{{Short description|Chairman of Newcastle United F.C.}} '''Wilfred B. Taylor''' was a company director who served as chairman of Newcastle United F.C. from 1953 to 1957.
==Career== Taylor was a specialist in seeking new talent for the club. In 1943, he attended a match between the Air Training Corps team of Northumberland and Yorkshire at Redheugh Park. Impressed at what he saw, he invited a 19-year-old Jackie Milburn, and some of his teammates, back to St James' Park: Newcastle's manager, Stan Seymour, had Milburn signed as player within a few days.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFWxi14YziAC&pg=PT19 |title=Jackie Milburn: A Man of Two Halves |first= Jack |last=Milburn|year=2013|publisher=Mainstream Publishing|isbn=978-1780578125}}</ref> Taylor went on the negotiate the transfer of Len Shackleton to Newcastle for a £13,000 fee in 1946.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6e8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT139 |title=The Toon: The Complete History of Newcastle United Football Club |first= Roger |last=Hutchinson|year= 2013|publisher=Birlinn|isbn=978-0857906748}}</ref>
Taylor became chairman of Newcastle United F.C. in 1953 but stood down after four years in summer 1957.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tqtg0tCWXEIC&pg=PT13 |title=Newcastle United: Fifty Years of Hurt |first=Ged |last=Clarke |year= 2011|publisher=Mainstream Publishing|isbn=978-1780573045}}</ref> He remained on the board of the club and reverted to his old role of seeking new talent: he secured the transfer to Newcastle of Stan Anderson for £35,000 in November 1963,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gb5VDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT51 |title=When Footballers Were Skint: A Journey in Search of the Soul of Football |first= Jon|last= Henderson|year= 2018|publisher=Biteback Publishing|isbn=978-1785903854}}</ref> the transfer of Kit Napier to Newcastle for £18,000 in November 1965<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002471/19651105/299/0018 |title=Newcastle chase Kit England|newspaper=Reading Evening Post|date=5 November 1965|access-date=4 August 2022}}</ref> and also persuaded the Danish player, Preben Arentoft, to sign a contract with Newcastle in March 1969.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/gibbo-files-lord-westwoods-departure-6729882 |title=The Gibbo Files: Lord Westwood's departure caused great controversy|date=21 February 2014|newspaper=Chronicle Live|access-date=4 August 2022}}</ref>
In 1963, Taylor was one of the directors who received a writ from the Newcastle player, George Eastham, on the basis that, as was typical of the retain and transfer system operating at the time, the club was refusing to allow him to transfer and this was an unfair restraint of trade.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6e8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PT216 |title=The Toon: The Complete History of Newcastle United Football Club|first=Roger |last=Hutchinson|year=2013|publisher=Birlinn|isbn=978-0857906748}}</ref> The resulting court case, at which Taylor was the lead witness for the company,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ce4NAQAAIAAJ |title=The Professionals |first= Geoffrey|last= Nicholson |year=1964|publisher=A. Deutsch|page=156}}</ref> led to reform of the transfer market.<ref name="mcardle">{{cite journal| author=McArdle, David| title=One Hundred Years of Servitude: Contractual Conflict in English Professional Football before Bosman| url=http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2000/issue2/mcardle2.html#Heading8| journal=Current Legal Issues| year=2000| access-date=23 December 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301021524/http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2000/issue2/mcardle2.html#Heading8| archive-date=1 March 2010| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Taylor became a member of the Football League Management Committee in 1964;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000769/19640429/296/0024|title=Five nominated|publisher=Coventry Evening Telegraph|date=29 April 1964|access-date=4 August 2022}}</ref> he went to be a vice-president of the English Football League and served in that role until 1970.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000729/19700531/215/0020 |title=Doubting|newspaper=The Sunday People|date=31 May 1970|access-date=4 August 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Wilf}} Category:Newcastle United F.C. directors and chairmen