When Peter Taylor was appointed the new manager of Crystal Palace in the summer of 2006, it was hoped that he would bring some stability to the South London club.
After all, the 53-year-old, who had replaced Iain Dowie in the Selhurst Park hotseat, was the sixth boss to have taken charge of Palace in the previous seven years.
He also had a big task on his hands. Not only had the Eagles just been relegated following a one-season stint in the Premier League, he also had to juggle his commitments as the head coach of the England Under-21 side. There were even reports that he was not chairman Simon Jordan's number one choice for the vacancy, with Mike Newell and Graeme Souness said to have been preferred options.
Nevertheless, there was still plenty of optimism surrounding his appointment. During his three-and-a-half years with Hull City, Taylor guided the Humberside outfit to back-to-back promotions, taking them from League Two to the Championship.
Taylor also had a relatively successful playing spell with Palace during the 1970s, which supporters of a certain vintage would have remembered fondly. Over the course of his three-year stint he was voted the club's Player of the Year and also won four caps for England, despite the fact that Palace were in the third tier.
That was all supposed to buy Taylor some time, but after winning his first three Championship matches in charge, results started to tail off.
He even quit his role with the England youngsters in a bid to help Palace rediscover the consistent form that they had shown earlier in the campaign, yet the eventual 12th-placed finish was deemed to be a disappointment for a club that had been expected to challenge for an immediate return to the top flight.
Jordan kept faith with Taylor during the pre-season break, but the knives were sharpened as the 2007-08 term got underway.
A James Scowcroft hat-trick helped to thrash Southampton at the St Mary's Stadium on the opening day, but after that there was just one more victory prior to the visit of Taylor's former club Hull on matchday 10.
The game ended in a 1-1 draw courtesy of a stoppage-time penalty from visiting midfielder Dean Marney and when the final whistle was blown, Taylor and his players were jeered by a large section of the home faithful.
It seemed only a matter of time before Taylor, 54, would be on his way and the inevitable finally happened eight years ago today, with Palace 19th in the table.
Speaking about his sacking, the ex-Palace winger said: "I do appreciate that when managers do go, then they go at this time to give the new manager time to get to know the boys."
Taylor has had numerous managerial jobs since he departed Palace with the likes of Stevenage, Wycombe Wanderers, Bradford City, Gillingham and the England Under-20s.
Liam Apicella
