Timothy Patrick Heard (born 17 March 1960) is an English retired

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 ...

, notably 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He was a member of the

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 ...

team that won the 1981-82 European Cup.

Early life and youth career

In the mid-70s, Heard attended Malet Lambert High School and played for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Schoolboys and Humberside Boys. He was spotted by

Jeff Barmby Jeffrey Barmby (15 January 1943 – 18 July 2021) was an English footballer; he was the father of England international Nick Barmby. and grandfather of Jack Barmby. Life and career Barmby began his career with Selby Town before joining York ...

, who tipped off Everton

reserve-team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

manager

Ray Henderson Ray Henderson (born Raymond Brost; December 1, 1896 – December 31, 1970) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Buffalo, New York, Henderson moved to New York City and became a popular composer in Tin Pan Alley. He was one-third of ...

.''Heard about Hull's Euro champ'',

Hull Daily Mail The ''Hull Daily Mail'' is an English regional daily newspaper for Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The ''Hull Daily Mail'' has been circulated in various guises since 1885. A second edition, the ''East Riding Mail'', covers ...

14 February 2009

Professional football career

A product of the youth system at Everton, left-footer Heard made eleven appearances for the club, debuting against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in February 1979 and playing in the

Merseyside derby The Merseyside derby is an association football match between Everton F.C., Everton and Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, two clubs based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is the longest running top-flight local derby, derby in England, with its fi ...

. In October 1979, the 19-year-old midfielder was signed by

at a valuation of £150,000 (''2015: £''). The deal saw

John Gidman John Gidman (born 10 January 1954) is an English former footballer who played for Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City, Stoke City and Darlington. Gidman was a product of the Liverpool and Aston Villa youth systems. He repr ...

move the other way. Heard made nine appearances in his first season at Villa Park, but was not one of just 14 players used by

Ron Saunders Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving ...

to become League champions the following season. He scored a goal during a 4–3 defeat to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

in March 1982 and scored the winner in a 1–0 victory away to local rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

in May that year. Heard won a

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 ...

medal after being named as a substitute for the 1982 European Cup Final. Only a single substitution was allowed, and Heard's opportunity to play was dashed within nine minutes, after substitute goalkeeper

Nigel Spink Nigel Philip Spink (born 8 August 1958) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. He played as a goalkeeper from 1976 until 2001. He made his name at Aston Villa and also made one appearance for England at international l ...

replaced the injured

Jimmy Rimmer John James Rimmer (born 10 February 1948) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Manchester United, Swansea City, Arsenal and Aston Villa. Rimmer, who won two European Cup winners medals, has been ...

. At the time, Heard was a neighbour to future Villa manager, eleven-year-old

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...

. Smith was not allowed to go to the final, but Pat made sure that the young boy was on the team bus as it paraded the trophy through Birmingham. When appointed manager, Smith picked out Heard as an inspiration. The following European Cup season, Heard played for the defending European champions in the 3–1 victory over

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (, ), abbreviated as BJK, is a Turkish professional sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

The tie was played

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

due to crowd trouble against Anderlecht in the previous season's semi-final in Brussels. Heard left Villa in January 1983 for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, priced at £60,000; his new club's hopes of promotion from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

had been dented by a recent slump in form. He was forced to take a taxi to Highbury for the 1983 FA Cup semi-final, having been accidentally left behind by manager

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who played as a Defender (association football), centre-back for Leeds. He was part of the England ...

. When Charlton moved to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, Heard was the new manager's first signing. In October 1984 he scored in a 3–0 victory over

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

; his second goal came the following month in a 2–2 draw away to

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

. In August 1985, Heard moved to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on a month's loan with a view to a permanent deal. In November 1985, he scored as Middlesbrough beat

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

3–1 at home. Following his spell at Middlesbrough, in 1986 Heard joined his hometown club Hull City. Notable performances included scoring a penalty in the 2–1 victory over his old club, Villa, in August 1987. As penalty taker, he also scored in a 3–0 away win at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in October 1987 and the 2–1 away win at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

in the Christmas fixtures that year. When Heard's son, Jamie, played for the Tigers in an Associate Members Cup tie against Port Vale on 22 October 2002, they became the first father and son to represent Hull City. Having been a first-teamer for two seasons at Hull, Heard left to play for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

, winning the Fourth Division title. This was followed by two years at

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

, during which time he turned down an offer from Norwegian club

Randaberg IL Randaberg Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Randaberg. It has sections for football, swimming, gymnastics and volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to sc ...

to become their

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 ...

. Heard appeared 46 times in the Fourth Division. His four goals contributed to Cardiff's 13th and 9th finishing positions. In 1992, Heard returned briefly to Hull switching with Hall Road Rangers, before continuing his career with the

Brunei M-League Team The Brunei Football Association used to enter a team in Malaysian football competitions. The team won the Malaysia Cup in 1999. The team played at the 35,000-seat Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan. History Brunei first ...

, under Mick Lyons, in the

Malaysian League The Malaysian League, also known as the M-League ( Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M''), is a terminology used to describe the professional football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and its divisions ...

. A clash of heads fractured his skull ending his playing career at the age of 34.

After football

After football, Heard was landlord of the Three Tuns, Boothferry Road. After several years, he embarked on a variety of careers including as a publican in both Hull and Chesterfield, a summariser for

Free Radio Birmingham Hits Radio Birmingham, formerly Free Radio Birmingham, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Mid ...

, a stage hypnotist. As an

Approved Driving Instructor Approved Driving Instructor (or ADI) is a UK term for a trainer of car driving who has been tested and registered by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). UK law requires driving instructor A driving instructor is a person who is hire ...

, Heard taught Villa youth such as

Barry Bannan Barry Ryan Bannan (born 1 December 1989) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for and captains club Sheffield Wednesday. Bannan began his career at Albion Rovers before moving to the Celtic Academy and late ...

, Benji Siegrist and

Andreas Weimann Andreas Weimann (; born 5 August 1991) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for club Blackburn Rovers and the Austria national team. He was signed by Aston Villa as a sixteen-year-old from ...

to drive.

Sunday Mercury ''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc. History The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), w ...

, ''PAT'S STILL DRIVEN TO BE SUCCESS'', 29 May 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heard, Pat 1960 births Living people Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers English Football League players Everton F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Footballers from Kingston upon Hull English association football commentators Expatriate men's footballers in Brunei English expatriate sportspeople in Brunei British hypnotists Brunei (Liga Premier team) players UEFA Champions League–winning players