Dennis George Mortimer (born 5 April 1952) is an English former

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and captained

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He made nearly 600 appearances in

the 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

playing for Coventry City, Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Brighton & Hove Albion and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Playing career

Mortimer was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He began his career with Coventry City, where he came through the ranks to make more than 200 first-team appearances as a midfielder. His displays for Coventry attracted the attention of several top clubs, and he joined

for £175,000 on Christmas Eve 1975. Mortimer captained Villa to the

1980–81 Football League The 1980– 81 season was the 82nd completed season of The Football League. This was the final league season with two points for win. Ron Saunders completed the revival of Birmingham club Aston Villa, as they won the First Division for the fir ...

championship, the club's first League title for more than 70 years. He then led the team to victory in the 1982 European Cup Final; a 1–0 win against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in the

De Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

Stadium came courtesy of Peter Withe's goal, and made it six consecutive seasons that English teams had lifted the trophy. After the game, he swapped shirts with an unknown Bayern player, and has since tried and failed to recover it. From 1975 to 1985 he made 406 appearances for Villa scoring 36 goals. After leaving Villa, Mortimer moved to Brighton & Hove Albion but was only there a year before returning to the Midlands with

, thereby breaking the second-city taboo by playing for City and Villa. Mortimer was capped by England at youth and under-23 level and captained England B, but was never capped for the full England team.

Post-playing career

During the 1988–89 season, Mortimer was

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of non-league club Redditch United. Mortimer became the PFA football in the community officer at West Bromwich Albion F.C. in 1991. Later he would become reserve team coach under the management of

Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), more commonly known as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former player. A competitive and skilled midfielder, Ardiles became a cult hero in England, along with Glenn Hoddl ...

and Keith Burkinshaw. When Ardiles left to coach Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Burkinshaw became manager and Mortimer moved up to first team coach. He worked for The Professional Football Association as regional director of coaching in the Midlands area from 1996 to 2005.Mortimer joined the Birmingham City Football in the Community coaching scheme in 2006–2007. Mortimer joined the Football Association education coaching department in 2008 where he worked until the end of 2015. Mortimer is now retired. He provided commentary for

BBC West Midlands BBC Midlands is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region producing local radio and World Wide Web, web content for the City of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcest ...

Radio when he first retired from the game. Mortimer received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Worcester The University of Worcester is a public research university, based in Worcester, England. With a history dating back to 1946, the university began awarding degrees in 1997 and was granted full university status in 2005. History In 1946 an Emerg ...

in 2011 for "his outstanding contribution to football". In January 2024, Mortimer was named by Aston Villa as a member of the ''Honorary Anniversary Board'' ahead of the club's 150th anniversary season.

Honours

Aston Villa *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1980–81 *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1976–77 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

(shared) *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

: 1981–82 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

* Intercontinental Cup runner-up:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Dennis 1952 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers England men's B international footballers Men's association football midfielders Coventry City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Redditch United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Redditch United F.C. managers UEFA Champions League–winning players