John David Wile (born 9 March 1947) 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 ...
and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
.
Wile played as a central defender for
Sunderland, although he did not play a
Football League match for them. In
1967–68 he signed for
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
, having had a trial there first.
He made 130 senior appearances for The Posh between 1967 and 1970.
[
Wile then joined ]West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
in December 1970. He spent more than 12 years at Albion, and was club captain during and after Ron Atkinson
Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits.
Nic ...
s spell as manager. Wile made a total of 619 senior appearances for Albion.
His most famous moment came when he played with blood pouring from a headwound during the 1978 FA Cup semi-final against Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
at Highbury
Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington
in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.
The manor house was sit ...
. After leaving Albion in June 1983, Wile returned to Peterborough as 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. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...
after missing out on a similar post at Bolton Wanderers a year earlier. He later returned to West Bromwich as managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
, a position he occupied from 1997 through to 2002.
In 2004, he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations.
References
1947 births
Living people
Footballers from County Durham
English footballers
English football managers
Sunderland A.F.C. players
Peterborough United F.C. players
West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers
Peterborough United F.C. managers
West Bromwich Albion F.C. non-playing staff
Association football defenders
Association football player-managers
English expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Expatriate soccer players in Canada
English expatriate footballers
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