Watford Forever : How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other by John Preston and Elton John

The unforgettable story, decades before Ted Lasso, of the real-life Watford Football Team, transformed into a
powerhouse by coach Graham Taylor and owner Elton John.
Nothing has brought English soccer more immediately into the American mainstream than Ted Lasso, which
captivated the nation in thirty-four episodes over three seasons. But before there was Jason Sudeikis’s lovable
and, at first, hapless AFC Richmond, there was Watford Football Club, a team from the outskirts of London
with barely enough fans to fill its stands—and which, in the mid-1970s, was languishing in 92nd place at the
bottom of the last division of the English Football League. That is, until rock superstar Elton John—who, with
his dad, had followed the team as a boy—bought the lowly franchise and, with legendary manager Graham
Taylor, transformed the luckless football club into a top-seeded Premier League team. Inspiring, funny, and
ultimately heartbreaking, Watford Forever recalls the improbably tender relationship between Elton John and
Taylor, a straight-talking former fullback, who together beat the odds and their personal demons to save a club
and a struggling community.