Eddie Niedzwiecki

Eddie Niedzwiecki

Personal information
Full name	Andrzej Edward Niedzwiecki
Date of birth	3 May 1959
Place of birth	Bangor, Wales
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Stoke City (first-team coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1977–1983	Wrexham	111	(0)
1983–1988	Chelsea	136	(0)
Total		247	(0)
National team
1985–1987	Wales	2	(0)
Teams managed
1991	Reading (caretaker manager)
2012	Queens Park Rangers (caretaker manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Andrzej Edward "Eddie" Niedzwiecki; born 3 May 1959) is a Welsh former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Wrexham and Chelsea and is now first-team coach at Stoke City. After retiring early due to injury Niedzwiecki became a coach with Chelsea and then Arsenal before working with Mark Hughes with the Wales national team. Since then he has worked with Hughes at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City.

Playing career

Starting at Wrexham at the age of 14, Niedzwiecki stayed with the club until the summer of 1983, when he was signed for Chelsea by former Wrexham manager, John Neal. He quickly won a regular place in the Chelsea starting line-up and was impressive as the side romped to the Second Division title in his first season. He also earned two caps for Wales during his playing career.

Coaching career

Niedzwiecki was forced to retire aged 28, after failing to recover from numerous injury problems. He later went on to become a coach at Chelsea, leaving the club in November 2000 after the arrival of Claudio Ranieri. He joined Arsenal^[1] the following month, succeeding the late George Armstrong as reserve team coach. He also worked part-time as coach with Wales, with Mark Hughes as manager for the Welsh, during this time.^[1] In September 2004, he joined Blackburn Rovers, under Mark Hughes, as first-team coach.^[1] Four years later, when Hughes left for Manchester City, he was among the several backroom staff from Blackburn to follow him in making the switch.^[1]

However he became unemployed on 19 December 2009 when Hughes and his complete backroom staff were relieved of their duties at the club. In 2010 he once again linked up with Hughes at Fulham as part of the new Fulham manager's coaching staff.^[1] He left in the summer of 2011 after Hughes had left the club. In 2012, he joined Queens Park Rangers' backroom staff, after Hughes was appointed manager.^[1] He and Mark Bowen were briefly joint caretaker managers after Hughes' dismissal in November 2012,^[2] Niedzwiecki joined up with Hughes at Stoke City in June 2013.^[3]

Career statistics

• Sourced from The English National Football Archive

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[A]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Wrexham	1977–78	Third Division	15	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	17	0
	1978–79	Second Division	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	1979–80	Second Division	6	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	8	0
	1980–81	Second Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1981–82	Second Division	42	0	4	0	5	0	0	0	51	0
	1982–83	Third Division	42	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	46	0
	Total		111	0	7	0	9	0	1	0	128	0
Chelsea	1983–84	Second Division	42	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	48	0
	1984–85	First Division	40	0	3	0	9	0	0	0	52	0
	1985–86	First Division	30	0	2	0	8	0	5	0	45	0
	1986–87	First Division	10	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	14	0
	1987–88	First Division	14	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	16	0
	Total		136	0	8	0	25	0	6	0	175	0
Career Total			247	0	15	0	34	0	7	0	303	0

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Full Members Cup.

Honours

Wrexham

• Football League Third Division champions: 1977–78

Chelsea

• Football League Second Division champions: 1983–84

References

1. "Eddie Niedzwiecki", Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
2. Jurejko, Jonathan (24 November 2012). "Man United 3-1 QPR". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
3. "Hughes Reunited With Key Men". Stoke City F.C. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.

External links

• Eddie Niedzwiecki at National-Football-Teams.com
• World Football profile