Niedzwiecki, Eddie (1983-1987)

[loz]

Eddie Niedzwiecki (1983-1987)

Written by Loz in May 2007

The Date: 3rd May, 1959

The Place: Bangor Wales

The Event: The Day the World Got its Own Back on the Welsh!!

Yes indeed, Steady Eddie, was actually born in Wales rather than being a Welsh international via the ownership of a family pet that was once involved in a skirmish on Welsh territory .

The Welsh had a player whose name they couldn’t pronounce and at no point was their successive LL’s in it!

Steady Eddie started his playing career with Wrexham who he signed for as a 14 year old. He signed professional papers with them in 1977 and stayed with them until 1983 making 111 appearances in that six year period.

In the close season prior to the 1983-84 season John Neal (formerly Eddie’s manager at Wrexham) came calling and signed his old keeper for £55,000 to replace Steve Francis in the Chelsea nets.

Eddie made his league debut on August 23rd in a 5-0 routing of Derby County, and went on to establish himself as Chelsea’s clear number one. In that season Chelsea topped the second division and Eddie conceded less than a goal a game over the course of the season. Maybe that doesn't sound so impressive in this day and age but trust me it was playing in that team!

The 1984-85 season provided Eddie with an opportunity to show he could cut it in the top flight (or the chance to do a fine impression of Ian Walker before Ian Walker could even prove he was naff). Steady Eddie didn’t just step up, he went up the stairs four at a time. Playing behind a back line with as much experience as a bunch of fourth years schoolboys on a trip to the Moulin Rouge, Niedzwiecki put in solid performance after solid performance and basically captained the back line.

In 1985-86 he did the unthinkable and got better as any Fulham fan who witnessed Chelsea knocking them out of the Milk Cup will testify to. I say ‘Chelsea’ but in all honesty most of the team put in performances Titus Bramble would have been ashamed of, all that is apart from Eddie who, for 90 minutes, defied a Fulham team that was tearing strips off us. Even a late penalty wasn’t to deny Eddie his moment of glory as his save preserved our 1-0 lead.

Sadly March 1986 was to see the moment that, to all extents and purposes, finished Eddie’s playing career. In a game against QPR he collided with Steve Wicks, one of those collisions that looked like nothing at the time. However Eddie incurred a serious knee injury and it was to be eight months before he pulled on a Chelsea jersey again.

Sadly that comeback was short lived, as was a further attempt to resurrect his career in the 1986-87 season as his knee gave way again in a game against Oxford in October 1986.

Eddie was to never recover from that reoccurrence and sadly had to retire at the young age of 28.

Eddie became a goalkeeping coach at Chelsea and served the club well until November 2000 when Claudio Ranieri brought in his own backroom staff. This sparked some alleged discontent with Colin Hutchinson having to deny reports that Niedzwiecki and fitness coach Antonio Pintus had been fired and then reinstated after a player's revolt led by Dennis Wise.

He went on to coach at Arsenal but the less said about that the better!! He also had a part time coaching role in the Welsh set up when Sparky Hughes was manager, a working relationship that was to be continued when Hughes appointed Eddie when he took over the manager’s position at Blackburn.

So where would I rank Eddie in relation to the other Chelsea goalkeepers from the modern era? Well clearly not as good as Cech or the Cat however clearly better than Beasant!! For me, and I accept this could lead to Valerie castrating me, Eddie is marginally ahead of Carlo Cudicini, that is how highly I rated him.