Ronald Maurice Wylie (6 August 1933 – 14 April 2020) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, coach 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 o ...

. He played as a

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

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. Since 2011, the first te ...

, making more than 550 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, and more than 700 in all competitions. As a manager, he took charge of

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 pla ...

between 1982 and 1984.

Playing career

An inside-forward, Wylie made his name at Notts County before transferring to Aston Villa in 1958. Wylie spent seven years at Aston Villa, establishing himself as the midfield schemer in the side, which won 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 ...

title and

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the First Division in the 1959–60 season and achieved

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

success a year later. Highly regarded by the club's fans, he was not capped by

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, likely due to the abundance of quality midfielders available at the time. In 1965, he transferred to Birmingham City. Considered past his best when he made the move, he went on to play nearly 150 games for the club, was appointed club captain, and retired in 1970 at the age of 37.

Management career

On retirement as a player, Wylie joined the coaching staff at Aston Villa before moving to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, first as coach and later as assistant manager. He took an advisory post in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

before returning to England where he was appointed manager at West Bromwich Albion in 1982. With

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. Nick ...

being replaced by

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 2 ...

, the club had sold players such as

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

Remi Moses Remi Mark Moses (born 14 November 1960) is an English former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He broke into the first team at West Bromwich Albion under the management of Ron Atkinson in the late 1970s, when Albion were enjoying ...

and Peter Barnes, leading to a decline in the club's fortunes. The side began the 1982–83 season well, winning 7 of the first 11 and were in contention for a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

place for much of the season, but a late slump in form saw them finish 11th (the last time the club finished in the top half of the top flight until the 2011-12 season). The following season, West Brom's form was mediocre although the side were always several points clear of the relegation zone. Wylie left the manager's position in February and was replaced by

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as t ...

. He returned to Aston Villa to take charge of the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, later working as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

before yet again rejoining Villa as community liaison officer, a post which he held until retirement in 2002.

Personal life

Wylie's grandson, Alex Grove, played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

and the Scotland national team. Though born in England, Grove qualified for Scotland through his

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

-born grandfather. Wylie died on 14 April 2020 after a long illness.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wylie, Ron 1933 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Men's association football wing halves Notts County F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players English Football League players Scottish football managers West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers English Football League managers Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Scottish expatriate football managers