John Charles signed Tyler for Hereford United in 1969 from amateur football in Swindon;[2][3] he had previously been rejected by several clubs due to him having a hole in his heart. He was part of the team that famously knocked Newcastle United out of the FA Cup,[4] and gained election to the Football League in 1972. Tyler subsequently signed for West Ham United for a then non-league record fee of £25,000.[5] He made just 29 league appearances in one-and-a-half seasons,[1] his only league goal for the club scored against Peter Shilton. He returned to Hereford in November 1973, eventually reaching a total of 329 competitive appearances for the club with 69 goals scored.
After retiring from professional football, he joined non league Malvern Town, eventually becoming player-manager, followed by stints at Westfields and Pegasus Juniors in Hereford, both playing and managing. He worked as a salesman for a plastics company.[4] As of 2016, Tyler still lived in Hereford.[6]
References
^ ab"Dudley Tyler". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
^"West Ham offer record fee". The Times. 18 May 1972. p. 12. West Ham United will sign Dudley Tyler, one of the stars of Hereford United's gallant FA Cup run, for £25,000 before the end of May. It will be a record fee for a non-League player. Tyler, 26, recently played in a testimonial for West Ham at Millwall and despite undergoing an operation as a child for a hole-in-the-heart, has passed a medical at Upton Park.
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