Paul Francis Edwards (born 7 October 1947) is an English former

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 le ...

who played as a defender for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, 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 wer ...

. Born in

Shaw and Crompton Shaw and Crompton is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which contains the town of Shaw and lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines. It is located north of Oldham, south ...

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 Lancashi ...

, Edwards began his football career with Manchester United, signing his first amateur contract with them on 14 August 1963. He turned professional 18 months later, but it was not for another four years that he made his first team debut, playing in the 3–0 defeat away to Everton on 19 August 1969. His first – and only – goal for the club came in the December of that year. In a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

semi-final against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 17 December 1969, Edwards let fly with a long-range effort that flew past the City goalkeeper. It proved to be the highlight of Edwards' Manchester United career. In his first full season with the club, Edwards made 28 appearances for Manchester United, but a run of bad form halfway through his second season resulted in a short period in the reserves. Up to that point, Edwards had mainly been deployed as a right-back, but when he returned to the first team, he was played at centre-back.

Frank O'Farrell Francis O'Farrell (9 October 1927 – 6 March 2022) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a wing half for Cork United, West Ham United and Preston North End. He made over 300 appearances in the Football League before joining ...

took over as manager of Manchester United in June 1971, and Edwards fell out of favour in the new manager's team selections. He remained at the club for two further seasons, but he found first team opportunities hard to come by and he was loaned to Oldham Athletic for six months in September 1972 before they signed him for £15,000 in the summer of 1973. The following season, Edwards helped the Latics to their second Third Division title. He stayed with them until 1978, 112 appearances and seven goals later, when he moved to Stockport County, with whom he had spent a short period on loan in 1976–77. After 67 appearances and two goals for Stockport, Edwards retired from professional football.

External links

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at StretfordEnd.co.uk
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at redStat {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Paul 1947 births Living people People from Shaw and Crompton English footballers England under-23 international footballers Footballers from Oldham Association football defenders English Football League players Manchester United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players English Football League representative players