Bryan Edwards (27 October 1930 – 21 June 2016) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He played 518 games for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

picking up an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Winners medal in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

and later managed

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

and was a coach and physiotherapist at several clubs. He has a beloved wife Jean Edwards, son Ian Edwards, grandson Jon Edwards, great great granddaughter Ellie Edwards and great great great grandson Kobe.

Playing career

Edwards excelled at both football and cricket and had trials for both sports, at

and

Yorkshire CCC Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...

in 1947. He joined Bolton and signed a full-time professional contract in October 1947. He stayed at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

for 18 years, although his career was interrupted by two years National Service, winning an

winners medal in

when Bolton defeated

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

2–0. He made 483 league appearances and 518 in all league and cup games mostly as a wing half before later playing as a centre half retiring in 1965, aged 35.

Managerial career

When Edwards retired he first joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

as assistant trainer-coach before moving to Preston North End first as coach and later first-team trainer. He moved to Plymouth Argyle as chief coach, before becoming manager at

in November 1971. He took over with City struggling towards the bottom of Division Three but he could not arrest the slide and the club were relegated in bottom place in the 1971–72 season. The club came 16th the following season and 8th in 1973–74 before Edwards resigned in January 1975 to be replaced by Bobby Kennedy. He became a qualified physiotherapist and served as physio and coach at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

and youth team coach at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

before returning to Bradford City in July 1977. He filled a host of roles at

Valley Parade Valley Parade, currently known as University of Bradford Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater association football, football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium was built in 1886 as the home of Manningham F.C. ...

including physio, assistant manager, and general manager.

Later life

He died in June 2016, aged 85.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Bolton Wanderers *

: 1957–58

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Bryan 1930 births 2016 deaths English men's footballers Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English football managers Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Bradford City A.F.C. managers Association football physiotherapists British physiotherapists Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Leeds English Football League players Athletic trainers 20th-century English sportsmen