Robert Edwards (born 23 February 1970) is a 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 started out as a forward and changed to a defender or midfielder. He played 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

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 Chesterfield before retiring and starting his own joiner business in 2006.

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Edwards came through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

at Crewe Alexandra, making his first team debut, aged 17, when coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 win over Newport County in a Fourth Division game at

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History C ...

on 13 February 1988.Crisp, p.119. He made his first Crewe start and scored his first Crewe goal in a 3–0

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 ...

second round victory over

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

on 10 December 1988,Crisp, p.120. but was mainly restricted to occasional substitute appearances until the 1990-91 season, during which he scored 11 times in 32 appearances, including eight goals from 17 league starts in Crewe's final games of the season.Crisp, p.122. In the opening fixture of the following season on 17 August 1991, Edwards scored a hat-trick as Crewe won 7-4 at

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

in the London club's first Football League match. He scored another hat-trick in his penultimate Crewe appearance, a 3-2 victory at local rivals

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

on 2 March 1996. In 198 Crewe appearances, he scored 58 goals before being sold to

for £150,000 on 8 March 1996.

Huddersfield Town

Edwards had two spells at Huddersfield Town. He scored two of the most important goals in his career at Huddersfield one in 1997 against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

where Huddersfield passed the ball 16 times around the field for it to fall for Edwards outside the 18 yard box to smash it into the back of the net. And in 2004 scored the goal that took Town through to the play off final. He was released by Huddersfield at the end of the 2004–05 season, joining Ossett Albion from where he joined

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...

in May 2006. He retired in November 2006 after playing just 11 times for Mossley. He is now involved with Holmfirth Town F.C..

Honours

Huddersfield Town *

Football League Third Division play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

References

Sources

External links

* 1970 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Men's association football utility players Ossett Albion A.F.C. players {{England-footy-defender-1970s-stub