Sad to hear today of the passing of ex Alty Manager Bernard Taylor.
From John Laidlar's excellent Alty Files website...
BERNARD TAYLOR
The death has been announced of former Altrincham FC manager Bernard Taylor who passed away last Wednesday. Bernard was manager of Altrincham FC from March 1998 to May 2000. He was appointed to the role after the resignation of John King and Graham Heathcote which had taken place on 5 March 1998. At the time, Bernard was the Altrincham FC Reserves' manager.
His first managerial success came in May 1998 when Altrincham won the UniBond League Cup defeating Gainsborough Trinity at Chesterfield's Saltergate stadium.
In 1998-99 he was manager of the team which regained promotion to the Football Conference, following the club's first ever relegation in 1997. With coach Graham Heathcote alongside Bernard, Alty started the 1999-2000 season quite well. However, by the end of the campaign, although the team had only lost 14 of its 42 games, a total of 19 draws meant that Altrincham had not gathered enough points and were relegated back down to the Northern Premier League.
Bernard resigned at the end of that season and was succeeded by Mark Ward. Bernard's later roles in football included managing Kidsgrove Athletic.