Edward John Paul McGoldrick (born 30 April 1965) 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 the foundation academy manager of

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 ...

club

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 ...

. As a player he was a winger and

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, who played in the

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

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

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 ...

and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, and in the

for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He also played

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 ...

for Kettering Town, Nuneaton Borough and Corby Town. McGoldrick was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and played in World Cup 94.

Club career

McGoldrick started out at non-league side Kettering Town, but following a transfer to Nuneaton Borough he established himself as a utility player in the early 1980s. He went on to move into the

with

, where he collected a Fourth Division title medal in 1987. McGoldrick then went on to have a spell at

. Whilst with Palace he played in the 1988–89 Second Division playoff final. During the game he supplied the cross which set up

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

's goal which secured

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the First Division in Palace's 4–3 aggregate victory over

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He also won a

Zenith Data Systems Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. T ...

winners medal with the club in the 1990–91 season. During that season, Palace also recorded their best-ever finish of third place within the league. He did however, miss out on the club's appearance in the

1990 FA Cup final The 1990 FA Cup final was a football match played to determine to winners of the 1989–90 FA Cup. It was contested by Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, London, England. The match finished 3–3 after extra time. Bryan ...

. All in all with Crystal Palace he played 147 matches, scoring 11 goals. McGoldrick moved to Arsenal after Crystal Palace's relegation from the

in 1993. At Arsenal, he linked up with Wright once again, making his debut in the Charity Shield against

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 ...

on 7 August 1993. He played a total of 38 games in the 1993–94 season, which included a substitute appearance in Arsenal's

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

final win over

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. McGoldrick was thereafter less of a regular due to the arrival of players like

Glenn Helder Glenn Helder (born 28 October 1968) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger. He notably played in the Premier League for Arsenal, in the Eredivisie for Sparta Rotterdam, Vitesse Arnhem and NAC Breda. He also played in Po ...

. He was also known for taking Arsenal's corner kicks with an unorthodox 'looping' style, by lofting the ball high into the air before it dropped in the penalty area. In all he played 57 times for Arsenal, scoring one goal; his goal coming in the

1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1993–94 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by English club Arsenal, who beat defending champions Parma in the final. The tournament would be renamed to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following season. Teams Lithuania, Latvia, Est ...

against

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. He left Arsenal for

in the autumn of 1996. The move was initially on loan, becoming permanent on 18 October 1996 following a £300,000 transfer. McGoldrick joined the club amid a whirlwind of managerial changes. Initially signed on loan by caretaker-manager

Asa Hartford Richard Asa Hartford (born 24 October 1950) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He started his professional career with West Bromwich Albion. His early progress led to a proposed transfer to Leeds United in November 1971, but this co ...

(who took over from Alan Ball), his permanent move was the only signing of

Steve Coppell Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player. As a player, Coppell was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed, technical ability and work rate. He won domestic honours with ...

's 32-day reign, and he played under two more managers before the end of the season. McGoldrick spent two seasons with City, but was consigned to the reserves for much of his final season at the club, a loan spell at

providing his only first-team action for 1998. He stayed on the payroll at Manchester City until retiring as a player in 1999.

International career

McGoldrick was capped at international level for the

. He was a member of Ireland's

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

squad though he did not play in the tournament.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, McGoldrick had short spells as manager of Corby Town in 2000 and Bashley in 2003. Prior to becoming player-manager at Corby Town he had a brief spell as the club's commercial manager. In 2008, he was confirmed as the under-14s manager at

. During the following year he stepped up to become manager of the club's youth team. However, after a spell at Northampton, McGoldrick's old club

sought to appoint him as one of their youth team managers in 2013. However, in that year he instead established a football academy at Northampton College. Wherein the college students aged 16 – 19 years old have the opportunity of pursuing a full-time footballing scholarship along with a BTEC Sport qualification. At the start of the 2016–17 season, McGoldrick was again offered by Crystal Palace a post with the club's Academy. McGoldrick accepted and took up the position as the manager of the club's academy.

Novelty song

Josh Widdicombe fronted the 1990s football podcast '' Quickly Kevin, Will He Score?'' and released a song featuring McGoldrick's name being sung to a jaunty tune, a running joke on the podcast. The aim was to get to Xmas number one in 2019. However, the single failed to break the top 40.

Honours

Northampton Town *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

: 1986–87 Crystal Palace *

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. T ...

: 1990–91 Arsenal *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1993–94 Manchester City * Football League Second Division play-offs:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Individual * Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 1991–92

References

External links

Crystal Palace profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGoldrick, Eddie 1965 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's B international footballers Kettering Town F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players 1994 FIFA World Cup players English people of Irish descent Premier League players English Football League players English football managers Corby Town F.C. managers Bashley F.C. managers Northampton Town F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff People from Islington (district) English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Islington 20th-century Irish sportsmen