Bert Tann was a football manager and player, who managed Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers F.C.

Bristol Rovers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Bristol, that competes in Football League Two. The team plays its home matches at the Memorial Stadium, in the Horfield area of the city....

 for 18 years, from 1950 to 1968. He was the longest-serving post-war

Post-war

A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...

 manager of Rovers, and the second longest overall behind Alfred Homer

Alfred Homer

Alfred Homer, Jr. was an English professional football manager.Homer became Bristol Rovers' first full-time manager-secretary in 1899, a job he held for twenty-one years until 1920. Prior to this he was assistant secretary of Aston Villa.Homer's father, also called Alfred Homer, founded the Vulcan...

.

Playing career

During his playing career in the 1930s he was primarily a wing-half, and after brief spells with Clapton Orient

Leyton Orient F.C.

Leyton Orient F.C. are an English professional football club in East London. They currently play in Football League One and are known to their fans as the O's.Leyton Orient have spent one season in the top flight of English football, in 1962–63...

 and Romford

Romford F.C.

Romford F.C. is an English football club based in Romford, Greater London. The club are currently members of Division One North of the Isthmian League, and play at Mill Field in Aveley.-History:...

 he joined Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

. He first played a league game for Charlton in the 1933–34 season, and went on to play in 19 league games for them until 1938–39. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he guested for Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

, making 36 appearances.
He also appeared as a guest player for West Ham United

West Ham United F.C.

West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

 in World War II making just one appearance.

Coaching career

In 1947 he became coach of Fredrikstad in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. He led them to the 1946/47 Ostfoldserien championship.

In 1950 he became manager of Bristol Rovers, and with Tann in charge, Rovers were promoted to the Football League Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 for the first time in 1952-53, and he led them to 6th place finishes in both 1955-56 and 1958-59, as well to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 in 1950-51 and 1957-58.