Watford Forever: How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town, and Each Other

Elton John granted journalist Preston (Fall) access to his personal archives for this stirring chronicle of how the musician turned the Watford Football Club’s fortunes around after buying the team in 1976. Watford was languishing in the Fourth Division at the time, but John used his deep pockets to hire up-and-coming manager Graham Taylor. A buttoned-up traditionalist who didn’t care for rock music, Taylor appeared to be John’s polar opposite, but the two developed a close friendship grounded in their shared conviction that soccer should be above all entertaining. This led Taylor to favor an aggressive style of play that pushed Watford to “attack the whole time... running the opposition ragged and harrying them into making mistakes.” By 1982, the club had fought their way to the First Division, where they remained until Taylor left in 1987. Feeling that “things just weren’t the same,” John sold Watford by the end of the year. Preston skillfully spins Watford’s ascent into a rousing underdog story, and his access to John reveals a more intimate side of the pop star (John recalls envying Taylor’s domestic life, which was more stable than his turbulent upbringing or his globe-trotting adulthood). This will have readers cheering. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Aug.)