Elton John details story behind Watford FC takeover with Graham Taylor for novel

The book will be published on November 16.

Sir Elton John and Graham Taylor at Vicarage Road (Michael Stephens/PA)

Sir Elton John has told the inspirational story behind his ownership of Watford FC and the club’s success under manager Graham Taylor for the first time in a book about “underdogs triumphing against all the odds”.

The book titled Watford Forever: How Graham Taylor And Elton John Saved A Football Club, A Town And Each Other, written by award-winning author John Preston, will be released on November 16.

It will tell the story of how life-long Watford FC supporter Sir Elton appointed Taylor as manager of his boyhood team and oversaw a period of great success following “financial turmoil at the bottom of the football pyramid”.

The rock star was chairman and owner of the club when they rose from the Fourth Division to the First Division in the 1970s and 1980s and the brink of the league title.

Under manager Taylor, Watford finished second behind champions Liverpool during the 1982-83 season and he also guided the team to the FA Cup final for the first time in their history – a 2-0 defeat against Everton – the following year.

Taylor left for Aston Villa, and latterly England, before having a second spell at Vicarage Road from 1996 to 2001 and served as chairman of the club in 2009 for two years – before his death in January 2017 aged 72.

Sir Elton said: “I cherish my relationship with Graham as one of the greatest of my life. What we accomplished together was extraordinary on and off the field, but so was the lifelong bond we built.

“He was like a brother to me and I loved him dearly.

“When we started working together in 1977, I had huge ambitions and hopes for my childhood club, but Graham’s understanding of the game and leadership achieved something beyond even my wildest dreams. He was a true genius.

“We took a club in financial turmoil at the bottom of the football pyramid to second in the league, an FA Cup final and European football.

“It’s one of the greatest managerial accomplishments of all time. Myself and every single Watford fan will be forever grateful to him for the memories he gave us and what was achieved for the club and the community.”

Sir Elton stepped down as chairman of Watford in 2002, but serves as honorary life-president of the Championship club after becoming chairman in 1976.

On Wednesday, he posted on his Instagram story to advertise the book for the first time since suffering a fall in his South of France home.

The Rocket Man superstar, 76, was kept in hospital overnight and was discharged on Monday.

Novelist Mr Preston, who most recently wrote Fall: The Mystery Of Robert Maxwell, described the chance to work in “close collaboration” with Sir Elton as “the fulfilment of a long-held dream”.

He said: “When Elton John bought Watford FC in 1976, the first rock star ever to buy a football club, almost everyone said that it was an act of madness – a rich man’s folly that was sure to end in tears.

“But they had fatally underestimated Elton’s determination and his emotional bond to the club.

“His father had first taken him to Vicarage Road when Elton was six, and when he became a superstar it was the one place in the world where he felt both safe and at home.

“One of Elton’s first acts as Chairman was to appoint Graham Taylor as manager, a man as ostensibly conventional as Elton was flamboyant.

“But the two of them would form an extraordinarily close bond and take Watford FC from the bottom of the Football League to the top in just five years – something that’s never been done before or since.

“In the process, they would have a hugely dramatic effect on one another’s lives.

“The chance to work in close collaboration with Elton has been the fulfilment of a long-held dream, and I hope we’ve managed to produce a book that does justice to the ultimate story of underdogs triumphing against all the odds.”