Wembley to Welling… via Bahrain and India! He made David Beckham England captain for the first time in 2000 and worked for cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar - now Peter Taylor is ready for his next adventure

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Peter Taylor's 36-year managerial career has taken him from the glamour of the England national team to the travails of non-League football — via the Persian Gulf of Bahrain and Malabar Coast of India.

Few coaching journeys will have been as varied as that of Taylor, now 69. If God loves a trier, Taylor certainly loves a challenge. A glutton for punishment? Not in Taylor's eyes. It's clear the dugout is still the place he wants to be.

'I'm always learning,' Taylor tells Sportsmail. 'I'm a better manager now than 20 years ago because I've learned from mistakes I've made. Every club you're at, whether it's gone well or not, you learn.'

Peter Taylor spoke to Sportsmail about his long managerial career and his desire to continue

The statistics of Taylor's managerial career

Taylor was let go by Welling United, who play in the sixth-tier National League South, earlier this month. The decision by owner Mark Goldberg, he says, was not football-related.

Taylor was starting to get pressure on a loan signing following the arrival of a new investor and questioned the situation with Goldberg before Welling's 1-1 draw with Bath City on March 12. The pair had words and, at 7.30pm after the game, Goldberg rang Taylor to inform him he had been sacked.

'I had a disagreement with the chairman before the game, it wasn't a football decision at all,' Taylor says. 'He said our relationship isn't as good any more and he thought we should go our separate ways.

'I'm not old school on the training pitch but I'm old school in my life. If things go on about signing a player that the manager didn't know as much about as he should do, that's where I'm old school. When it comes to taking the boys on a training session that I know they'll absolutely love, I'm certainly not old school there.'

Taylor's departure does not seem to have gone down well with fans or players. 'If you were to see the number of texts I've had from players, some of them you get upset about because they're saying how much they're going to miss you and how much they've learned. Our performances lately showed we were a touch away from getting it right.'

Goldberg became the majority owner of Welling in 2016 and was briefly manager. He is a previous owner of Crystal Palace but went bust nine months after buying the club in 1998. 

He also spent time as manager of Bromley. Taylor was under no illusions that the Welling job would be an uphill battle when he answered Goldberg's call in September.

Taylor made David Beckham (left) England captain for the first time against Italy in 2000

He considered giving the armband to Gareth Southgate but eventually plumped for Beckham

'I came to look at the team, they played Dartford and lost 6-0. I knew what a difficult situation it would be and I turned it down at first but something clicked and I changed my mind.

'The team definitely weren't good enough and it was the lowest budget in the league. I had to work out where I could get players from and at what cost. The only good thing about getting old is you get good contacts so I knew there were managers who would help me.

'The downside was I could only get young players and that was one of the problems. They were learning from mistakes and getting great experience but it meant we might get beat on a Saturday.'

Welling are second from bottom, one point clear of Billericay who have played a game fewer. Only one team will be relegated. 'For the players' sake alone I'd like them to stay up,' Taylor says. 'They're good lads.'

Welling was a world away from Taylor's experiences in international football. In November 2000 he took charge of England for one game and made David Beckham captain for the first time.

'Gareth Southgate and Gary Neville probably could have been a captain before David. I just looked at the year after David got sent off (in 1998) and how he handled the situation.

'He was getting booed everywhere apart from Old Trafford. But he always wanted to be with England. He never cried off. He ended up a brilliant captain.'

Taylor worked for Indian side Kerala Blasters, then co-owned by cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar

Taylor classes back-to-back promotions with Hull as his greatest achievement in management

Taylor also spent time as manager of the Bahrain from 2011 until 2012. That role brought different selection headaches, with the government banning some players due to their political beliefs. He still managed to win two gold medals at the Arab and Gulf Co-operation Council Games. 

'It was tough but I'm glad I did it. I looked at the Olympic team in the first week and I said, 'That team is better than the national team' so I changed them all over. 'They said, 'Coach, Bahrain have never won a thing and if we ever win something you'll get a Rolex watch'. I never got anything!'

If Bahrain wasn't enough of a challenge, Taylor spent five months with Indian Super League team Kerala Blasters in 2015, who at the time were co-owned by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

'It was a new league, the support was amazing. We'd have crowds of 80,000 and 10,000 locked out. It was an amazing atmosphere. Eventually it's going to be as big as their cricket, I'm sure.'

Despite his travels, Taylor classes his back-to-back promotions with Hull City as his greatest achievement in management. 'When I went there they were 18th in Division Two, they had unbelievable potential, a sleeping giant.

'We got them up to the Championship and made a lot of money on players we sold. I don't think I could ever top that.'

Taylor's passion for the game is obvious and he's determined to get back in the dugout as soon as possible. 'I want to carry on doing something,' he insists. 'I drive my wife mad when I'm doing nothing!'