Darren Malcolm Eadie (born 10 June 1975) is an English football manager 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 joint-manager of

Leiston Leiston ( ) is a town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is close to Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, north-east of Ipswich and north-east of London. The town had a population of 5,508 at th ...

. As a player, he made his name as a pacy left-sided midfielder with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

before later joining

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He featured in both the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and

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 ...

for both teams. He was capped seven times by

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

, scoring twice before being called up in the full

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

team in 1997. He was part of England's squad that took part in the Tournoi de France, where he was named as a substitute, and did not go on to win a full cap.

Early life

Born in

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

, Eadie attended the Corsham School in Wiltshire.

Club career

Eadie was a product of Norwich City's youth system and made his debut in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

match against

Vitesse Arnhem SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, Eng: Professional Football Foundation Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally known as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, footba ...

in September 1993. By the time they were relegated at the end of the following season, he was Norwich's regular left winger. Even though he was unable to inspire Norwich to a return to the Premier League, his form for the club was such that his name was being linked with a number of Premier League clubs by 1997, although he would ultimately remain at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is a association football, football stadium in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship club Norwich City F.C., Norwich City. The stadium is east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

for three more years. He missed the start of the 1999–2000 season through a knee injury, and in December 1999, as a result of Norwich's financial problems and risk of relegation, he was sold to

for almost £3 million, finally giving him the chance to establish himself as a Premier League player. Recurrent knee injuries restricted Eadie to only 40 league matches for Leicester, and he retired in the summer of 2003 at the age of 28. He was

cup-tied In association football, a player who has appeared for a football club during a knockout cup but subsequently transfers to another club is ineligible to play for the new club in the remainder of that season's cup competition. Such a player is sa ...

for their victory in the 2000 Football League Cup Final.

International career

Between 1994 and 1997, Eadie made seven appearances for the

team, scoring two goals. In the summer of 1997, Eadie was called up in the

squad for the Tournoi de France.

Managerial career

In March 2020 Eadie was appointed joint manager of

alongside Chris Wigger.

Personal life

In 2002, Eadie was voted an inaugural member of the Norwich City Hall of Fame, which was established to celebrate the club's centenary. In an interview for the Norwich City matchday programme on 13 August 2005, Eadie stated that he had found retirement difficult, particularly as many of his friends were still playing professional football. It was reported in July 2012 that he had fought severe depression and suffered panic attacks.

Honours

Individual * First Division

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1996–97

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eadie, Darren Living people 1975 births Sportspeople from Chippenham English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders England men's under-21 international footballers Premier League players Norwich City F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players English football managers Leiston F.C. managers English Football League players