Sport: What the papers said about . . . Graham Taylor

'Graham Taylor wanted to go down in history. He will. The worst England manager of all time.' The Sun

'The team Taylor inherited from Bobby Robson in 1990 had just reached the semi-finals, where they were unlucky to lose on penalties to the eventual champions, West Germany. Three years on, Taylor's dummies are also-rans, a deterioration so pronounced that a change of management is both overdue and inevitable. He should leave the same way as he arrived. Fired with enthusiasm.' The Independent

'Taylor must take the rap and no amount of buck-passing can alter this reality . . . There will be talk now of the wider responsibilities of English football, how Taylor was a victim of a system that has broken down. It misses the central point that this was an England team devoid of poise, of organisation, of a sense of what it was doing and why.' Daily Express

'England's fall from grace leaves Taylor and his FA bosses guilty of criminal neglect.' Daily Star

'Taylor . . . has to live hereafter with the chastening knowledge that even if the Poles had delivered their half of the miracle last night he still wasn't manager enough to take advantage.' Daily Mail

'England's 400th international victory was a hollow one. The win will be perceived almost as a defeat and Taylor goes into the history books as the manager who failed to take England to the 1994 World Cup finals.' The Daily Telegraph

'The FA has given no hint of leadership from the top, nothing that gives rise to belief that it has the men to re-invigorate the malaise that goes considerably deeper than Taylor.' The Times

'Earlier, as Taylor and his players surveyed a hollow bowl of vacant seats, they could have been forgiven for believing that the world had already turned its back on them.' The Guardian

'Taylor desperately wanted to succeed, but all along the suspicion remained that he was out of his depth.' Daily Mirror

'We thought it was all over. It is now.' Today