Christian Edwards (born 23 November 1975) is a Welsh 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 was most recently manager of

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

side

Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

. He played mainly as 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 ...

but has also played on the right of the defence. Edwards made more than 300

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

appearances, most prominently for

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

. He also made loan appearances for several other clubs before moving into

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

. He also represented Wales at full international and under-21 levels.

Club career

Swansea City

He began his professional career at

after joining the club as a youth player (where he got his nickname 'Swanny'). He made 112 appearances for Swansea before he moved to

Nottingham Forest

He cost Forest £300,000 when he arrived there in March 1998 but it was not long until he was on the move again this time on loan to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

where he made 3 appearances. In 2000–2001 he went out on loan twice, first to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

and then to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

where he played 9 games for the Londoners. A year later (2002) he went out on loan again this time to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

where he played 12 games before joining

. He made 54 appearances for Forest.

Bristol Rovers

His first season as a Rovers player saw him partnering captain

Adam Barrett Adam Nicholas Barrett (born 29 November 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender. During his career, which lasted from 1998 to 2017, he made 647 appearances in the Football League, including 308 for So ...

in the centre of the defence. In March, Edwards was placed on to the transfer list following a dip in form. It got worse for him when he fractured his arm on the last day of the 2004–05 season and took all summer to recover. In the summer of 2006 first team coach

Paul Trollope Paul Jonathan Trollope (born 3 June 1972) is a 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 ...

announced that Edwards' contract would not be renewed, he was released soon afterwards.

Forest Green Rovers

In July 2006 Edwards announced he would retire from professional football at the age of 30 but later went back on his decision and signed for

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

. Edwards played just nine times for Forest Green before his departure.

Aberystwyth Town

On 4 January 2007, it was announced that Edwards had joined

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

club Aberystwyth Town. In September 2009, Edwards took over as caretaker manager of the side following the resignation of

Brian Coyne Brian Coyne (born 13 December 1959) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Coyne played for Celtic in his native Glasgow before joining Shrewsbury Town in June 1979. However, he played just once for Shrewsbury, his only Fo ...

, before moving into an assistant manager role with appointment of former Tranmere teammate Alan Morgan as the club's new permanent manager. In February 2011, Edwards left his role at Aberystwyth after four years with the club.

Coaching career

Edwards served as the manager of

, leading the club into the

before being replaced by Wayne Allison in 2017. Allison stepped down later that year and Edwards took up the role of manager once again.

International career

Edwards has one full Welsh cap which he gained as an 88th-minute substitute for Chris Coleman during a 2–0 defeat to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 24 April 1996. He also has two 'B' caps and seven under-21 caps to his name. He was also called up for a friendly against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in February 2002, however he stayed on the bench.

Personal life

He has a degree from the

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

where he studied for a degree in sports coaching and obtained a first class degree. He subsequently completed a master's degree and completed a PhD.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Swansea City *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

play-offs runner-up:

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Christian 1975 births Living people Welsh men's footballers Welsh football managers Wales men's international footballers Swansea City A.F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Cymru Premier players Premier League players Wales men's under-21 international footballers English Football League players Cymru Premier managers Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Aberystwyth Town F.C. managers Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Men's association football defenders Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C. managers