Michael Edwards (born 25 April 1980) is an English football coach and former 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 lea ...

who is assistant manager at

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. As a player he was a defender. Edwards played professionally between 1997 and 2018 and most notably played for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, where he spent eleven years over two spells which yielded 311 League appearances and 26 goals. He also played for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

. In his final season with County, he doubled up his playing duties with being the clubs strength and conditioning coach.

Playing career

Hull City

Edwards was born in

Hessle Hessle () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Kingston upon Hull. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area consisting of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of H ...

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of ...

, and began his football career as a trainee with

. Primarily a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, he made his debut on 28 December 1997 in the

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

game away to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

which Hull lost 5–4, but did not turn professional until the end of the 1997–98 season. By the time he left the club in March 2003, he was their longest-serving player, though still only 22 years old, and had played 208 games in all first-team competitions.

Colchester United

Edwards joined

until the end of the season, but was then released, and then after had a trial for

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

Grimsby Town

Following another trial for

, Edwards signed a one-year deal with Grimsby. He spent the season rotating in the team in the centre half position, partnering

Tony Crane Anthony Steven Crane (born 8 September 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender, midfielder and makeshift centre forward from 1999 to 2009. He notably played as a professional for Sheffield Wednesday and G ...

, Paul Groves and

Simon Ford Simon Gary Ford (born 17 November 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender from 2001 to 2013. Having started his career with Charlton Athletic as a youngster, he transferred to Grimsby Town in 2001. He moved on to Bri ...

. Following the club's relegation from the Second Division he was not offered a fresh contract and departed the club in May 2004.

Notts County

Edwards was signed by

in May 2004 on a free transfer from Grimsby Town by Gary Mills. He played just 10 games until

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

damage sustained during a League Cup first round tie away against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

ruled him out for the rest of the season. Under new manager Gudjon Thordarson, Edwards made a remarkable comeback to play in all 50 league and cup games in the 2005–06 campaign, demonstrating his versatility by operating in central midfield for most of that season. He slotted back into defence after the departure of Kelvin Wilson towards the end of the season putting in consistent and impressive performances. Edwards scored seven times proving a menace to the opposition at set plays. Edwards signed a new contract in May 2006 taking him through until May 2008. He won the club's Player of the Season award for 2006–07, and before the following season was made

club captain The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...

. Only weeks later, in a pre-season fixture against St Blazey, he suffered a badly-broken leg and was out of the side until January 2008. He renewed his contract for a further two years in June 2008. He was a regular in the Notts County starting 11 in 2010–2011 season. He made his 300th appearance for the club in the 2011–12 season in a 0–0 draw against Scunthorpe United.

Carlisle United

On 11 June 2012, he signed a two-year deal with

. Edwards was limited to 24 appearances in two seasons with the club, this eventually led to his release at the end of the 2013–14 season. In July 2014 he returned to

and played in their pre-season warm up match with Carlton Town, however this was only done as a favour to the player to keep up his fitness levels before the new season.

Return to Notts County

In August 2014 Edwards signed a contract at Notts County as a Conditioning Coach and player until January 2015. Edwards scored his first goal since re-signing for Notts against Sheffield United in a 1–1 draw on 28 November. He was released by Notts County at the end of the 2017–18 season and retired shortly after.

Honours

Notts County *

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

: 2009–10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Mike 1980 births Living people People from Hessle Footballers from the East Riding of Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Hull City A.F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen