By Matt Cecil
In all the exuberant celebrations of the Blues' promotion to League One last weekend, it seems to have passed without notice that the clash with Notts County represented Peter Taylor's 50th game in charge of the Wanderers. And what a half century it has been.
Taylor's Fifty In Photos
Under the guidance of the former England coach, Wanderers have achieved promotion for the first time in fifteen years and re-written the history books with a number of achievements throughout the course of the campaign, including a win record which places Taylor as the club's most successful manager since Martin O'Neill.
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Previous managers:
Martin O'Neill - 49%
Alan Smith - 25%
John Gregory - 33%
Neil Smillie - 28%
Lawrie Sanchez - 35%
Tony Adams - 23%
John Gorman - 36%
Paul Lambert - 41% |
With 21 victories from his 50 matches at the helm, Taylor's record of 42% just tops Paul Lambert's total of 41% from 108 games in charge, while John Gorman is next in the list with 36%.
Current Aston Villa manager O'Neill may be ahead with a win record of 49% during his two seasons in the Football League with the Blues but few supporters would complain with Taylor's success of being the first man to bring promotion to Adams Park since O'Neill's side triumphed in the play-offs in 1994.
Of course, it's been a season to remember for many other reasons too, and it all began with a new club record of five clean sheets in a row in the first month of the season, during which time the Blues also eclipsed the club record for the longest period of time without conceding.
Taylor's early season table-toppers continued to make progress and embarked on a fantastic 18-match unbeaten run from the start of the campaign, just three short of the all-time best, with Taylor's contacts in the game helping to bring talented players such as Matt Harrold, Angelo Balanta and Franck Moussa to Adams Park.
The ex-Premiership boss collected the League Two Manager of the Month award in December and saw his side stretch their lead at the top of the table to nine points over Christmas with a 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town, before defeating Bury in a game which ultimately proved decisive in the promotion race.
A number of injuries and postponed matches made life hard in the New Year but new arrivals such as Jon-Paul Pittman added a fresh boost to the team, particularly following the sale of key defender of Mike Williamson. Despite losing top spot in February, the Blues remained hard to beat and never lost grip of the automatic promotion places.
Taylor's expertise in the transfer market was on show yet again in March when he fought off competition from over 20 clubs to bring Bristol City striker John Akinde to the club on a loan deal, along with Chelsea starlet Lee Sawyer, and the pair would make a massive impact as the season drew to a climax.
A six-match winless run was ended with a last-gasp triumph at Darlington which followed a four-day break in the north-east, and the feel-good factor remained as the Blues won three of their next four matches, pushing them closer to promotion and breaking the clean sheet record in the process.
And a point at Port Vale equalled the club's all-time Football League record for the number of points in a season - an achievement which would have been eclipsed had Notts County not grabbed the late winner on the final day of the campaign.
Despite the defeat, League One status was sealed and Taylor was able to celebrate a personal landmark of equalling Neil Warnock's Football League record of five promotions as a manager, having previously guided Brighton, Gillingham and Hull (on two occasions) to higher levels.
In fact, the 56-year-old's current win record of 42% is exactly the same as he managed over almost four years with Hull, while he collected victories in more than 50% of his games in charge of both Brighton and Gillingham, proving that his winning formula has stood the test of time.
