Graham Taylor dies: A look back at the day he left Wolves

"It is with much regret that I have tendered my resignation as manager."

With these words Graham Taylor confirmed that his reign as Wolves boss was over.

It was 20 years ago today that Taylor, a manager as high profile as any in the country at that time after his ill-fated spell in charge of England, departed Molineux.

Taylor had been appointed by Sir Jack Hayward with the sole requirement of propelling Wolves into the top flight.

The initial signs, after his controversial appointment in March 1994, were promising.

Wolves almost made the play-offs that season, led by the goals of on-loan Guy Whittingham, and by the start of 1994/95 expectations were as high as they could have been.

Taylor splashed Sir Jack's millions with a spending spree that back then was of Premier League proportions. In came the likes of Tony Daley, Steve Froggatt, Don Goodman, John De Wolf and Neil Emblen.

But the Molineux injury curse crippled Taylor.

Daley, Froggatt and De Wolf, as well as Geoff Thomas and Neil Masters, all suffered serious injuries that would rule them out of the, ultimately, hugely disappointing end to the season when Wolves cruelly lost to a John-McGinley-right-hook-inspired Bolton in the play-offs.

Wolves made a slow start to the following season, winning just four of 16 matches, and unbearable tension ratcheted up on Taylor, heightened by his (unforgivable to many) decision to allow God himself, Steve Bull, to leave the club, with the striker deciding to stay at the 11th hour.

Taylor wasn't happy. "We lack players who have the mental toughness and the ability to handle the crowd's expectation," he damningly said of his squad.

But patience for a manager that few wanted to begin with was in short supply and before a home game against Charlton on November 11, an emotional Sir Jack made his feelings clear in his programme notes.

"Why have I spent the last five years putting this club before my young family?" he wrote.

"Why have I put this club before my health? Have I got the guts to make hard decisions? Have I got the vision to make the right decisions?"

A goalless draw against the Addicks sealed Taylor's fate. Protesting fans chanted for his departure – and Taylor, who initially said he would fight on, duly obliged two days later, jumping before he was pushed.

As a mark of the man, he faced the media to announce his resignation. How often does that happen now?

"I am sad because this has as much to do with matters off the pitch as those on it," Taylor said.

"A return of confidence to players who last year enabled Wolves to have their best season for over a decade is, of course, of prime importance. If this confidence does return, I see no reason why promotion cannot be gained this season.

"However, a team cannot gain confidence if the board of directors and a section of fans do not have confidence in their manager."

In 92 matches he had overseen 38 wins, 28 draws and 26 defeats, a record significantly better in the second tier than that of predecessor Graham Turner, but one still not good enough for a big-spending club in a rush for success.

While he was unlucky with injuries, Taylor's tactics often baffled, and he perhaps looked too much to the future instead of the present.

David Instone wrote in the Express & Star: "Betraying Taylor's pragmatic, methodical nature, his side appear to have been playing off the cuff for nearly 20 months."

But he added: "Taylor has given the club a proper youth policy, the foundations of a training ground and a vision for the future.

"He has gone relatively painlessly and with some honour. That was the least such a likeable man deserved."

Thoughts immediately turned to who would succeed him. Ron Atkinson and Gordon Strachan (manager and player at Coventry), Manchester United captain Steve Bruce, Sheffield Wednesday winger Chris Waddle, Millwall boss Mick McCarthy (yes, really), John De Wolf (not a joke) and the late Brian Clough and Howard Kendall (who both expressed an interest but were rejected) were among the early favourites.

Wolves instead raided Leicester City for up-and-coming young manager Mark McGhee.

As for Taylor, he would lead Watford from the Second Division to the Premier League in 1999, overtaking Wolves, who were still stuck in the First Division, along the way.