Gordon Taylor (footballer)

Gordon Taylor

Personal information
Full name	Gordon Alexander Taylor
Date of birth	(1944-12-28) 28 December 1944
Place of birth	Ashton-under-Lyne, England
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
1959–1960	Curzon Ashton
1960–1962	Bolton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1962–1970	Bolton Wanderers	258	(41)
1970–1976	Birmingham City	166	(9)
1976–1978	Blackburn Rovers	64	(3)
1977	→ Vancouver Whitecaps (loan)	16	(1)
1978–1980	Bury	60	(2)
Total		564	(56)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gordon Alexander Taylor OBE (born 28 December 1944) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He has been chief executive of the English footballers' trades union, the Professional Footballers' Association, since 1981. He is reputed to be the highest paid union official in the world.

Taylor was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. He played over 250 games for Bolton Wanderers and scored more than 50 goals before being transferred to Birmingham City in 1970. He joined Blackburn Rovers in 1976 and spent the 1977 close season playing in the North American Soccer League for the Vancouver Whitecaps. He returned to play for Blackburn and finally Bury before retiring in 1980 to work full-time for the PFA.

Taylor has a degree in economics and is a member of FIFA's football committee. He is an alumnus of Manchester Metropolitan University.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

His mobile phone messages were allegedly hacked by a private investigator employed by the News of the World newspaper. The Guardian reported that News International (the owner of News of the World) paid Taylor £700,000 ($1.1 million) in legal costs and damages in exchange for a confidentiality agreement barring him from speaking about the case.