Reginald Ernest Edwards (born 28 January 1953) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He made his debut at the age of 17 for

Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton t ...

in November 1970, and later played nine games in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

between 1972 and 1975. He then returned to non-league football with Brereton Social,

Redditch United Redditch United Football Club is an English football club based in Redditch, Worcestershire. The club participates in the and play their home games at the V Trico Stadium. They are managed by former Captain and Assistant Manager Matt Clarke. ...

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

and

Alvechurch Alvechurch ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove district in northeast Worcestershire, England, in the valley of the River Arrow. The Lickey Hills Country Park is 2.5 miles (4 km) to the northwest. It is south of Birmi ...

Career

Nuneaton Borough

Edwards began his career at Southern League Premier Division club

, having been coached at the

Bert Williams Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was a Bahamian-born American entertainer, one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He is credited as being ...

' School for Goalkeepers. He made his "Boro" debut at the age of 17 on 24 November 1970, in a 1–0 defeat at Lockheed in the Midland Floodlit Cup. He made his league debut on 12 December, in a 2–2 draw at Cambridge City; he was said to have had ''"a fine game on his Southern League debut and looks to be a good find... akinga couple of first-class saves and his handling was excellent"''. He conceded five goals at Weymouth four days later and "''had everyone's sympathy as he toiled gallantly''". He established himself in the first-team by February and was then described as "the hottest property the club has had in years", though was fortunate that scouts from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

missed the game where he "''handed

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

striker Johnny Bishop two goals on a plate''". He shared first-team duties with Fred Crump, racking up 24 appearances by the end of the 1970–71 season. New manager

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ma ...

signed Brian Robinson from Bletchley to compete with Edwards for a first-team spot; Robinson was described as one of the best goalkeepers in the

Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971. Edwards was injured whilst working in pre-season and Pleat went on to play Robinson in the league throughout the 1971–72 season, though Edwards would play 15 cup games. Edwards was released at the end of the campaign.

Port Vale

Edwards joined

Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to: *Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials *Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia *Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...

, initially on a trial basis, in July 1972. He signed permanently in September 1972, and made his debut in a 2–0 defeat to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

at The Valley on 2 December that year. He played one further Third Division game in the 1972–73 season. He featured in four league and one

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 ...

game in the 1973–74 season and made two league appearances in the 1974–75 campaign. He was always a reserve keeper at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

though, behind first

Alan Boswell Alan Henry Boswell (8 August 1943 – 24 August 2017) was an English football goalkeeper who made 479 league and cup appearances in a 12-year career in the English Football League. He began his career at Walsall in 1961, before moving on to Shr ...

and when he left,

John Connaughton Patrick John Connaughton (23 September 1949 – 12 November 2022) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 387 league and cup games in a 16-year career. He also represented England at youth level on three oc ...

. Edwards was given a free transfer by "Valiants" manager

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

in May 1975.

Later career

Edwards went on to play for Brereton Social,

( Southern League),

(

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

) and

(signed in 1980).

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Reg 1953 births Living people People from Rugeley English footballers Association football goalkeepers Brereton Social F.C. players Alvechurch F.C. players Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Redditch United F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Northern Premier League players