Edward Critchley (31 December 1903 – 1996) was an English

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 ...

. A First Division championship winner with Everton, he has been described as "the finest 'home grown' player ever produced by

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

Career

Stockport County

Critchley played local football for Spring Gardens, Stockport Union Chapel, Cheadle and Witton Albion before joining

via Stalybridge Celtic in 1922. He made his debut on 9 December 1922, in a 2–0 defeat to Port Vale at

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad condit ...

. His second appearance came on the last day of the 1922–23 season, as the "Hatters" secured their

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

status with a 3–0 win over

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

. Countey retained their second tier status in 1923–24 and 1924–25, before finishing at the bottom of the division in 1925–26. He was too good a player to remain in the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

for long in 1926–27. He played 118 games for County before being transferred to Everton for a £2,500 fee in December 1926.

Everton

In his first game for the "Toffees" he provided the crosses for Dixie Dean to score four goals in a 5–4 win against Sunderland. In his first full season at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

, 1927–28, Everton won the First Division league title. He provided many of the passes that enabled Dixie Dean's record-breaking 60 goals. However Everton dropped to 18th in 1928–29, before being relegated in last place in 1929–30. Everton then won the Second Division championship in

1930–31 Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

, and won the First Division title again in 1931–32. They dropped to 11th in 1932–33, and Critchley missed the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

victory over Manchester City at

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 ...

after he had scored the winning goal in the semi-final victory over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, with Albert Geldard selected ahead of him for the final. The 1933–34 season was his last for Everton. In all, Critchley scored 42 goals in 230 games for Everton before being transferred to Preston North End in 1934.

Later career

After playing in the first 11 games of the season, he lost his place in the Preston team. He was transferred to Port Vale with cash in exchange for John Friar in December 1934. However he lost his place in the Vale team in early April 1935, and was released at the end of the season and moved on to South Liverpool.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Everton * FA Community Shield:

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

* Football League First Division: 1927–28 & 1931–32 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Critchley, Edward 1903 births 1996 deaths English footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Ashton-under-Lyne Witton Albion F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Everton F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players South Liverpool F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players English Football League players