Exclusive:Dave Bassett’s emotional tribute to Sheffield United “decent man” Geoff Taylor after unsung hero’s death, 92

It was a personal and professional relationship that spanned more than 60 years and so there seemed no-one better placed to remember the impact that Geoff Taylor made at Sheffield United than the man who brought him there. Dave “Harry” Bassett first encountered Taylor when the former was a 17-year-old playing amateur football in their native London.

Their partnership continued when Bassett moved into coaching, with spells at Wimbledon, Watford and then, most memorably, at Bramall Lane. Taylor was seen at times as the good cop to the more vociferous Bassett’s bad, but he was also a skilled coach who had a great record bringing through young players - especially at Plough Lane, his success stories including future Blades men John Gannon and Simon Tracey.

Brian Deane, one of the biggest success stories of the Bassett era, this morning paid tribute to Taylor, who celebrated his 92nd birthday last month, admitting he and Bassett had “helped put the likes of me on our journey.” A celebration for Taylor’s 90th birthday two years ago saw a number of former players and staff gather to celebrate and the esteem in which he was held, by anyone who worked with him, showed the coach, and man, he was.

“I hit it off with Geoff from when we were young,” Bassett told The Star this afternoon. “He did a great job. He did a lot for all the players. Then he became the assistant manager and for the young players at the time, he was unbelievable. He was strict, but at the same time he was very fair and he was good at developing youngsters.

“His record of players he had at youth level spoke for itself and he was interested when he was at United as well. He was a great No.2 for me. He had a different temperament and was very knowledgeable and sensible. He complemented me. He had strengths I didn’t have and it suited me to have him there as a wise head and someone I respected from the age of 17.

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“It wasn’t all about Dave Bassett; it was a whole-team effort and Geoff was a big part of that. I trusted him, I took on board what he said. I didn’t agree with everything he said, and he certainly didn’t agree with everything I said either! But once the decision was made we got on with it and didn’t hark back. We had a good understanding.

“Geoff wasn’t interested in going into boardrooms or dealing with the press, he used to do his work and was conscientious with us. He was in the club at six in the morning and he was my eyes and ears on a lot of occasions, if he thought anything was brewing and festering he’d talk to me and I trusted his input.”

They didn’t always agree, either, as most memorably demonstrated at half-time of United’s crunch promotion clash at Leicester City in 1990 when Bassett and Taylor couldn’t decide who was the “zone man” at set-pieces. The comical scene was captured for posterity by the BBC cameras filming the United! documentary, with players at the time wondering why the coaches were going at each other with United cruising towards promotion back to the first division.

“We had a bond there,” Bassett added. “We went out a lot watching games and we used to meet up as time went on but we didn’t live in one another’s pockets or anything. It was similar to Howard Wilkinson with Mick Hennigan at Leeds. Different personalities and views and ways, but whenever Geoff came to see me about something I used to take it on board because I respected him and his opinion.

“If I was off somewhere and training needed to be done, I knew everything was in good hands with him. He was a good coach. We’d known each other 63 bloody years! He was sensible, a clean-living guy. He was a good, decent type who got on with people. He wasn’t flash in any way whatsoever. He was just a good, all-round decent man.”