Paul Tisdale
Encyclopedia
Paul Robert Tisdale is a retired professional footballer. He is the current manager of Exeter City
.
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.
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
.
in 2000. His time at the University of Bath
side is best remembered for the FA Cup
run in the 2002–03 season
, 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.
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.
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. 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.
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."
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.
As at 26 November 2011
Exeter City F.C.
Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003...
.
Southampton
A former EnglandEngland national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
youth international, Tisdale came through the youth system at Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
. He signed as a professional in June 1991. He was loaned out to Northampton Town
Northampton Town F.C.
Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...
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
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
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
Eike Immel
Eike Immel is a former German football goalkeeper and manager.A leading youth international goalkeeper for West Germany in 1978, Eike Immel was still seventeen years of age when he succeeded Horst Bertram as Borussia Dortmund's first-choice...
. Following the departure of mentor David Merrington
David Merrington
David Robert Merrington is a former football manager.As a player Merrington appeared in midfield for Burnley, playing 98 league games including a spell as captain. He later played for Bristol City before retiring and going into coaching .Merrington was a brief caretaker manager for Sunderland A.F.C...
, Tisdale moved to Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the 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 1997–981997-98 in English football
The 1997-1998 season was the 118th season of competitive football in England.-Premier League:Arsenal overhauled Manchester United's lead during the final weeks of the season to win the Premiership title...
season. He left Ashton Gate
Ashton Gate
Ashton Gate Stadium is a stadium in Ashton Gate, Bristol, England, and is the home of Bristol City F.C. Located in the south-west of the city, just south of the River Avon, it has an all-seated capacity of 21,497, with an effective capacity for football matches of around 19,500, with an average...
after just one year, and began a globe-trotting career, playing for FinnPa
FinnPa
Finnairin Palloilijat, or FinnPa as the club is more commonly known as, was a Finnish association football club established in 1965. The club was based in Helsinki and it operated from 1965 to 1998....
(Finland) and Panionios (Greece) before returning to spend a year with Yeovil Town
Yeovil Town F.C.
Yeovil Town F.C. are an English association football team based in Yeovil, Somerset. The club play in League One after having won the League Two championship in 2004–05...
.
Team Bath
Injury forced him to end his career early, and he took a coaching role with Team BathTeam Bath F.C.
Team Bath was an English association football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset at the turn of the 21st century. The club was formed to allow the players to combine professional football with higher education...
in 2000. His time at the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
side is best remembered for the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
run in the 2002–03 season
2002-03 in English football
The 2002-03 season was the 123rd season of competitive football in England.-Most Memorable rise:*Wigan Athletic marked their 25th season of Football League membership by winning the Division Two championship and reaching the league's second tier for the very first time.-Most Memorable...
, in which they became the first university team to enter the competition since Gonville & Caius
Gonville & Caius A.F.C.
Gonville & Caius AFC, more commonly known as Caius, is the representative football club of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, England. It is one of only a few university teams to have entered the FA Cup 1st round proper....
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
Mansfield Town F.C.
Mansfield Town Football Club is an English football club from the former mining town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The club was formed in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans and changed its name to Mansfield Wesley in 1906 before settling on Mansfield Town in 1910...
. At Team Bath, he had a great deal of success, earning four promotions.
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
Alex Inglethorpe
Alexander Matthew "Alex" Inglethorpe is an English former footballer, who played for Watford, Leyton Orient, Exeter City and Barnet. He is now youth coach at Tottenham Hotspur.-Playing career:...
, 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
Football League Play-Offs
The Football League play-offs are an annual series of football matches to determine some of the promotion places within the Football League. Essentially, each division of the league offers a certain number of automatic promotion places to the top two or three clubs. A further promotion place is...
, 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
Penalty shootout (football)
A penalty shoot-out, referred to as kicks from the penalty mark in the Laws of the Game, is the FIFA official term for a method used in association football to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a tied game...
, where they met Morecambe
Morecambe F.C.
Morecambe Football Club is an English football club based in Morecambe, Lancashire. It plays its football in League Two, the fourth division of English football, having been promoted in 2007 for the first time in their history to the Football League. They played their home matches at Christie Park...
at Wembley
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
on 20 May, losing 2–1.
Tisdale re-registered himself as a player for the beginning of the 2007–08 season
2007-08 in English football
The 2007–08 season was the 128th season of competitive football in England.-European competitions:In October 2007 Arsenal equalled the UEFA Champions League record victory with a 7–0 win over Slavia Prague at the Emirates Stadium. The record was broken the following month when Liverpool...
, 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
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
on 18 May 2008. 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
Marcus Stewart
William Marcus Paul Tubb) known as Marcus Stewart is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1991 until 2011...
from Yeovil Town
Yeovil Town F.C.
Yeovil Town F.C. are an English association football team based in Yeovil, Somerset. The club play in League One after having won the League Two championship in 2004–05...
. 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.
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."
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
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
and Southampton.
Even more remarkable is the fact that on top of previous player sales, he also recouped notable sums by selling Dean Moxey
Dean Moxey
Dean William Moxey is an English professional footballer who plays for Championship side Crystal Palace. He is a left-sided player, comfortable at either left back or on the left side of midfield. He has been capped by England at semi-professional level.-Exeter City:Moxey began his career as a...
to Derby County and Danny Seaborne to Southampton. He has paid a transfer fee for just one player, Troy Archibald-Henville
Troy Archibald-Henville
Troy Patrick Archibald-Henville is an English footballer who plays for Exeter City as a defender.-Club career:...
, £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.
Managerial statistics
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Exeter City Exeter City F.C. Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003... |
 |
26 June 2006 | Present | 286 | 115 | 91 | 80 | |
As at 26 November 2011
Promotions
- 2000–012000-01 in English footballThe 2000–01 season was the 121st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Manchester United secured their 3rd Premiership title in succession and their 7th title in just nine seasons...
: Western League Division One Champion (promotion to Western League Premier) – Team BathTeam Bath F.C.Team Bath was an English association football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset at the turn of the 21st century. The club was formed to allow the players to combine professional football with higher education... - 2002–032002-03 in English footballThe 2002-03 season was the 123rd season of competitive football in England.-Most Memorable rise:*Wigan Athletic marked their 25th season of Football League membership by winning the Division Two championship and reaching the league's second tier for the very first time.-Most Memorable...
: Western League Premier Champion (promotion to Southern League Division One) – Team BathTeam Bath F.C.Team Bath was an English association football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset at the turn of the 21st century. The club was formed to allow the players to combine professional football with higher education... - 2003–042003-04 in English footballThe 2003-04 season was the 124th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Arsenal completed the entire campaign without losing a single league game....
: Southern League Division One 6th (promotion to Southern League Premier) – Team BathTeam Bath F.C.Team Bath was an English association football club affiliated with the University of Bath in the city of Bath, Somerset at the turn of the 21st century. The club was formed to allow the players to combine professional football with higher education... - 2007–082007-08 in English footballThe 2007–08 season was the 128th season of competitive football in England.-European competitions:In October 2007 Arsenal equalled the UEFA Champions League record victory with a 7–0 win over Slavia Prague at the Emirates Stadium. The record was broken the following month when Liverpool...
: Conference NationalFootball ConferenceThe Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
Playoff Winner (promotion to League TwoFootball League TwoFootball League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
) – Exeter CityExeter City F.C.Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003... - 2008–09: League TwoFootball League TwoFootball League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
2nd (promotion to League OneFootball League OneFootball League One is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system....
) – Exeter CityExeter City F.C.Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003...