Music legend Elton John has credited late former England manager Graham Taylor for having "saved his life".
The 76-year-old singer admitted a foul-mouthed confrontation from the then-Watford boss, in which he warned the 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' hitmaker his drinking and drug taking was "letting down" himself and the club shocked him into receiving help for his issues, reports Female First UK.
An extract from new book 'Watford Forever: How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other' published by The Sunday Times newspaper revealed Elton said: 바카라I바카라ve no doubt that Graham saved my life. Without him, I would have been lost."
As per Female First UK, on December 26, 1981, Elton -- who owned the club -- immediately poured himself a whisky when he and Graham arrived at the Vicarage Road stadium, and the next day, the manager arrived early for a board meeting in order to privately confront his boss.
According to the book, Elton sat down and Graham -- who died of a heart attack in 2017 -- grabbed a bottle of brandy and slammed it on the table in front of him as he said: 바카라That바카라s what you have for breakfast, isn바카라t it?.바카라
바카라What the f*** do you think you바카라re doing? You바카라re letting yourself down and you바카라re letting the club down. If you ever turn up looking like this again, that바카라s f****** it, as far as I바카라m concerned,바카라 he added.
The 'Candle in the Wind' singer was "stunned and mortified" by Graham's remarks but knew he had to listen.
Elton told the book's author John Preston: 바카라It shook me to the core. It was one of those moments when all the delusions that I바카라d surrounded myself with, all the lies I바카라d told myself, fell away. I was just left there, stunned and mortified. I certainly wouldn바카라t have taken it from anyone else; I would just have told them to f*** off. But because Graham came from outside my world, somehow that meant I couldn바카라t ignore it바카라.
He further mentioned, 바카라I may have been the king of my castle, but that was completely unimportant to him. Graham just cared about me as a person. About the fact that if I carried on the way I was going, then I was going to kill myself. That was what really shone through; behind his anger, I could see that he really loved me.바카라
Elton -- who took control of Watford in 1976 before selling it on in 1987 -- credits the intervention for kick-starting his recovery.
바카라Something took root inside me that day which had quietly been growing all this time. It launched me on the road to recovery. Although there were plenty of false dawns along the way, lots of setbacks and broken promises, it gave me the kick-start I needed. In effect, Graham saved my life, I바카라ve never had the slightest doubt about that,바카라 he said.
The 'Philadelphia Freedom' singer was determined to show he was worthy of Graham's respect.
He said: 바카라I would have done anything for that, literally anything.바카라
