Graham Taylor's final match as manager ended in farce and embarrassment as England conceded the quickest goal in their history to tiny San Marino. Part-timer Davide Gualtieri pounced on a Stuart Pearce back-pass to score after just nine seconds. Needing to win by seven clear goals to have any chance of qualifying for the World Cup finals, England never really recovered from this first-minute humiliation and a scrappy display was lifted only by Ian Wright's four-goal haul against woefully weak opposition. It all proved academic because Holland clinched the World Cup place with a victory in Poland. Taylor was in charge for 38 matches, of which 18 were won, 13 drawn and seven lost.  In retrospect it was easy to see that the Football Association were wrong to appoint Taylor and his righthand man Lawrie McMenemy. Neither kicked a ball in the (old) First Division let alone for England, and their first experience of the international game was when they took over the running of the England team.  Both are immensely likeable men with strong personalities, but they were handicapped by not having had even the tiniest taste of international football. It meant that both were learning as they went along from their first day in the job, and when things started to go wrong they struggled to get the respect of experienced players who were disdainful of their lack of playing achievements. Now, enter El Tel!

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Official teamsheet
Rothman's Yearbooks
F.A. Yearbook
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG