| 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) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| 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) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2001–2006 | Team Bath | ||
| 2006– | Exeter City | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Paul Robert Tisdale (born 14 January 1973 in Malta) is a retired professional footballer. He is the current manager of Exeter City.
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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.
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]
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.
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 pre-season 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 post-season playoffs, where they played Oxford United. They lost the first leg at St James Park 1–0; however, they recorded a thrilling 2–1 victory at Oxford and reached the play off final with a 4–3 win on penalties, where they met Morecambe at Wembley on 20 May, losing 2–1.[1]
Tisdale 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.
In the summer of 2007, Tisdale's moves in the transfer market seemed more notable for players sold or released than those signed. 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.
As with the previous year, Exeter lost the home play-off first leg to a freak goal, but won away – this time against Torquay – to win a return to Wembley.
Tisdale led Exeter City to promotion via the play-offs in his second season in charge, after a 1–0 win against Cambridge United at Stadium 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.[2]
In October 2008, Exeter City confirmed that Tisdale has signed a two year contract.
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 their first season back in the Football League, in so doing becoming the first Exeter City manager to win successive promotions.
On their return to football in League 1, Exeter City 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 8 minutes from time in front of a packed St James' Park. Huddersfield were in the playoff positions at the time. 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, he 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 the 2010–11 season, he guided the club to 8th in the league. 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.[3]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Exeter City | 26 June 2006[4] | Present | 291 | 115 | 94 | 82 | 39.52 | |
As at 2 January 2012
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