Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a centre-forward and was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster.
Career
thumb|Taylor (back row, second from right) in a [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United team photo in 1957]]
Taylor was born in Smithies, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, on 29 January 1932, one of six children born to Charles and Violet Taylor. He did not pass the eleven-plus and ended up as a pupil at Raley Secondary Modern School, leaving in 1947. He began his football career playing for a team at the colliery where he worked. Two years later, he signed for Barnsley. He made his first-team debut at the age of 18 on 7 October 1950, in a 3–1 home win against Grimsby Town. In his next match, on 4 November 1950, he scored a hat-trick in a 7–0 victory against Queens Park Rangers.
Taylor died in the Munich air disaster, aged 26, on 6 February 1958. He had recently become engaged to his fiancée Carol.
He is buried at Monk Bretton Cemetery in his hometown Barnsley.
Taylor holds the all-time Manchester United league goal strike record of 0.67 goals per game.
On 8 July 2011, a blue plaque was unveiled at 22 Great Stone Road in Stretford. This was a boarding house in the 1950s and Manchester United used it as lodgings for their unmarried players – particularly the ones whose families did not live locally. Taylor lived there with players including David Pegg and Mark Jones until these players were killed at Munich, by which time Jones had already married and left the house. A number of players who survived the crash or who were not on the plane also lodged at this house. The landlady was Margaret Watson.
The plaque is sponsored by Stretford High School (which is only 50 yards away) and came about as a result of a local history project undertaken by the pupils at the school. The plaque was unveiled by the cricket umpire Dickie Bird, who was at school with Taylor in Barnsley.
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
! rowspan="2" |Season
! colspan="2" |League
!colspan=2|Cup
!colspan=2|Continental
!colspan=2|Other
!colspan=2|Total
|-
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="4"|Barnsley
|1950–51
|12||7||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||12||7
|-
|1951–52
|4||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||4||0
|-
|1952–53
|28||19||2||2||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||30||21
|-
!Total
!44!!26!!2!!2!!colspan="2"|—!!colspan="2"|—!!46!!28
|-
|rowspan=7|Manchester United
|1952–53
|11||10||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||11||10
|-
|1953–54
|35||22||1||1||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||36||23
|-
|1954–55
|30||20||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||31||20
|-
|1955–56
|33||25||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||34||25
|-
|1956–57
|32||22||4||4||8||8||1||0||45||34
|-
|1957–58
|25||16||2||0||6||3||1||3||34||22
|-
!Total
!166!!112!!9!!5!!14!!11!!2!!3!!191!!131
|-
!colspan=2|Career total
!210||138||11||7||14||11||2||7||237||162
|}
International goals
:Scores and results list England's goal tally first. Score after each Taylor goal is shown in bold with asterisk.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Minute !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1 || 24 May 1953 || Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile || || 48' || 1*–0 || 2–1 || Friendly
|-
| 2 || 31 May 1953 || Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay || || 89' || 1*–2 || 1–2 || Friendly
|-
| 3 || rowspan="2" | 9 May 1956 || rowspan="2" | Wembley Stadium, London, England || rowspan="2" | || 3' || 1*–0 || rowspan="2" | 4–2 || rowspan="2" | Friendly
|-
| 4 || 65' || 3*–2
|-
| 5 || rowspan="2" | 28 November 1956 || rowspan="2" | Wembley Stadium, London, England || rowspan="2" | || 65' || 2*–0 || rowspan="2" | 3–0 || rowspan="2" | Friendly
|-
| 6 || 89' || 3*–0
|-
| 7 || rowspan="3" | 5 December 1956 || rowspan="3" | Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, England || rowspan="3" | || 18' || 1*–0 || rowspan="3" | 5–2 || rowspan="3" | 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
|-
| 8 || 20' || 2*–0
|-
| 9 || 48' || 3*–1
|-
| 10 || rowspan="3" | 8 May 1957 || rowspan="3" | Wembley Stadium, London, England || rowspan="3" | || 8' || 1*–0 || rowspan="3" | 5–1 || rowspan="3" | 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
|-
| 11 || 17' || 2*–0
|-
| 12 || 40' || 4*–0
|-
| 13 || rowspan="2" | 15 May 1957 || rowspan="2" | Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark || rowspan="2" | || 71' || 2*–1 || rowspan="2" | 4–1 || rowspan="2" | 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
|-
| 14 || 86' || 4*–1
|-
| 15 || rowspan="2" | 27 November 1957 || rowspan="2" | Wembley Stadium, London, England || rowspan="2" | || 3' || 1*–0 || rowspan="2" | 4–0 || rowspan="2" | Friendly
|-
| 16 || 33' || 3*–0
|}
Honours
Manchester United
- Football League First Division: 1955–56, 1956–57
- FA Charity Shield: 1956, 1957
- FA Cup runner-up: 1956–57
Individual
- Football League 100 Legends: 1998 (inducted)