16th October 2001
|
The Board of Directors Birmingham City Football Club St Andrews Ground Birmingham B9 4NH |
48A Carysfort Road Crouch End London N8 8RB 16th October 2001 |
Dear Sirs,
Following the regettable departure of Trevor Francis, I am writing to apply for the vacant position of Birmingham City's football manager. My footballing CV is enclosed.
Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
Mike Taylor
| Name | Michael Paul Taylor |
|---|---|
| Nationality | English |
| Date of Birth | 12th March, 1968 |
| Address | 48A Carysfort Road, Crouch End, London N8 8RB |
| 1978-1981 | Played for Grange Athletic U-11s, U-12s and U-13s in a local Sunday league. |
|---|---|
| 1982 | Moved to Herts U-14s in the same league, due to lack of first-team football at Grange. |
| 1982 | Bishop's Stortford Boys' High School "B" Team. |
| 1987-1989 | Warwick University's Christian Union Team. |
| 1992-1999 | Played for Drummond Rovers (church team) in the McCabe Travel South London Christian League, Second Division. |
Although I have never played professionally, nor managed a team at any level, I believe I am well qualified to manage Birmingham, due to my varied playing career and extensive football-related reading. I have played in every position except goalkeeper, most often at left back and in the center of midfield, but with stints as a striker and as emergency cover in central defence.
I always watch the highlights of Premiership matches on the television, and catch Birmingham's Worthington Cup highlights when I can. I analyse the good and bad points of each performance, and as I used to pay special attention to Alan Hansen and Trevor Brooking's comments on Match of the Day before it went over to ITV, I have absorbed a lot of footballing knowledge over the last few years. I am also occasionally able to watch entire matches on friends' SKY systems, and have attended about a dozen games ``in the flesh'' over the last few years. There is no substitute for actually being there when it comes to understanding the pressures under which footballers at the highest level have to work today.
I read When Saturday Comes every month, as well as all the football reports in the Sunday Times; and I used to subscribe to FourFourTwo until they started including ``fashion shoots'' in recent issues. I am a regular contributor to football-related email lists on the internet. I have had football-related articles rejected by all three of the publications mentioned above.
I would like to develop the side organically from the one that Trevor Francis has built, rather than immediately introducing wholesale changes. I would like to construct a fluent passing side with more emphasis on technique and teamwork than Birmingham have had in the recent past, while not neglecting that valuable aspect of the Birmingham game, raw effort and what might loosely be termed character. I might add that I have never been seen by my footballing colleagues as an advocate of the ``long ball''. Neither have I ever been accused of taking a ``bung''.
If you should need references, please do not hesitate to contact: