Edward Quigley (13 July 1921 – 18 April 1997) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He was born in

Bury, Lancashire Bury (, ) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

, the son of Edward and Martha (née Rowley) Quigley. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, he scored 179 goals from 337 appearances 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 ...

playing as a forward for Bury,

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

and

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 ...

in the post

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

era. He was transferred from Sheffield Wednesday to Preston for a fee of £26,500, which was at the time a British transfer record. Quigley began his football career playing for Bury as a 16-year-old full back and he came to prominence in February 1947 when playing as a centre forward for the first time, against Millwall, he scored all their five goals in a 5–2 win. In October 1947 after netting 18 goals for Bury he was snapped up by Sheffield Wednesday for £12,000 and was their top scorer for the next two seasons. After his record breaking transfer to Preston, he struggled with injury and form, with only five goals in 20 games in his first season, nine in 20 in the next as Preston gained promotion to the first division and after 12 games in the top flight he lost his place in the team. In mid November 1951 he transferred to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £20,000 where over four seasons he recaptured his prolific scoring form back in the Second Division. He re-signed for Bury in 1956 where he made ten League appearances before retiring from League football at the end of the 1956–57 season. Later in life, he lamented that only at Bury did he play regularly as a centre forward, with the clubs who signed him usually deploying him as a right sided forward. 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 ...

as player-manager in the summer of 1957. Over the next six seasons he appeared 197 times for the club scoring 56 goals, before retiring from playing when he left the club in 1962, aged 41. He then returned to Bury as a youth-team coach. In April 1967, after a brief spell as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

at Blackburn, Quigley was confirmed in the position on a permanent basis. In October 1970, he was replaced by

Johnny Carey John Joseph Carey (23 February 1919 – 22 August 1995) was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 195 ...

and became chief scout. He and Carey were both sacked on 7 June 1971. He later managed

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 ...

. He died in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in 1997 at the age of 75.

References

External links

Biography
1921 births 1997 deaths Footballers from Bury, Greater Manchester English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bury F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Preston North End F.C. managers Blackburn Rovers F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Mossley A.F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. managers Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers Stockport County F.C. managers Royal Marines personnel of World War II Royal Marines ranks Military personnel from the Metropolitan Borough of Bury 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-forward-1920s-stub