Brian Tiler

Brian Tiler

Personal information
Date of birth	(1943-03-15)15 March 1943
Place of birth	Rotherham, England
Date of death
Place of death	Latina, Italy
Position(s)	Central Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1962–1968	Rotherham United	213	(27)
1968–1972	Aston Villa	107	(3)
1972–1974	Carlisle United	52	(1)
1974–1976	Wigan Athletic	11	(0)
1976	Portland Timbers	6	(0)
Managerial career
1974–1976	Wigan Athletic
1977	Portland Timbers
1978–1980	Zambia
1980	Miami Americans
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Brian Tiler (15 March 1943 – 30 June 1990) was an English footballer. Tiler, a central defender, began his career at his hometown club Rotherham United where he made his debut in 1962-63. He spent seven seasons at Millmoor, playing more than 200 league games, before moving on to Aston Villa in December 1968.

At Aston Villa, Tiler had the misfortune of being a member of the side that were relegated to the Third Division 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, where he finished his Football League career. In 1974, he was appointed player-manager of non-league Wigan Athletic, where he spent two years, and won the Northern Premier League in 1974-75. He played 11 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, 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 9 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. In June 1990, Tiler was killed in a car accident in Italy when a car smashed head-on into the minibus in which Tiler and Redknapp were travelling. 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.

External links

• NASL stats