24 November 2023 , 13:53
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Graham Taylor once told a story about the night he went carol-singing with Sir Elton John and got a rocket from his missus.
The dream ticket who took Watford on a magic carpet ride were in high spirits after shaking hands on a ground-breaking end-of-season tour over dinner with the Chinese ambassador.
Since Christmas was only a few days away, back on the leafy estate where the Hornets manager lived and the Rocket Man had left his car in the drive, they serenaded the neighbours with Once In Royal David's City.
The good people of the cul-de-sac in Nascot Wood were familiar with Taylor's face but could scarcely believe his sidekick in the freelance festive recital was one of the globe's biggest superstars.
Their choral society was only a few verses deep in the Christmas songbook when Taylor's wife, Rita, rushed out of the front door, pulled them inside and administered a matronly scolding under the holly and ivy – or, in other words, the sprig hit the fan.
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness
But it was a glorious snapshot of the harmony between Watford's greatest manager and the club's most famous supporter, whose finest single act as chairman was to employ Taylor 46 years ago.
Between them, they transformed a run-down club with ramshackle stands, medieval toilets and a dog track and changed a whole town's outlook.
Elton John has opened up on his unique relationship with Graham Taylor during their time at Watford (Mirrorpix)
Together at Watford in 1998 (Daily Mirror)When former England boss Taylor died suddenly in January 2017, Sir Elton's eulogy at his funeral – read by the late BBC commentator John Motson – included a reference to their double act being “like Batman and Robin.”
Undeniably there was a neo-brotherly understanding between them, including the day Taylor confronted his chairman about his excessive drinking by slamming a bottle of brandy in front of him and scorning: “Here's your lunch – that's what you normally have, isn't it?”
Sir Elton believes that moment was the genesis of him forsaking alcohol and substance abuse for good. In a new book*, Watford Forever, which chronicles Taylor and Elton's remarkable coalition at Vicarage Road, the great piano man says: “Something took root inside me that day which had quietly been growing all this time. I've no doubt that Graham saved my life. Without him, I would have been lost.”
Taylor and Elton took Watford on a glorious odyssey from the old Fourth Division to runners-up behind champions Liverpool in six years, into Europe and the club's first FA Cup final.
Graham Taylor meets Elton John at Vicarage Road (MirrorPix)When his manager left for Aston Villa in 1987, Sir Elton felt his own powers of sorcery were diminished, saying: “I still loved the club, but there had been a serendipity, a magic, about the two of us together, and I couldn't conjure up that same magic without him.”
He estimates he put between £8-9million of his fortune into Watford, adding: “I never got a penny back from my investment, but that didn't matter at all. It had enabled me to have the greatest adventure of my life.”
*Watford Forever: How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other, by John Preston, published by Penguin/Viking, £22 hardback