Gordon Taylor has announced that he will step down as chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association.
Taylor will remain in his post during an independent review but will stand down at the next AGM after the review's completion, the trade union said in a statement.
The 74-year-old, who has been in charge since 1981, has been under increasing pressure in recent months and confirmed his departure from the role at PFA’s AGM on Wednesday afternoon.
That meeting should have taken place in November but as delayed because chairman Ben Purkiss effectively launched a revolt against Taylor.
Taylor has been heavily criticised by former players who have called for him to move aside. He earned a reported £2.29million last year, which is the highest by far of any union leader in Britain.
The PFA have also been accused in recent years of not being effective enough, despite being funded with a £26.6m share of the Premier League’s television income, especially surrounding the issues of player welfare, including helping with financial difficulties, mental health challenges and dementia.
But Taylor is not the only senior member who will depart the organisation, with Purkiss also departing along with management committee.
Gordon Taylor in numbers
4 - Taylor's age.
548 - the number of first team appearances Taylor made for Bolton, Birmingham, Blackburn and Bury.
18 - the number of years that Taylor played as a professional footballer.
1977 - the year when Taylor played for North American Soccer League club Vancouver Whitecaps.
1907 - the year in which the Professional Footballers' Association was formed.
38 - the number of years that Taylor has been chief executive of the PFA.
1 - the number of chief executives in the PFA's history.
4,000 - the number of PFA members.
2008 - the year in which Taylor received an OBE in the New Year Honours.
After the conclusion of the independent review "a formal independent recruitment process will start for a new CEO of the PFA."
Once that recruitment process has finished, Taylor, chairman Purkiss and the management committee will "all step down" at the AGM that follows the completion of the review.
In a video statement released via the PFA’s official social channels, Taylor said he was ‘proud’ of the organisation’s achievements before calling on them to ‘keep pace with the development of professional football’.
“The PFA has been my life for 40 years and I am deeply proud of everything it has achieved to support the work of professional footballers at a time of rapid change for our sport and our society,” said Gordon.
“From our work to rehabilitate English football after the nadir of the 1980s, the European bans to the Bosman ruling on the freedom of contract in the 90s and our work in securing Premier League rights in the early 2000s, we have done all that we can to make professional football a better place and a better environment.
“From the work we began to embed corporate social responsibility in football clubs now taken for granted across the country, to the work we pioneered in challenging racism in the game and in which continues to be deeply relevant today along with our other antidiscrimination measures, the increased focus on player welfare, particularly in regard to mental health and the support we have provided in the professionalization of women's football and seeing that momentum increase.
“Now however is the time for the organisation to stop, reflect on what it has achieve and consider how best it needs to continue to evolve to keep pace with the development of professional football.”
