gave a player, Ted Hartwill, in part-exchange to bring the eighteen year-old to Anfield in March 1936. He went straight into the Liverpool first team, making his debut at Outside Left in a 2-2 draw with Derby County at the Baseball Ground on 28th March 1936 and scored the Liverpool second goal in the last minute. He went on to complete the season with two goals in seven games. He remained an Inside Forward and when the Second World War brought to Football League fixtures to a temporary end he had scored twenty-seven goals in ninety-one League games and played eight times in the F.A. Cup. He played ninety-six games and scored twenty-four goals for Liverpool in the War Years, and guested with Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United and Leeds United. His two games for Leeds came at Inside Right in the first two fixtures in the 1942-43 Football League Northern Section First Championship games on 29th August 1942, when Leeds lost to Middlesbrough 0-1 at Elland Road, and then lost again 0-2 in the reverse fixture at Ayresome Park the following week. A Liverpool legend, Taylor changed from a promising centre forward into a classy Wing-half/Centre-Half who took over the captaincy from Jack Balmer in the 1949-50 season. Liverpool won the first post-war League championship and Taylor, by now approaching his peak at twenty-nine years old, played in all but seven of the forty-two League matches and continued to be a regular and reliable member of the team's defence for the next four years. He captained Liverpool through their run to the club's first-ever Wembley Cup Final in 1950 but there was only disappointment after a 2-0 defeat by Arsenal. Once he had passed his thirtieth birthday, Taylor was selected less frequently and he made the last of his three hundred and fourteen League appearances for Liverpool in a 2-5 defeat by West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Christmas Day, 1953. His final game for Liverpool came in a 0-1 F.A. Cup Third Round defeat by Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park on 9th January 1954 in his thirty-first F.A. Cup tie. He remained at Anfield when he retired as a player in 1954, serving as chief coach before replacing Don Welsh as Manager in May 1956. Failing health and the stress of just missing out on promotion in three successive seasons eventually led to his resignation in November 1959. The ever adaptable Taylor has an unfortunate place in the Anfield history books. It was over twenty-three and a half years since he had first arrived at Anfield as an eighteen year old player. As well as being Bill Shankly's predecessor, and thus very much in the background, Taylor was the only Liverpool boss never to manage the team in the top division. He played four times for the Football League and represented England at 'B' level. He earned three England Caps, his first coming on 18th October 1947 at Right Half against Wales in a 3-0 win at Ninian Park Cardiff, his second was at Right Half on 5th November 1947 in a 2-2 draw with Northern Ireland at Goodison Park Liverpool and his final game was at Right Half on 19th November 1947 in a 4-2 win over Sweden at Wembley.