Edgar Chadwick
Birthdate: 14 June 1869
Birthplace: Blackburn, England
Other clubs: Blackburn Olympic (1886-87), Blackburn Rovers (1887-88), Everton (1888-99), Burnley (1899-1900), Southampton (1900-02), Blackpool (1904-05), Glossop (1905-06), Darwen (1906-08); Blackburn Rovers (wartime guest)
Bought from: Burnley
Signed for LFC: £35, May 1902
International debut: 07.03.1891 vs. Wales
International caps: 7/3 (caps as an Everton player) - 03.04.1897
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Liverpool debut: 06.09.1902
Last appearance: 06.02.1904
Debut goal: 01.11.1902
Last goal: 04.04.1903
Contract expiry: May 1904
Win ratio: 40% W: 18 D: 5 L: 22
Games/goals ratio: 6.43
Total games/goals opposite LFC: 9 / 2
LFC league games/goals: 43 / 7
Total LFC games/goals: 45 / 7
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Player profile
Chadwick spent the autumn of his career at Liverpool, after a sensational period at Everton from 1888-1899. He signed for the Blues before the inaugural Football League season of 1888/89 and played 300 games and scored 110 goals. His highlight was winning the League Championship in 1891. The 5 ft. 6 in. (167 cm.) left-winger was called "King of the dribblers and master of the ball" as Victor Hall recalled in the Liverpool Echo in the 1920s: "To see Edgar Chadwick in play was to realise for the first time what the art of "dribbling" really meant. As a player he never appeared to be speedy, he had not the build or the symmetry of wind and limb that indicates pace. Coming of Lancashire stock, he had rather the loose awkward build that even when stripped for play is so deceptive in other fields of athletics. In manner Edgar was shy and diffident. He had that modest, unassuming manner both on and off the field of play, that one finds so frequently in really great players."
Chadwick joined Burnley at 30 years of age, but despite being the top-scorer of the team with ten goals he couldn‘t prevent their relegation to Second Division. He moved to Southampton where he was victorious in the Southern league before featuring in the 1902 FA Cup final where the Saints lost 2-1 to Sheffield United in a replay. That defeat completed an unwanted hat-trick for Chadwick who had twice before been on the losing side with Everton in a FA Cup final, in 1893 and 1897. After 52 League games and 18 goals for the Saints, Liverpool desired his services and £35 had to be paid to Burnley that still held his Football League registration. Chadwick played in the Reds' forward-line for two seasons between the Championship wins in 1901 and 1906. His teammates undoubtedly learnt a whole lot from playing with him as "he had a kindly disposition to new players and especially to young ones coming along", as Victor Hall noted. Chadwick missed only five of the 34 first division matches in the 1902/03 season and scored seven times, including two in the 9-2 demolition of Grimsby Town at Anfield on 6 December 1902. He added a further 15 matches to his total the following season of which 11 were defeats in the disastrous 1903/04 campaign.
A pioneer in Englishmen coaching abroad he became a respected coach in Holland and took charge of the Dutch national team in 1908, a post he held until November 1913, guiding the team to bronze medals in the 1908 and 1912 Olympics. He returned to Blackburn to work as a baker and made one final appearance as a wartime guest for Blackburn Rovers against Manchester United on 11 November 1916, at the age of 47!