Edward Critchley (31 December 1903 – 1996) was an English

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 ...

. A

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

championship winner with Everton, he has been described as "the finest 'homegrown' player ever produced by

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 ...

Career

Stockport County

Critchley played local football for Spring Gardens, Stockport Union Chapel, Cheadle and Witton Albion before joining

via

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

in 1922. He made his debut on 9 December 1922, in a 2–0 defeat to Port Vale at the

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

. His second appearance came on the last day of the 1922–23 season, as the "Hatters" secured their

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

status with a 3–0 win over

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a association football, football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for Stockport RFC, a rugby league club, in 1891, by 1903 the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County F.C., Stockport County Football Club moved i ...

. County retained their second-tier status in 1923–24 and 1924–25, before finishing at the bottom of the division in 1925–26. He was too good a player to remain in the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

for long in 1926–27. He played 118 games for County before being

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

red to Everton for a £2,500 fee in December 1926.

Everton

In his first game for the "Toffees", he provided the crosses for

Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. Dean holds the record for the most goals scored in a single season in top-flight English football, with 60. He is regarded as ...

to score four goals in a 5–4 win against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. In his first full season at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

, 1927–28, Everton won the

league title. He provided many of the passes that enabled Dixie Dean's record-breaking 60 goals. However, Everton dropped to 18th in 1928–29, before being

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

in last place in 1929–30. Everton then won the Second Division championship in 1930–31, and won the First Division title again in 1931–32. They dropped to 11th in 1932–33, and Critchley missed the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

victory over

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 ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

after he had scored the winning goal in the semi-final victory over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, with

Albert Geldard Albert Geldard (11 April 1914 – 19 October 1989) was an English professional footballer who played as an outside right for Bradford Park Avenue, Everton, Bolton Wanderers and Darwen. At Everton he won the FA Cup Final in 1933. He made four ap ...

selected ahead of him for the final. The 1933–34 season was his last for Everton. Critchley scored 42 goals in 230 games for Everton before being transferred to

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 ...

in 1934.
Everton F.C.

Later career

After playing in the first 11 games of the season, he lost his place in the Preston team. He was transferred to Port Vale F.C., Port Vale with cash in exchange for John Friar in December 1934. However, he lost his place in the Vale team in early April 1935, and was released at the end of the season and moved on to South Liverpool.

Career statistics

Honours

Everton *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1927–28 & 1931–32 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

: 1930–31

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Critchley, Edward 1903 births 1996 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Ashton-under-Lyne Witton Albion F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Everton F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players South Liverpool F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen