Do I Not Like That! England's Downfall Under Graham Taylor | Part Two
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What It Was. In today's episode, co-hosts Rob Draper and Jonathan Wilson continue Graham Taylor’s England story as the 1994 World Cup qualifying begins to wobble, with Paul Gascoigne’s talent and volatility dominating the narrative. They examine how Taylor’s pragmatic, direct style—shaped by lower-league realities and later linked (often unfairly) to FA long-ball doctrine—collided with more technical European approaches, and how internal battles involving Charles Hughes and data pioneer Charles Reap poisoned the backdrop. England’s campaign lurches through a Norway draw at Wembley after a late stunner, a Gascoigne-inspired win over Turkey, and a damaging 2–2 draw with the Netherlands featuring an undetected elbow and a late penalty. With Gascoigne returning in a mask, England then stumble in a hostile Poland away match and escape with a late equaliser, before Taylor’s brutal “headless chickens” verdict leaves his team heading to Oslo under growing pressure.
00:24 Setting the Scene
03:08 Taylor’s Pragmatic Roots
06:50 Pressing vs Possession
10:04 Charles Hughes and the Winning Formula
13:55 Reap vs Hughes Fallout
19:31 Norway’s Long Ball Irony
21:59 Back to Qualifying Hopes
24:10 Gazza’s Norway Controversy
26:50 Taylor’s Gaza Dilemma
28:22 Norway Opener Heartbreak
30:53 Turkey Win and Dependence
32:53 Too Honest With Press
40:12 Dutch Clash at Wembley
44:13 Mask Return and Mania
45:52 Poland Chaos and Critique
49:03 Headless Chickens Finale
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This fella has got something about him which can still, if we're not careful, bring him down. |
| 0:12.8 | You're on the edge all the time with him. |
| 0:15.0 | He's probably at his most vulnerable now he's back playing. |
| 0:18.2 | There's time to think about other things things and it could be that people may suggest |
| 0:21.7 | he gets involved in all sorts of things. Welcome to It Was What It Was and I'm Rob Draper. I'm here with |
| 0:27.7 | Jonathan Wilson and this is part two of our special on Graham Taylor's England campaign. His time is |
| 0:34.0 | England manager famously immortalised in the Impossible Job documentary. |
| 0:40.3 | And Jonathan, in part one, you got us to the part where England have been run out of town in the Euro 92. |
| 0:47.7 | They've lost 2-1 to Sweden. |
| 0:50.0 | And the famous headline, Swedes 2, Turnips 1, a brilliant headline, but obviously something |
| 0:55.6 | very unkind in which will stick with Turnip Taylor throughout his career, kind of undermines |
| 1:01.3 | his credibility. He's been beginning to be seen as a figure of fun. And that quote from Taylor |
| 1:07.6 | was about Paul Gascoigne, but Gascoigne, back in good form, |
| 1:12.4 | a central figure to Taylor's England, |
| 1:14.4 | but actually playing well when he's joined Lazio, |
| 1:17.8 | he's recovered from his ACL injury |
| 1:20.0 | which we talked about in part one, |
| 1:21.7 | and he looks like he might be part of an England team |
| 1:24.5 | that does well qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, doesn't he? |
| 1:29.3 | There are certain promising signs, certainly. |
| 1:32.4 | So, yeah, we're going to take the story today from the Eurozone 1992, |
| 1:38.9 | basically a year forward to that game in, just the eve of that game in Oslo in June 1993, the game we talked |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Overlap, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Overlap and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.