Former England manager Graham Taylor has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 72, BBC Sport has reported.
During his club management career, he led Watford and Aston Villa to runners-up spot in the old First Division.
He also took Watford to the 1984 FA Cup final, where his side were beaten by Everton at Wembley.
Taylor was appointed England boss in 1990 but resigned in 1993 after the team’s failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
A family statement said: “With the greatest sadness, we have to announce that Graham passed away at his home early this morning of a suspected heart attack.
“The family are devastated by this sudden and totally unexpected loss.”
Taylor started out as a player and was a defender at Grimsby and Lincoln City.
He became manager at Lincoln in 1972 and led them to to old Fourth Division title in 1975-76 before joining Watford.
In his first spell as Hornets boss between 1977 and 1987, Taylor took the club from the old Fourth Division to the top flight and, in 1983, Watford finished second to Liverpool.
Born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Taylor grew up in the industrial steel town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, a town with which he still had many connections in later life and regarded as his hometown.
The son of a sports journalist[2] with The Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, Taylor found his love of football in the stands of the Old Show Ground watching Scunthorpe United.
He became a player, playing at full back for Grimsby Town and Lincoln City.
After retiring as a player through injury in 1972, Taylor became a manager and coach. He won the Fourth Division title with Lincoln in 1976, before moving to Watford in 1977.
He took Watford from the Fourth Division to the First in five years. Under Taylor, Watford were First Division runners-up in 1982–83, and FA Cup finalists in 1984.
Taylor took over at Aston Villa in 1987, leading the club to promotion in 1988 and 2nd place in the First Division in 1989–90.
In July 1990, he became the manager of the England team. England qualified for the 1992 European Championships, but were knocked out in the group stages.
Taylor resigned in November 1993, after England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.
Taylor was heavily criticised personally and professionally during his tenure as an England manager.
Taylor faced even more criticism when a documentary, An Impossible Job, filmed the failed qualifying campaign and aired in 1994.
He was filmed berating the German linesman during the controversial defeat to the Netherlands, in an World Cup qualifier.
