Keith Eddy (23 October 1944 – 10 October 2022) was an English 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Barrow,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in England, as well as the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

in the United States. He went on to manage the Toronto Blizzard in the NASL from 1979 to 1981, and in retirement founded the Tulsa Soccer Club.

Career

Born in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, Eddy began playing football at the age of eight, and turned professional at 17. He made 482 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Barrow,

and

. He was then signed by the

as part of a squad strengthening program following the arrival of Pelé; fellow British players to sign with the Cosmos at the same time included Tony Field, Dave Clements and

Terry Garbett Terry Graham Garbett (born 9 September 1945) is an English retired footballer who played for Middlesbrough, Watford, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United in England, as well as the New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosm ...

. Eddy spent two seasons with the Cosmos, making 30 appearances in the NASL, becoming captain of a team which included Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

. In 1977, he left the Cosmos but was first named as NASL all–star in 1976. Eddy became head coach of the Toronto Blizzard during their first season under that name. They finished with a 14–16 record, reaching the playoffs but being knocked out by his former club, the Cosmos. He resigned in 1981, after the team fell to a 4–14 record placing them in bottom place in the North American Soccer League.

Later life and death

Retiring from professional football, Eddy founded Tulsa Soccer Club, an organisation which promotes development in soccer in Oklahoma. Originally formed with four teams, it expanded and as of 2011, featured some thirty teams. Eddy died on 10 October 2022, at the age of 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eddy, Keith 1944 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness English footballers Footballers from Cumbria Association football midfielders English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Barrow A.F.C. players Watford F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players New York Cosmos players English football managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Toronto Blizzard managers English expatriate footballers English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer managers in Canada