Taylor: I know the pressure Sven's under

Battered, bewildered, demeaned and derided, he was caricatured as a turnip after the 2-1 defeat in Sweden in 1992. Results failed to improve and the media bayed for his resignation.

There were no skeletons in his cupboards but, from the footballing point of view, his best was not quite good enough at the highest level. He suffered more personal abuse from the tabloid media than any England manager before or since.

The media frenzy surrounding England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has re-awakened many of the miserable moments he had skimming through the tabloid press when he was manager.

Taylor chuckles about it now, but it was a bitter experience. "When you become England manager the first thing you notice is the increased interest in all that you do," he said.

"As a club manager you get criticism in the papers but that is nothing compared to the criticism you can receive as international manager.

"You're there for everyone to praise and everyone to criticise. Because the team belongs to the nation it also belongs to the national media. You're caught in the glare. There's always a small percentage of critics for whom it becomes personal. The intense criticism filters down through your family . . . wife, children, uncles, aunts.

"I think any England manager would say it takes the best part of two years to adapt to all aspects of the international job. Today Bobby Robson is regarded as a success because he reached the semifinals of the World Cup, but I can remember some of the abuse he received. It makes the job very intense. You need to be a strong individual to handle it.

"I'm remembered as unsuccessful - I don't argue because I failed to qualify for the World Cup - but a decade later people still talk to me about when I was England manager. And do you know which group of people, apart from my family, have been most supportive? London cabbies. They've always had something good to say to me."

Taylor refused to be drawn on the Eriksson controversy. "All I would say is that when you accept the job you sign away part of your private life," he said.

"I'm not moralising, but when you are in that kind of public position your private life is seen as a legitimate target by certain sections of the media. If you're aware of that when you take the job, it's then up to you how you behave. When you're winning it's a fantastic job, but when you accept the package that goes with the job you have to take all of it."