Peter Taylor, who played for England and later managed the national team in a caretaker capacity, made just eight appearances for Exeter City at the end of a professional career that had included time at Southend United, Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient. After finishing playing Peter managed a host of clubs and was still working in non-league football at the age of seventy.    

Peter started at Southend United as a teenager in 1971 and was signed by Crystal Palace manager Malcolm Allison two years later. Making a big impression at Selhurst Park, Peter had played for England by the time he moved to Tottenham Hotspur in September 1976. 

Scoring 31 goals in 123 league games for Spurs, and never reappearing for England, Peter didn’t have quite as long a top-flight career as had been anticipated and was next on the move to Orient in November 1980.

Having had a loan spell with Oldham Athletic in January 1983, Peter had left Brisbane Road and was playing non-league football for Maidstone United when, early in 1983/84, he was approached by Exeter City manager Gerry Francis. 

With Francis’s tenure at St James’ Park getting off to an uncertain start Peter agreed a deal with the Grecians and made his debut in a 3-0 defeat at Wimbledon on 24 September 1983. Playing a total of eight league matches, the last being at Preston in late November, Peter soon resumed his career with Maidstone and later played for Chelmsford before agreeing to become player-manager of Dartford in 1986.

After gaining expereince in non-league management, Peter began his Football League managerial career with his original club Southend United in August 1993. After eighteen months at Roots Hall, he later took charge at Dover Athletic before becoming manager of the England Under-21 team in July 1996.

Returning to club football with Gillingham ahead of the 1999/2000 season, Peter immediately led the Kent club to promotion through the play-offs prior to moving to Premier League side Leicester City in June 2000. Unusually, whilst with the Foxes, Peter took charge of the England team as a one-off caretaker-manager for a friendly with Italy when he was to award the England captaincy to David Beckham for the first time in the midfielder's career.

Parting company with Leicester in September 2001, Peter then won promotion with Brighton & Hove Albion before leading Hull City to a double-promotion. Now combining his club responsibilities with running the England under-21 side, Peter continued in both roles when he became manager of Crystal Palace in June 2006. Soon concentrating solely on his club work, Peter was only at Selhurst Park for sixteen months and - following a brief spell at Stevenage - later became manager of Wycombe Wanderers where once again he guided a team to promotion. 

Peter’s next managerial stop was Bradford City ahead of a period coaching the Bahrain national side. Returning to Britain after fifteen months away, Peter once more worked for the FA as he assumed responsibility for the England under-20 team for a few months during 2013. Then, later that year, Peter was back at the helm of Gillingham followed by a stint as head coach of Kerala Blasters in India and a UK-based role with the New Zealand FA assisting the national team manager.

Peter was back in Kent once again in 2017 as interim manager and director of football at Gillingham before returning to non-league management where he had started. Firstly with Dagenham & Redbridge - and then Welling United - Peter became manager of Maldon & Tiptree in December 2022 where, at the end of his first season aged seventy, he was able to claim 37 years in football management.