Peter Taylor hated Stan. It was a long protracted battle. The first move was by Taylor, when Stan's agent asked about his salary in the upcoming negotiations. Taylor's response was to remove Stan's photo, immediately, from the walls of the training ground. This is what did Stan's head in.
It became ever more nasty.
Stan never wanted to leave the club. He really didn't. But Taylor couldn't cope with him, and chose, instead, to humiliate him into leaving, in every way he could. I got daily phone calls from Stan throughout this period. He was in a state, to say the least.
This was a very dark episode in our club's history and should never have happened. Martin O'Neill knew how to handle Stan, although he, too, made some mistakes, as two Alpha males sometimes get into willy-waving contests. But O'Neill was sussed. Taylor couldn't man-manage.
We could have managed Stan, and got the best out of him. He so much wanted to belong, somewhere. I remain very sad over the whole issue, as I persuaded him to come to us.
