240: Andy Tillson, Queen’s Park Rangers, Merlin Shooting Stars 1991/92

This week’s post comes from one of Twitter’s best football nostalgia accounts, ShootingStars, who we’re always happy to do business with thanks to their exceptional collection of niche cards and Rob’s willingness to share his pictures with us. Today’s subject was put forward “as one of those players associated with being a kid and having his card” which has been the gateway for so many of us over the years. Rob was very honest in saying he wasn’t exactly an expert on the man pictured below. Luckily none of us were either. Hopefully that’ll change over the next few paragraphs.

University sport has been the starting point for many promising sportspeople in this country since games were codified and organised in the late nineteenth century. Oxford University’s football team took part in the second ever FA Cup competition and made it all the way to the final where they were defeated by the reigning champions Wanderers. They went one better in the 1873/74 final and would have experienced additional joy in seeing Cambridge University dumped out by Clapham Rovers in the second round. After 1880, however, university participation in major football competitions dwindled and a century later the likes of Steve Heighway and Steve Coppell were outliers in the professional game having gained degrees. Meanwhile the county cricket season continues to begin with rounds of games against the country’s leading cricketing universities while the Welsh Rugby Union has been awash with academic talent in the form of medical graduates Jamie Roberts, Hallam Amos and JPR Williams to name a few.

At the turn of the twenty first century the University of Bath looked to buck this trend with a long-term aim to establish a side in the English league pyramid. The students hit the ground running by winning the Western League Division One in their first campaign in 2000/01 under the guidance of recently retired professional Paul Tisdale. They narrowly missed out on back-to-back promotions and made their FA Vase debut, reaching the third round, before entering the FA Cup for the first time in 2002. Team Bath (geddit?) knocked out Barnstaple Town, Backwell United, Bemerton Heath Harelquins, Newport County and Horsham en route to the first round proper, becoming the first university side in the draw since 1880, where they were paired with Division Two’s Mansfield Town. Having secured the permission of the local constabulary Team Bath hosted their professional opponents in front of over 5,000 fans but were on the receiving end of a 4-2 defeat. A few months later the predominantly student side were joined by player coach Andy Tillson.

Unlike many of his new teammates Tillson was a seasoned professional with over 500 professional appearances to his name. He started his career at Kettering Town before moving to Grimsby Town in 1988 helping the Mariners to promotion from the Fourth Division in his second season. Impressed by his performances, and partly in the midst of a major defensive injury crisis, First Division Queen’s Park Rangers brought Tillson to West London in 1990. While Roy Wegerle and Les Ferdinand’s goals helped Rangers to back to back mid-table finishes the return to fitness of Alan McDonald, Paul Parker and Danny Maddix limited Tillson’s game time and he moved to Bristol Rovers ahead of the 1992/93 season. Over eight years the Gas’ record signing went on to captain the side and was the club’s player of the year in 1995. He moved to Walsall in 2000 where he earned a place in the Second Division’s PFA Team of the Year as The Saddlers triumphed over Reading in the play-offs. After helping Walsall consolidate their position in the second tier he moved to Football League new boys Rushden and Diamonds and was part of a side that narrowly missed out on back-to-back promotions after another visit to the Millennium Stadium in the play-offs. Injury forced Tillson to call time on his League career and led him to coaching and Team Bath.

The student side gained promotion to the Southern League in 2003 but subsequently struggled to maintain their impressive early momentum. In the summer of 2006 Paul Tisdale left to take up the managerial position at Exeter City, a post he would hold until 2018, elevating Andy Tillson to the hot seat. In his first season his play-off experience was called upon as Team Bath finished second to local rivals Bath City but they lost out to Maidenhead United in the final. Tillson’s team went one better in the 2007/08 season with a last minute goal to secure a 2-1 play-off final victory over Halesowen Town and a place in the Conference South. In the early stages of the season they looked set for another promotion push, and once again reached the FA Cup first round proper, before the Football Conference stepped in to scupper any future plans for progression. As Team Bath were not a limited company they were ineligible for any future promotions or participation in the FA Cup and, after a merger with Bath City failed to come to fruition, they resigned from the league after just one campaign in the sixth tier. Team Bath were disbanded in 2009 and Tillson reunited with Paul Tisdale at Exeter.

The Team Bath project will go down as an interesting anomaly in the history of English football. Despite never troubling the Football League or league opposition in the FA Cup their rapid rise demonstrated the potential power of university sport. This didn’t make them too many friends in the surrounding area with Torquay United fans particularly damning of their fielding of former and current professionals like Andy Tillson and George Friend who spent time with Team Bath on loan from Exeter City. Tillson’s impact as a coach and manager for the university side cannot be dismissed, regardless of the potentially murky nature of their finances and “student” squad members, and it’s something of a surprise that he hasn’t gone on to greater things in his coaching career. Meanwhile the magic of the FA Cup first round proper is once again on the horizon. There might not be academic representation but here’s hoping for Cray Valley Paper Mills to bring back some 1880s atmosphere in the absence of a Team Bath.