NCM Report Cards: #4 Mike Edwards

Last updated : 04 June 2005 By Richard Brown

Name: Michael Edwards
Age: 25
Position: Defender
No. of Appearances '04/05: 10 (1)

Season Highlight: Working ahead of schedule in his physiotherapy program, something which puts Edwards in good stead for the coming season.

Season Lowlight: Sustaining cruciate ligament damage and subsequently missing the duration of the 2004/05 campaign.


The 2004/05 season will be remembered as a mixed one for Mike Edwards.

After arriving in the summer as Grimsby’s Player of the Season for the previous campaign, Edwards’ season became nothing short of disastrous so early on.

Edwards in action
Despite the defender's valuable versatility that had proved a useful commodity for the 25-year-old, his season was to take a turn for the worse before he had even settled in the side.

Right from the first few days of the season, 'steady Eddy' became an integral ‘team player’ in the side; seldom yielding the spectacular, but relentlessly efficient for the good of the team, often acting as a stand-in midfielder and defender during his short spell in the side.

Providing some useful sense of backbone to the side, something that Notts would come to miss later in the season when the form of Matty Gill and Stef Oakes began to fail the Magpies, it was clear that Edwards was a player of some reliability.

Like that all too familiar truism ‘all good things must come to an end’, Edwards’ short stint since starting the season was brought to a cruel end just eleven games into the season.

On a cold autumn’s eve at West Ham’s Upton Park, ‘Steady Eddy’ caught his studs in the turf before slumping painfully to the floor in the club’s League Cup tie with the Hammers.

His season over in a match Notts would go on to lost 3-2, his unfortunate slip was to prove the last we’d see of the former Hull City man, for this season, at least. Or so we thought…

As the whistle blew on the Magpies number four’s season; the dragon was unleashed, with the enigma that was Mike Edwards hitting the catwalk.

Taking the fashion world by storm, Edwards was frequently snapped for the likes of Vogue, OK and Asian Babes magazines, even occasionally managing to visit Meadow Lane, blessing the hallowed turf with his presence, complete with his much-famed entourage, headed by one John Haseldon (club physio).

Shameful jokes aside, the jury remains very much undecided on Mike Edwards, and next season will provide a fresh challenge for the defender.

Now working towards match fitness, the progress of Edwards’ should be an interesting one over the coming season…

Season Rating (out of 10): 5

For the continuation of NCM’s End of season reports, be sure to check back over the coming days, where veteran Mike Whitlow will go under the attentive gaze of the site.