Brian Tiler (15 March 1943 – 30 June 1990) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. Tiler, a central defender, began his career at his home town club

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around ...

where he made his debut in 1962–63. He spent seven seasons at Millmoor, playing more than two hundred league games, before moving on to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

in December 1968. At Aston Villa, Tiler had the misfortune of being a member of the side that were relegated to the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

for the first and only time in the club's history in 1969–70. However, he was also a member of the Villa side that won promotion two years later. In October 1972, he was transferred to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Park ...

, where he finished his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

career. In 1974, he was appointed player manager of non league

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 193 ...

, where he spent two years, and won the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

in 1974–75. He played eleven league games for Wigan before leaving the club in 1976. He would later return to Springfield Park as the coach of the Zambia national team, who Wigan played a friendly against in October 1978. He then moved to America to join the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at ...

, originally as a player before joining the coaching staff. In 1980, he became assistant manager to Ron Newman at the Miami Americans in the franchise's only year of existence. After nine games, Newman quit to take over as coach at the San Diego Sockers, and Brian Tiler stepped up to become Head Coach until the team's demise at the end of the season. Tiler later became managing director at AFC Bournemouth, where he helped engineer Bournemouth's first ever promotion to the Second Division in 1986–87 along with his friend, team manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In hi ...

. In June 1990, Tiler was killed in a car accident in Italy, when a car collided head on with the minibus in which Tiler and Redknapp were travelling.The gains of Harry's game
''The Independent'' (16 April 1995) Redknapp was also badly injured in the accident, but survived and went on to make a full recovery. The pair were in Italy watching that summer's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

References

External links

NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiler, Brian 1943 births 1990 deaths American Soccer League (1933–1983) coaches English footballers English expatriate footballers English football managers Rotherham United F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Portland Timbers (1975–1982) players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. managers Road incident deaths in Italy Portland Timbers (NASL) coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches American soccer coaches 1978 African Cup of Nations managers Association football central defenders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States