Dean Stephen Edwards (born 25 February 1962) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. After starting his career at

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

, he played for

Kuopion Palloseura Kuopion Palloseura (or KuPS) is a Finnish football club, based in the ninth most populated city of Finland, Kuopio. KuPS plays in Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. KuPS has won the Finnish championship six times, the Finnish Cup 4 times ...

and

Vaasan Palloseura Vaasan Palloseura (or VPS) is a Finnish football club, based in Vaasa. It currently plays in the first tier of Finnish football (''Veikkausliiga''). The club's current manager is Jussi Nuorela. The club plays its home matches at Hietalahti. ...

in Finland, before returning to England to play for Telford United,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, scoring for Torquay in two different

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

appearances. After ending his career at

Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leag ...

and

Hong Kong Rangers Hong Kong Rangers Football Club (), often abbreviated to Rangers, currently known as Biu Chun Rangers due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. They have won the Hong Kong ...

, he managed several clubs in non-league football.

Playing career

Edwards was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

and began his career as an apprentice with

, turning professional in February 1980. He played only 13 times, in the old 2nd division (now Championship) scoring twice for the Shrews before joining Finnish side

. From there he moved to

. He subsequently moved to Telford United from where he joined

in October 1985, playing for Wolves and forming a partnership with Andy Mutch. He left Molineux in March 1987, having scored 10 times in 30, joining

. He became a regular both on the teamsheet and the scoresheet at Exeter, hitting the net 17 times in 54 league games before moving to

in August 1988. He became an integral part of

Cyril Knowles Cyril Barry Knowles (13 July 1944 – 30 August 1991) was a footballer who played left-back for Tottenham Hotspur and England. He was the son of the rugby league footballer; Cyril Knowles, and the older brother of fellow professional footballe ...

' side, scoring Torquay's goal at

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

final defeat against Bolton Wanderers, 1989 and scored again at Wembley two years later v Blackpool as Torquay won promotion via the play-offs to league 1 1991 In December 1991 he moved back to

on a free transfer, having played 116 league games and scored 26 league goals for the Gulls. He stayed only a few months at Exeter before another short spell at

to finish his league career. He played in Hong Kong, and Malta with

Managerial career

In Autumn 1996 he became player-manager of

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

in the Western League, but resigned on 30 July 1998 out of despair at the lack of commitment to pre-season training amongst his squad. In January 2004, Edwards was appointed as player-manager of non-league side Pelsall Villa In March 2006 he became assistant manager, under former Wolves teammate Mel Eves, at Willenhall Town and in September 2006, at the age of 44, was still registered as a player for Willenhall. After Eves departed in October 2007, Edwards took over as manager. Edwards resigned as Willenhall manager in April 2008 and was appointed manager of Northern Premier League side Hednesford Town the following month. After a strong start took them to the top of the table, a dramatic dip in form saw the Pitmen eventually finish outside the play-offs, despite spending the majority of the season in the top five. He won the Birmingham senior cup for the first time in 73 years, signing players Tyrone Barnett, (Peterborough), Ross Draper (Inverness Caledonian), and Elliott Durrell (Wrexham), The 2009–10 season saw Hednesford return to the Southern League, after the league restructured, with Edwards bringing in a number of experienced names in a bid to push the club back into the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

. Shortly after being knocked out of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

by Hellenic League minnows Pegasus Juniors at the first qualifying round stage, Edwards departed the club on 15 September 2009. In June 2015 he was appointed as Director of Football at

. However, he left the club in September 2015. In October 2019 Edwards was appointed the manager of Barnstaple Town.Dean Edwards unveiled as new Barnstaple Town boss
The Non-League Football Paper, 2 October 2019 He resigned from his post at Barnstaple in September 2021.

References

Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Dean 1962 births Living people Footballers from Wolverhampton English men's footballers Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Kuopion Palloseura players Vaasan Palloseura players Telford United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Sliema Wanderers F.C. players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Bideford A.F.C. players Bideford A.F.C. managers Pelsall Villa F.C. players Pelsall Villa F.C. managers Willenhall Town F.C. players Willenhall Town F.C. managers Hednesford Town F.C. managers Torquay United F.C. non-playing staff Barnstaple Town F.C. managers English Football League players Men's association football forwards English football managers