Pressed further on the value of Taylor to Clough’s cause – as a long-standing ally of Old Big ‘Ead – and whether the art of spotting talent by eye has been lost in an era of mass statistical and video analysisShilton added: “No, I don’t think so. I think clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth have got great recruitment. They rely on picking players from smaller divisions and bringing them into the team, letting them have a great season, and then selling them on for four times as much. It is about judgment of players.
“I always remember with Peter Taylor, he said to me, I was 15, I was in the youth team, Saturday mornings, only for three months before I got in the reserves. He said that ‘when you played in the youth team, I was always there on the Saturday morning with my cap on’. He said, ‘you didn’t know I was there, but I was always there watching you’. He says, ‘I was always going to make sure that you played for one of my clubs’. I thought that was terrific. He was a good judge in so many areas.”
Some of the finest managers in the game are currently in North America for the 2026 World Cup. They are hoping to make headlines for all of the right reasons as paths are trodden towards the most prestigious prize in global football.
