Paul Tisdale

Paul Tisdale
Personal information
Full namePaul Robert Tisdale
Date of birth14 January 1973
Place of birthValletta, Malta
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
Exeter City (player-manager)
Number17
Youth career
1987–1991Southampton
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1991–1997Southampton16(1)
1992→ Northampton Town (loan)5(0)
1996→ Huddersfield Town (loan)2(0)
1997–1998Bristol City6(0)
1997–1998→ Exeter City (loan)10(1)
1998→ Dundee United (loan)0(0)
1998FinnPa
1998–1999Panionios18(1)
1999–2000Yeovil Town15(1)
2007–2011Exeter City1(0)
2014–Exeter City0(0)
Total73(4)
Teams managed
2001–2006Team Bath
2006–Exeter City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Paul Robert Tisdale (born 14 January 1973) is a former footballer who is the current manager of Exeter City. He is also a retired professional footballer, after playing for Southampton, Bristol City, FinnPa, Panionios and Yeovil Town.

Tisdale previously managed Team Bath and is statistically the most successful Exeter manager in their history. He is currently the second longest serving manager in English League Football managing Exeter City for over seven years.

Playing career

Southampton

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 the 20th 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.

Managerial statistics

As of 25 April 2015
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Team Bath 1 February 2001 26 June 2006 226 132 40 54 58.41
Exeter City 26 June 2006 Present 459 168 124 167 36.60
Total 685 300 164 221 43.80

Honours and achievements

As a manager

Promotions

Personal honours

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Top Ten: Football League Bosses Sky Sports, 26 March 2009
  2. ↑ "Player Profile: Paul Tisdale". Exeter City. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Fans will find Friend in George Birmingham Mail, 5 September 2008
  4. ↑ Tisdale signs new contract
  5. ↑ "Exeter City release 12 squad members". BBC Sport. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  6. ↑ . BBC Sport. 23 May 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28647908. Retrieved 9 August 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Manager Profile: Paul Tisdale - Honours". League Managers Association. Retrieved 24 January 2012.

External links