Eddie Niedzwiecki

Andrzej Edward "Eddie" Niedzwiecki; born 3 May 1959) is a Welsh football coach and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Eddie Niedzwiecki
Personal information
Full name Andrzej Edward Niedzwiecki
Date of birth (1959-05-03) 3 May 1959
Place of birth Bangor, Wales
Position(s) Goalkeeper
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)
2012 Queens Park Rangers (caretaker)
2018 Stoke City (caretaker)
2019– Reading F.C. (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

After retiring early due to injury Niedzwiecki became a coach with Chelsea and then Arsenal before working alongside Mark Hughes with the Wales national team. Since then he has worked with Hughes at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Southampton. He is currently assistant manager at Championship club Reading.

Playing career

Starting his playing career with Wrexham at the age of 14, Niedzwiecki won the Third Division title of 1978 with the side. He 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 won 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 battling numerous injuries. He later became a coach at Chelsea, eventually leaving the club in November 2000 after the arrival of new boss Claudio Ranieri. Niedzwiecki then linked up shortly after with Arsenal,[1] succeeding the late George Armstrong as reserve team coach. He also worked as a part-time coach with Wales, under new manager Mark Hughes during this time.[1] In September 2004, he joined Blackburn Rovers, again under Hughes, as a first-team coach.[1] When Hughes left for Manchester City four years later, he was among several at Blackburn who followed him to Manchester.[1]

However, on 19 December 2009 Hughes and his backroom staff were relieved of their duties at the Sky Blues. Niedzwiecki once again linked up as a coach with Hughes in 2010 at Fulham.[1] He left the club in the summer of 2011 alongside Hughes. In 2012, he joined Queens Park Rangers' as a member of the coaching staff, after Hughes was appointed as the side's manager.[1] He together with Mark Bowen were briefly appointed as joint caretaker managers after Hughes' dismissal in November 2012.[2] Niedzwiecki then went on to join up with Hughes at Stoke City in June 2013.[3] He left Stoke in January 2018.[4]

In March 2018, he was appointed assistant first-team coach at Southampton, following the appointment of Hughes as manager.[5][6] In May 2018, after Southampton's Premier League status was confirmed, it was announced that Niedzwiecki had signed a new long-term contract.[7] On 3 December 2018, he was dismissed following the sacking of Mark Hughes.[8]

In October 2019, Eddie was pictured with new Reading F.C. Boss Mark Bowen it was later confirmed that Eddie had joined up with former Mark Hughes assistant Mark Bowen as an Assistant manager at Reading.

Career statistics

As a player
  • Sourced from Eddie Niedzwiecki at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Wrexham 1977–78 Third Division 150100010170
1978–79 Second Division 6000000060
1979–80 Second Division 6000200080
1980–81 Second Division 0000000000
1981–82 Second Division 420405000510
1982–83 Third Division 420202000460
Total 11107090101280
Chelsea 1983–84 Second Division 420105000480
1984–85 First Division 400309000520
1985–86 First Division 300208050450
1986–87 First Division 100201010140
1987–88 First Division 140002000160
Total 136080250601750
Career Total 2470150340703030
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Full Members Cup.

As a manager
Managerial record by team and tenure
TeamFromToMatchesWonDrawnLostWin%
Queens Park Rangers (caretaker) 23 November 2012 25 November 2012 1 0 0 1 000.00
Stoke City (caretaker) 6 January 2018 15 January 2018 1 0 0 1 000.00
Total[9] 2 0 0 2 000.00

Honours

Wrexham

Chelsea

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.
  4. "First team coach leaves bet365 Stadium". Stoke City F.C. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  5. "In Profile: Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki". Southampton F.C. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  6. "Eddie Niedzwiecki Biography". Southampton F.C. 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  7. "Mark Hughes: Southampton boss signs new three-year contract". BBC Sport. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  8. "Mark Hughes: Southampton sack manager after eight months in charge". BBC Sport. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  9. "Eddie Niedzwiecki". Soccerbase. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
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