Tindall was an apprentice at Charlton Athletic, but was released and joined Bournemouth on a free transfer in 1998 as a midfielder, becoming a regular in the side after being switched to central defence when Sean O'Driscoll replaced Mel Machin as manager. On 24 April 2004, in a 1–0 win at Peterborough United F.C., Tindall made his last appearance for the Cherries for 18 months, when a knee injury recurred. After missing the entire 2004/5 season, he resorted to surgery in the United States with specialist surgeon Dr Richard Steadman, returning to action on 2 January 2006 as an 86th-minute substitute in the Cherries 1–1 draw with Scunthorpe United F.C. at Dean Court. Released by Bournemouth in the summer of 2006, after a trial at Wycombe Wanderers, Tindall joined local side Weymouth as a utility player. Tindall was re-registered as a Bournemouth player on Tuesday 24 February 2009, three years after his last appearance, coming on as a substitute against Dagenham and Redbridge.
Managerial career
Tindall was appointed as player-manager of Weymouth in January 2007, but was sacked a year later in January 2008. In light of a 2007/08 season record of only three wins, leaving the club in 19th, 5 points off of the relegation zone. On 2 September 2008, Tindall was appointed as assistant manager to Jimmy Quinn at A.F.C. Bournemouth. With the Cherries performing poorly under Quinn, being second last in the league table at Christmas 2008, Quinn was sacked in January 2009 with Eddie Howe promoted to Caretaker Manager, and after a string of good results, Howe became the permanent manager with Tindall as his assistant. The duo of Howe and Tindall became the youngest managerial partnership in the Football League, and they soon had a growing reputation as they saved the Cherries from relegation into the Conference National, then in the 2009/10 season led Bournemouth to promotion to League One, finishing 2nd behind Notts County. With Howe having to deal with a transfer embargo, leaving the team with a threadbare squad, Tindall was still registered as a player and made a handful of appearances in the Cherries promotion campaign in 2009/10. After a positive start to the first half of the 2010/11 season in League One, which saw the Cherries in the play-off places throughout the season, Tindall and Howe were drawing significant interest from other clubs. After committing their immediate future to the club on 12 January 2011, Howe and Tindall did a complete U-turn less than a week later as they were confirmed as Manager and Assistant Manager of Championship side Burnley, respectively.
