Peter John Taylor originally enjoyed a lengthy and successful playing career as a goalscoring winger before taking his first steps into management.

He made over 388 appearances and scored 87 goals for six clubs over a fourteen year period.

After three years with his home town club of Southend United, Taylor moved to London to join Crystal Palace in 1973.

During his time with Palace, Taylor earned himself four England full international caps in 1976, scoring two international goals in the process.

Such form didn't go unnoticed as in the same year, Taylor moved across the capital to sign for giants Tottenham Hotspur.

After a successful four year spell at White Hart Lane, in which he made over one hundred appearances for Spurs, his next move would keep him in London when he signed for Leyton Orient.

Orient would be Taylor's last significant club during his playing career, although he did enjoy brief spells with Oldham Athletic and Exeter City.

Following roles as player/coach at non-league Maidstone United and Chelmsford City, Taylor took his first move into management as player/manager at Dartford FC, where he twice won the Southam Cup.

In 1993, Taylor moved into league management with his beloved Southend United.

After cutting his teeth at the Shrimps during a short period in charge of the southern club and also enjoying a brief spell at Dover Athletic, Taylor got his big break in 1996.

As the current England manager at the time, Glenn Hoddle approached Taylor to manage England's future talent at Under 21 level.

Hoddle's decision to appoint Taylor proved to be an inspired one.

During Taylor's three year spell in charge, he turned the Under 21's into one of the dominant forces in international football at that level.

His final record stood at 11 wins secured out of 15, while his England side's scored 24 goals and only conceded four during that same period.

Despite his truly impressive record at Under 21 level, he was controversially removed from his post, a decision which would eventually allow him to join Gillingham at the start of the 1999/2000 season.

Taylor's stock continued to rise in the game as he secured the Gills promotion via the Play-Offs at the end of that season, moving the Kent club inside the top two divisions of the English league for the first time in their history.

The following summer, Taylor stepped himself up to grab his first taste of Premiership football as he agreed to become Leicester City's manager.

At the height of his tenure as Leicester's boss, he led the Midlands club to the summit of the Premier League for two weeks. The Foxes were still 4th as late as March, but injuries contributed to their downfall as they would eventually miss out on a place in Europe all together.

During his time as the Foxes manager, Taylor was handed the prestigious duty of managing England in a caretaker capacity following the departure of Kevin Keegan.

Taylor would only take charge of one match, a single goal defeat in Rome at the hands of the Italians, but the match did mark David Beckham's first as skipper of the national side.

Following the eventual appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson to the England hotseat, Taylor would still remind part of the coaching set up that helped the Three Lions qualify for the 2002 World Cup.

Back in the Premier League,Leicester suffered a poor start to the 2001/2002 season and as a resultant, Taylor was removed from his position at Filbert Street in September 2001.

Given his now growing reputation in football, Taylor was only out of work for barely three weeks.

His next port of call was on the South Coast at Divison Two (League 1) side, Brighton and Hove Albion.

The Seagulls were sitting in fourth place when Taylor arrived and he enabled them to kick on further to eventually secure the league title by six points. During Taylor's 33 games in charge of the Seagulls, the South Coast outfit only tasted defeat four times.

After leaving Brighton during the following summer, the next part of Taylor's footballing adventure took him to sleeping giants Hull City in November 2002.

He would join the Tigers just as the Humberside outfit were about to move to the 25,000 all-seater KC Stadium.

When Taylor joined Hull, he found them in 18th position in the league's basement division. When he left the KC in June 2006, the Tigers were then handily placed in the Championship following two successive promotions.

During his time at Hull and latterly,Crystal Palace, Taylor once again stepped in to help the F.A and coach England's Under 21's for three years on a part time basis.

His second spell in the national set up was equally as successful as his first as Taylor's Under 21's only suffered two defeats in 16 matches.

Taylor's credible work at Hull would attract the attentions of one of his former clubs Crystal Palace.

After both club's agreed a substantial compensation package, Taylor made the move to Selhurst Park, although he would only last 16 months with Palace.

The London club's financial situation at the time forced them to sell several marque players, leaving Taylor with an almost impossible job to make Palace a force in the Championship.

After his departure from Selhurst Park, Taylor enjoyed a six month spell at Stevenage Borough before moving onto Wycombe Wanderers in May 2008.

Taylor started his Wycombe career with a bang as the Chairboys went 18 matches unbeaten at the beginning of the 2008/2009 season.

Wycombe continued to be a promotion contender under Taylor's stewardship throughout the season as they went onto secure promotion to League 1 on the final day of the regular season.

Taylor left the Chairboys at the start of Wycombe's League 1 dream in October 2009 following a slow beginning to the season.

He has enjoyed a brief spell away from football since until returning back to the game with the Bantams in February 2010.