Liam Edwards
Personal information
Full name Liam John Edwards[1]
Date of birth (1996-10-02) 2 October 1996 (age 27)
Place of birth Crewe, England
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
0000–2015 Stoke City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 Stoke City 0 (0)
2017–2022 Bolton Wanderers 6 (0)
2018–2019 → Southport (loan) 22 (0)
2021–2022 → Southport (loan) 9 (0)
2022– Chester 45 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10:42, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Liam John Edwards (born 2 October 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Chester.

Career

Edwards started his career in Stoke City's academy, and signed his first professional contract with them in 2015.[2] He played no matches for the first team however, and was released in 2017.[3] After his release, he signed for Bolton Wanderers and became captain of their U23 team. As captain, he led them to win the 2017–18 Professional Development League title.[4]

In November 2018, Edwards signed on loan for Southport.[5] His loan was extended to the end of the season in January 2019.[6] He helped Southport win two trophies, the 2018–2019 Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy and Liverpool Senior Cup.[7]

On 3 August 2019, he made his first appearance for Bolton's first team, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 away defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.[8] On 12 September 2019, he signed a new contract at Bolton until 2022.[4] On 27 February 2020 he was ruled out for the rest of the season with injury.[9] The injury also caused him to miss the entire 2020–2021 season as well. He finally returned from injury after 22 months out of action when he played 45 minutes for Bolton's Reserve team in a 3–0 defeat against Preston North End's reserves on 26 October 2021.[10] A week later he made his competitive return, coming on as a late substitute in a 3–0 against Rochdale in the EFL Trophy.[11] On 12 November 2021 Edwards re-joined Southport on an initial month's loan in order to build up match fitness having missed nearly two years of football.[12] He made his second debut for them a day later when he started in a 4–1 against Boston United.[13][14] On 13 December, the loan was extended for another month[15] and then was extended again until the end of the season on 9 January 2022.[16] On 3 May 2022, Bolton confirmed that he would be released at the end of his contract.[17] After his release, he signed for Chester.[18]

Personal life

During his 23 month injury between January 2020 and November 2021, Edwards studied for a degree in chartered physiology just in case he would never be able to play again.[19]

Career statistics

As of match played 23 January 2024[20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Stoke City U-21s 2016–17[21] — — — — 2[a] 0 2 0
Bolton Wanderers 2018–19[22] Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2019–20[23] League One 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 0
2020–21[24] League Two 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021–22[25] League One 0 0 0 0 0 0 1[a] 0 1 0
Total 6 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 8 0
Southport (loan) 2018–19[7][26] National League North 22 0 3 0 – 4[b] 0 29 0
2021–22[7][27] National League North 9 0 0 0 – 3[c] 0 12 0
Total 31 0 3 0 – 7 0 41 0
Chester 2022–23[7][28] National League North 26 0 2 0 – 2[d] 0 30 0
2023–24[7][29] National League North 19 1 4 0 – 0 0 23 1
Total 45 1 6 0 – 2 0 53 1
Career total 82 1 9 0 1 0 12 0 104 1
Notes
  1. ^ a b Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
  2. ^ Three appearances in Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy, one appearance in Liverpool Senior Cup
  3. ^ Two appearances in FA Trophy, one appearance in Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy
  4. ^ One appearance in FA Trophy, one appearance in National League North play-offs

Honours

Bolton Wanderers Reserves

Southport

References

  1. ^ "Notification of shirt numbers: Bolton Wanderers" (PDF). English Football League. p. 7. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  2. ^ Stoke City: "Club Submit Retained List"
  3. ^ Stoke City: "Potters Submit Retained List"
  4. ^ a b c "LIAM EDWARDS Defender signs contract until 2022". bwfc.co.uk. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  5. ^ "SIGNING | Edwards Joins On Loan". Southport Football Club. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  6. ^ O'Gara, Mikey (4 January 2019). "Liam Edwards and Marcus Wood extend loans until the end of the season". Bolton Wanderers. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Soccerway: "L. EDWARDS"
  8. ^ "Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 Bolton Wanderers: Defeat for troubled Trotters at Adams Park". 3 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  9. ^ BBC Sport: "Liam Edwards: Bolton Wanderers defender out for season with knee injury"
  10. ^ BWFC: "Edwards: It's Good To Be Back"
  11. ^ BWFC: "REPORT: Rochdale 0 Wanderers 3"
  12. ^ BWFC: "Loan Deals For Defensive Duo"
  13. ^ Southport Football Club: "The Southport line up this afternoon and, after Chris Doyle picked up a knock in training on Thursday, Liam Edwards on loan from Bolton goes straight in at the back."
  14. ^ Southport Football Club: "It's all over and a brilliant 4-1 win to the rampant Sandgrounders."
  15. ^ The Bolton News: "Bolton Wanderers defender Liam Edwards extends Southport loan"
  16. ^ Southport: "Liam Edwards Loan Extended"
  17. ^ "Wanderers Confirm Departures". Bolton Wanderers F.C. 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Chester FC to sign Liam Edwards!". Chester City F.C. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  19. ^ The Bolton News: "Bolton Wanderers' Liam Edwards studied for degree during 23-month injury hell"
  20. ^ Liam Edwards at Soccerbase
  21. ^ "Games played by Liam Edwards in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Games played by Liam Edwards in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  23. ^ "Games played by Liam Edwards in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  24. ^ "Games played by Liam Edwards in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Games played by Liam Edwards in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  26. ^ southportfc.net "2018-19 Appearances & Scorers"
  27. ^ https://southportfc.net/all-matches/
  28. ^ http://www.chester-city.co.uk/stats_first2223.asp
  29. ^ http://www.chester-city.co.uk/stats_first2324.asp
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