Paul Tisdale
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![]() Tisdale managing Exeter City in 2015 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Paul Robert Tisdale | ||
Date of birth | 14 January 1973 | ||
Place of birth | Valletta, Malta | ||
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Exeter City (manager) | ||
Youth career | |||
1987–1991 | Southampton | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1991–1997 | Southampton | 16 | (1) |
1992 | → Northampton Town (loan) | 5 | (0) |
1996 | → Huddersfield Town (loan) | 2 | (0) |
1997–1998 | Bristol City | 6 | (0) |
1997–1998 | → Exeter City (loan) | 10 | (1) |
1998 | → Dundee United (loan) | 0 | (0) |
1998 | FinnPa | ||
1998–1999 | Panionios | 18 | (1) |
1999–2000 | Yeovil Town | 15 | (1) |
2007–2011 | Exeter City | 1 | (0) |
2014 | Exeter City | 0 | (0) |
Total | 73 | (4) | |
Managerial career | |||
2001–2006 | Team Bath | ||
2006– | Exeter City | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Paul Robert Tisdale (born 14 January 1973) is a former professional footballer who is the manager of Exeter City.
Tisdale represented Southampton, Bristol City, FinnPa, Panionios and Yeovil Town during a career which began in 1991 and concluded in 2000. During his time at Exeter City, he remained registered as a player between 2007 and 2011, making his début as a late substitute in a 2–1 victory at Sheffield Wednesday at the end of the 2010-11 season.
Tisdale previously managed Team Bath. Having managed Exeter City since June 2006, as of June 2015, he is the second longest-serving manager in the English Football League.
Playing career
Southampton
As a former England youth international, Tisdale came through the youth system at Southampton. He signed as a professional in June 1991. He was loaned out to Northampton Town at the end of the 1991–92 season, where he made 5 league appearances.
He eventually made his Southampton debut in a League Cup game against Huddersfield Town on 5 October 1994. Unfortunately, at this time Southampton were enduring frequent changes of manager and, as a result, Tisdale never had a settled run in the first team. Having played his last senior game for Southampton on 27 April 1996, he again went out on loan in the 1996–97 season, this time to Huddersfield Town, where he made only two appearances.
In his time at Southampton he made a total of 18 first team appearances, scoring once, against Manchester City on 16 March 1996, when he took one touch and delicately lifted the ball over goalkeeper Eike Immel. Following the departure of mentor David Merrington, Tisdale moved to Bristol City in August 1997.
Bristol City and after
At Bristol City his appearances were limited. It was while at Bristol City that Tisdale got his first taste of life at Exeter, on a 3-month loan in the 1997–98 season. He left Ashton Gate after just one year, and began a globe-trotting career, playing for FinnPa (Finland) and Panionios (Greece) before returning to spend a year with Yeovil Town.[1]
Coaching and management
Team Bath
Injury forced him to end his career early, and he took a coaching role with Team Bath in 2000. His time at the University of Bath side is best remembered for the FA Cup run in the 2002–03 season,[1] in which they became the first university team to enter the competition since Gonville & Caius in 1881. Team Bath entered in the preliminary round and advanced through four qualifying rounds to the first round proper, before losing to Mansfield Town. At Team Bath, he had a great deal of success, earning four promotions. During the summer of 2006, Tisdale left the club to take up the vacant manager's position at Exeter City.[2] He was replaced at Team Bath by Andy Tillson who later joined up with Tisdale at Exeter to become Development Coach.
Exeter City
Tisdale's achievements at Team Bath prompted Exeter City to appoint him as their manager on 26 June 2006.
Following a major summer clearout under predecessor Alex Inglethorpe, three of Tisdale's four summer signings were defenders. Centre-half Rob Edwards was the one key first-teamer, but the transfer window closed with City boasting just three strikers and no winger, much to the alarm of many Grecians. However, Tisdale's neat footballing style was warmly welcomed at St James Park, with his side's patient approach and desire to pass the ball in all areas of the pitch catching the eye amid the rough and tumble of the Conference.
In his first season at Exeter, Tisdale led The Grecians to their first appearance in the end-of-season playoffs, where they played Oxford United in the Semi-final. They lost the first leg at St James Park 1–0; however, they still managed to go through to the play-off final after a 2–1 victory at Oxford. This resulted in a 4–3 win on penalties, where they met Morecambe at Wembley on 20 May 2007 in the final in front of 40,000 fans. However, a late goal from Danny Carlton meant that Morecambe won 2–1.[1]
In Tisdale's second summer at Exeter, City's transfer moves seemed more notable for players sold or released than those signed. Tisdale also re-registered himself as a player for the beginning of the 2007–08 season, giving himself the squad number 17, but he did not feature in the first team.
However, his City side continued to play smart, tidy football and held their nerve in a tense climax to the season to qualify for the play-offs with a game to spare.
Similarly to the previous year, Exeter lost the home leg 2-1, yet won away 4-1 with 3 goals in the last 20 minutes for Exeter– this time against Torquay United – to seal a return to Wembley. Tisdale led the side out at Wembley before his side claimed a 1–0 win against Cambridge United on 18 May 2008.[1] He is one of only four managers to lead The Grecians to promotion.
With Exeter back in the Football League, Tisdale was able to bring in former Ipswich Town legend Marcus Stewart from Yeovil Town. However, in true Tisdale fashion, there were departures too. Lee Elam, Wayne Carlisle, Jon Richardson and Andy Taylor left in the summer, and early in the 2008/09 season, George Friend was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £350,000.[3]
In October 2008, Exeter City confirmed that Tisdale has signed a two-year rolling contract.[4]
City started brightly back in the League, maintaining their place in the play-off zone until the turn of the year despite sticking – Stewart aside – largely with the Blue Square play-off winning squad.
In naming Tisdale among the League's top ten managers, SkySports.com wrote in October 2008: "Tisdale is renowned for ensuring his sides play short, tidy football."[1]
In December 2008, Exeter City extended their record of league (including Conference) games without back to back defeats to 125 matches, including the first 120 under Tisdale's management. This shattered the club's previous record of 53 league games without consecutive defeats. Defeats against Brentford in the last game of 2008 and at Notts County in the first of 2009 ended the run.
Tisdale cemented his place as one of Exeter City's most successful managers ever by guiding the club to second place in League 2 during their first season back in the Football League in 5 years, in doing so becoming the first Exeter City manager to win successive promotions.
On their return to football in League 1, Exeter secured safety on the final day of the season with a 2–1 win over Huddersfield, securing 18th place in the league. The winning goal coming from Ryan Harley 8 minutes from time in front of a packed St James' Park. For Tisdale to secure League 1 status for the club was remarkable given the comparative differences in playing budget between themselves and other teams in the league such as Leeds United, Norwich City and Southampton.
Even more remarkable is the fact that on top of previous player sales, Tisdale also recouped notable sums by selling Dean Moxey to Derby County and Danny Seaborne to Southampton. He has paid a transfer fee for just one player, Troy Archibald-Henville, £50,000 from Tottenham Hotspur in 2010.
In the 2010–11 season, he guided the club to 8th in the league, equaling the club's best ever finish. Tisdale came on as a sub against Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season; the first time for the club since becoming manager, and the first time as a player for more than a decade, since his Yeovil Town days. The club confirmed his retirement as a player on 23 May 2011.[5] However, he re-registered as a player for the start of the 2014-15 season as a result of a sickness bug affecting several members of the squad.[6] He named himself as an unused substitute for Exeter's first game of the season against Portsmouth.
In the 2015-2016 season, in the 3rd round of the F.A. Cup when Exeter City was in League Two, he coached Exeter to a 2-2 home draw against Premier League Liverpool on 8th January. Exeter had twice taken the lead. Although Liverpool fielded a team with a number of Premier League players absent, the draw was a remarkable achievement, with commentators stating that Tisdale's astute tactics were related to identifying the weaknesses in the Liverpool defence.[7]
Managerial statistics
- As of 12 January 2016
Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||||
Team Bath | 1 February 2001 | 26 June 2006 | 226 | 132 | 40 | 54 | 58.41 | |||
Exeter City | 26 June 2006 | Present | 492 | 181 | 132 | 179 | 36.79 | |||
Total | 718 | 313 | 172 | 233 | 43.59 |
Honours and achievements
As a manager
Promotions
- 2000–01: Western League Division One Champion (promotion to Western League Premier) – Team Bath
- 2002–03: Western League Premier Champion (promotion to Southern League Division One) – Team Bath
- 2003–04: Southern League Division One 6th (promotion to Southern League Premier) – Team Bath
- 2007–08: Conference National Playoff Winner (promotion to League Two) – Exeter City
- 2008–09: League Two 2nd (promotion to League One) – Exeter City
Personal honours
- 2008–09: The Coca Cola Football League Two Manager of the Year[8] (As manager of Exeter City)
Personal life
In October 2013, the Daily Mirror wrote an article about Tisdale being the best dressed manager in football.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e Top Ten: Football League Bosses Sky Sports, 26 March 2009
- ^ "Player Profile: Paul Tisdale". Exeter City. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ Fans will find Friend in George Birmingham Mail, 5 September 2008
- ^ Tisdale signs new contract
- ^ "Exeter City release 12 squad members". BBC Sport. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ "Exeter City 1 Portsmouth 1". BBC Sport. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35155398
- ^ "Manager Profile: Paul Tisdale - Honours". League Managers Association. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
- ^ "Wally meets.. Exeter's Paul Tisdale - the best dressed manager in football". Daily Mirror. 5 October 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
External links
![](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Paul Tisdale at Soccerbase
- Paul Tisdale management career statistics at Soccerbase
- Use dmy dates from August 2011
- 1973 births
- Living people
- People from Valletta
- Maltese footballers
- English footballers
- Association football midfielders
- Bristol City F.C. players
- Exeter City F.C. players
- Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players
- Northampton Town F.C. players
- Panionios G.S.S. players
- Southampton F.C. players
- Yeovil Town F.C. players
- Premier League players
- The Football League players
- English football managers
- Exeter City F.C. managers
- The Football League managers
- National League (English football) managers
- People educated at City of Bath Boys' School
- FinnPa players