Timothy Aston Bredbury (Chinese: 巴貝利; born 25 April 1963) is a Hong Kong professional football coach and former Hong Kong professional footballer who played as a striker. Bredbury is a UEFA/AFC A-licensed coach. He is currently the head coach of Hong Kong Premier League club Rangers.
Bredbury was born in Hong Kong to British parents from Liverpool. His father John moved to Hong Kong as a fireman working for the Hong Kong Government. He went to Glenealy School and King George V School. As a talented sportsman, he represented Hong Kong in rugby sevens at the 1979 Rosslyn Park World Schools Sevens, as well as in field hockey and swimming. He has three siblings who have also represented Hong Kong at field hockey and rugby.
Bredbury began his football career with Liverpool in 1979, signing as an apprentice professional. After two years, he was offered full professional terms on a one-year contract.[1]
Bredbury stayed at the Liverpool reserve team for three years, winning the Central League twice, the Liverpool Senior Cup and the Nice International Invitation Tournament in France.
At the end of his contract, Bredbury was then approached by Ryoden. He decided to take the offer and return to Hong Kong. He scored 13 goals in 4 games and was soon signed up with Hong Kong league giants Seiko, playing alongside the likes of Arie Haan, Theo de Jong, Dick Nanninga, René van de Kerkhof, Johnny Rep, Peter Bodak and Benny Wendt in a highly successful 2-year period winning the league twice.
Between 1982 and 1999, Bredbury played for various clubs in Hong Kong, such as Hong Kong Rangers, South China, Lai Sun, Frankwell, Sing Tao and Instant-Dict, as well as Australian club Sydney Olympic FC and Malaysian clubs Selangor FA and Sabah FA.[2][3]
Bredbury was the joint top goalscorer in Hong Kong on two separate occasions and finished tied (with Dale Tempest) in the Hong Kong First Division League with 21 goals during the 1990–1991 season with Lai Sun FC before leaving Hong Kong and signing for Sydney Olympic in Australia.
In his debut season, Bredbury also finished as joint top scorer (with Kimon Taliadoros) in the National Soccer League with Sydney Olympic FC during the 1991–1992 season scoring 15 goals in 24 appearances.[4]
Bredbury also had two successful seasons playing in Malaysia with giants Selangor FC and second division side Sabah FC. At Sabah, Bredbury helped the club reach the FA Cup Final, the first time a second division side had achieved this feat.
At the club level, Bredbury played against top club sides from around the world, including Corinthians, Lucky Gold Star (now Seoul), Odense, Sampdoria, A.C. Milan, Everton, Aston Villa, Coventry, Sparta Prague, Brøndby and Chelsea.
In 1986, Bredbury was invited to join the Hong Kong national team and, in a career that spanned over 10 years, he played in the World Cup qualifying rounds, Olympics qualifying rounds and Asian Games in Yokohama, Japan. He played over 30 representative games scoring 14 goals.
Bredbury was also a regular member of the Hong Kong League XI side competing in the Carlsberg Cup and Dynasty Cup tournaments playing against such sides as Denmark, Paraguay (where he was "Man of the Match"), Yugoslavia, Japan, South Korea, Nigeria, Sweden, Romania, Switzerland, China.
In addition to his professional playing career, Bredbury is also a fully qualified English Football Association coach and gained his UEFA A Licence in December 2011 through the English Football Association. In 2016, he also received recognition through the AFC and now holds the equivalent license.
Bredbury is a member of the English Football Association Coaches Association and also a former member of the English Professional Footballers Association.
Bredbury worked as a marketing manager, professional coach, sports journalist, event organiser and television presenter on ATV's World channel.
In 2005, Bredbury was appointed head coach of the schools A, B and C grade teams. In that season, La Salle were the overall School Champions in football.
In the 2006–07 season, Bredbury secured his first professional head coaching position with Rangers in the Hong Kong First Division.
In the 2007–08 season, Bredbury was appointed head coach of Tai Po in the Hong Kong First Division.
In the 2007–08 season, Bredbury rejoined Rangers in the Hong Kong First Division. After his second stint with Rangers, Bredbury joined the highly successful Kitchee/FC Barcelona Escola program.
In the 2011–12 season, Rangers announced that Bredbury would become the head coach.[5] During his third stint, Rangers also won the HKFA Reserve League.
In the 2012–13 season, Sun Hei announced that Bredbury would take over as first team coach in preparation for the 2012–13 season and the AFC Cup Competition.
In the 2012–13 season, Bredbury joined Tai Chung, a feeder club for Kitchee in the Hong Kong Second Division.
In 2016, Bredbury became head coach for the U18 HKFC Academy team playing in the HKFA Youth Leagues. Bredbury also coached the Hong Kong Football Club side in the 2016 Citibank International Soccer 7's Masters Tournament.
In 2017, Bredbury became head coach for the U14 Kitchee Football Club Academy team playing in the HKFA Youth Leagues. During his management, Kitchee U14 won the HKFA U14 First Division.
In 2018, Bredbury became head coach for the Discovery Bay FC Masters (DBFC) team playing in the HKFC International Soccer Sevens. DBFC won the Masters tournament without conceding a goal in the tournament. In 2019, DBFC Masters also reached the final of the HKFC International Soccer Sevens Plate tournament.
In 2019, Bredbury became head coach for the Kowloon Cricket Club Dragons team playing in the Yau Yee League 1st Division.
In October 2023, Bredbury was appointed as the assistant coach of Sham Shui Po.
On 30 June 2024, Bredbury was once again appointed as the head coach of Rangers.[6]