Gordon Taylor (footballer)

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Taylor was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. He played over 250 matches for Bolton Wanderers and scored more than 50 goals before being transferred to Birmingham City in 1970. He joined Blackburn Rovers in 1976 and spent the 1977 close season playing in the North American Soccer League for the Vancouver Whitecaps. He returned to play for Blackburn and finally Bury before retiring in 1980 to work full-time for the PFA.

Taylor earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from University of London in 1969 as an external student. In 2007, he was a member of FIFA's football committee. He is an alumnus of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Gordon Alexander Taylor OBE (born 28 December 1944) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He was chief executive of the English footballers' trades union, the Professional Footballers' Association, for over 40 years, between 1981 and 2021. In March 2019 it was reported that he is to stand down after the completion of a "full and open review" into the PFA's finances is presented at its 2019 AGM, along with its entire management committee and chairman Ben Purkiss. He is reputed to be the highest paid union official in the world. The 2020 PFA AGM is scheduled for 26 November, and is expected to appoint four non-executive directors. In September 2020 the chair of the all party group on gambling, Carolyn Harris voiced her reservations on gambling related harm exampled by the Union's CEO.