A new chapter for Shrewsbury Town old boy Dave Edwards
If you were going to pick a footballer as a likely candidate to write a book, Dave Edwards would be pretty high on the list.
The former Shrewsbury midfielder, as so many have read, seen and heard over the years, isn’t exactly your average footballer when it comes to interviews, or indeed blogs, as those who followed his injury comeback blogs in 2016 can testify.
Perhaps the only surprise is that Dave Edwards – Living My Dream has been written while the Welsh international is still very much in his playing days, with the 31-year-old hoping he’s got a good few years left in him yet.
As Edwards told the Shropshire Star, though, it feels like the right time. “It’s always something I’ve wanted to do – I just didn’t know it would come during my career,” he said.
“In the past two or three years I’ve got in the habit of writing a journal – at the end of every day I’d scribble down general thoughts and feelings of what’s gone on, particularly during Euro 2016 as I was conscious I didn’t want to forget any of the experiences.
“After the Euros, which was such a magical occasion, it felt like the right time to share what had been an incredible few weeks.
“With the help of Paul Berry at Wolves – who I’m very good friends with – we developed what is hopefully a good insight into a major tournament and also my career to date.”
That career to date has taken in four clubs – Shrewsbury Town, Luton Town, Wolves and now Reading – as well as 43 Wales caps in a total of more than 500 career appearances.
Edwards said:“For the book I’ve been looking through the archives at all the fixtures and it was nice to remember some of the early Shrewsbury games in particular, it brought back different emotions and things I’d completely forgotten about.
“As well as the Euros there’s a bit on my childhood, on Shrewsbury, a bit on Luton and then a few chapters on Wolves, obviously I was there for almost 10 years”
A youthful Edwards, not yet 17, was turning out regularly for the club’s under-17s and reserves side. A true Town fan, he was loving wearing the blue and amber.
The midfielder recalled how he was like any other youth teamer at the time, working hard in training and doing their duties, hoping for a shot at catching the eye of first team staff. And the staff at Town were clearly impressed. Edwards had been promoted to train with Kevin Ratcliffe’s first team.
It seemed like the Pontesbury youngster might get a crack at breaking through,
“What a life it was at that time,” the midfield recalls in Living My Dream. “I was training every day and playing football. It was perfect.
“As the season went on, and I was training more with the first team, it would be a minibus journey over to the training ground and, after training, the YTS boys would still be expected to clean the facilities and the first team players’ boots.”
The Wales star made his Town first team debut shortly after his 17th birthday against Scunthorpe at Gay Meadow in May 2003.
The home side lost 2-1 to the Iron in a game where the result mattered little as relegation had been confirmed the previous week.
It was a huge day in the career of Edwards. Though he remembers in the book about how not everything was quite perfect...
An extract from the book adds: “I travelled to the stadium, still feeling very nervous, to the point that I wasn’t even sure I really wanted to play.
“There it was, number 34, with my name on the back.
“Thrilled, I walked straight up to the shirt and my first thought was, ‘this looks terrible!’ You could see where they had ripped the number 2 off the back and, next to the official Football League number 4, was a number 3 of a completely different size which didn’t match.
“My name was on the back – EDWARDS – but you could see the black outline underneath of some faded letters of whoever had worn the shirt before.
“I can laugh about it now, but on the day I remember it left me feeling really deflated. My big moment. Until I saw the kit.”
It was under boss Gary Peters that Edwards enjoyed his first real consistent run in the Town first-team.
He made 30 appearances in 2004/2005 and 33 in 2005/2006, by this stage Edwards was an integral part of Town’s squad.
But it was also Peters that wanted the home-grown midfielder to commit his future to the club... or else, as Edwards recalls.“It wasn’t long before I got in the team on a regular basis and it was under Gary that my Shrewsbury career really took off,” he said.
“I was loving it. Living my dream. From that point I had a great couple of years and played a lot of games, and then it all came crashing to an end in somewhat controversial circumstances.
“Towards the end of the 2006-07 season I had just turned 21, and Shrewsbury offered me a new contract. It was such a poor deal, only a minimal increase and miles away from what other players were earning.
“I was a local lad really enjoying my football. In April 2007 it emerged publicly that I had turned down a new deal and locally it was big news. It made the front and the back page of the Shropshire Star!”
Edwards adds in his book, his gratitude at the chance of playing for the club he loved and continues to love. ‘His club’ as he refers to Town.
And not for the first time, the popular fan favourite has placed on record his desire to one day return to the club he supports.
Still just 31, Edwards has impressed in his debut season with Reading. There are a number of years ahead of the Welsh star.
“Playing for your home-town club, it doesn’t get much better than that and despite the circumstances of how I left,” he said. “Whenever I go back I get a lovely reception from everyone I meet. I genuinely was a proper fan getting to play for his club...Hopefully the fans have seen why I made my decision. I will always be in debt to Shrewsbury, and hope fans will take it to their hearts that a lot of my success was nurtured in Shrewsbury and, you never know, I would love to go back and play for them again one day. It’s my club!”
