Historian seeking friends and family of ex-Sunderland, Man United and Newcastle United man Ernie Taylor

Sunderland historian Mark Metcalf is looking to speak to friends and family of Durham-born former footballer Ernie Taylor.

“Taylor was born in St. Luke’s Road in Pallion on the 2nd of September 1925. His family was so mad about football that conversation rarely touched on any other subject,” writes Metcalf, who is writing a book on Taylor and wishes to speak to any person with a connection to the former footballer.

“That same afternoon at Roker Park, Sunderland, who Ernie would go on to represent, but not before highly successful spells with Newcastle United, Blackpool and Manchester United, beat Blackburn Rovers, then record winners of the FA Cup, which Ernie won twice, by six goals to nil.

“David Halliday, a prolific scorer who averaged almost a goal a game in his 175 appearances for Sunderland, scored twice. Ernie was the youngest of 11 children, 8 boys and 3 girls. His first memories were of sitting on his dad’s knee hearing talk of football, and the first household scene he could recall was of rows of football boots in the scullery, and masses of dirty football strips and shorts with his mother bending over the old ‘poss tub’ on washing days and then fishing out the family sporting gear all glistening and white.

“It was football, football, football. Nobody objected to the constant chatter about football, not even his sisters. Ernie’s mother was keen to support him such that by the time he was playing centre forward aged eight for his school junior team on a Saturday morning she was never absent from the touchline. What else could Ernie be accepted as a footballer? This was his heritage; a family, where to play football and talk about it, and to want to be good at it, was like breathing.”

Any person with a connection to Taylor can contact Mark Metcalf on social media by clicking this link. Alternatively, any interested person can also email Mark at [email protected].