Born in Manchester in 1970, Rob Edwards was another of Dario Gradi's early YTS graduates at Crewe Alexandra who went on to enjoy a long and successful professional career based on his sound footballing education.
Came through the Alex youth set up as a striker and enjoyed an impressive strike rate at the club after turning professional in 1988. During his eight seasons at Gresty Road Rob netted a more than creditable 58 times from 198 appearances. His time at the club was also a successful one for the Alex as they were promoted twice and enjoyed three play-off campaigns between 1988-1996, including a third place finish in the old Division Two.
But whilst the Alex would remain in the Second Division for the 1996/97 season, Edwards was set to move onwards and upwards when, just before the transfer deadline day in March 1996, Brian Horton took Rob to First Division Huddersfield Town for a bargain price of £150,000.
His time at the McAlpine Stadium saw Huddersfield establish themselves in the First Division and enjoy several flirtations with the play-off positions under both Horton and his successor Peter Jackson.
However the most notable transformation of Edwards' career during his stint in West Yorkshire was his actualy playing position. Having been a forward all the way through the youth ranks, and into the first team at Crewe, he was suddenly transformed into a left back under Horton as injuries saw him pushed there, and ultimately hold onto the position.
By the time he returned to Gresty Road in December 1998 for a league game, the Alex having followed Hudderfield into the First Division, Edwards was not only one of the Division's most reliable left backs, he was also the captain of an impressive Terriers' side which ran out 2-1 winners.
After another strong season, when Edwards had been integral to the Huddersfield side which had claimed another top ten finish, the club suprisingly sacked Jackson in the summer of 1999 and appointed former Manchester United captain Steve Bruce to the hot seat.
Bruce's arrival coincided with the beginning of the end for Edwards' Town career as he went from being first team captain to a bit-part player who featured just 11 times in the 1999/2000 season.
After failing to feature at all in the opening month of the 2000/01season, he decided to move away from the McAlpine Stadium, having made 160 appearances and scored and 17 goals for the club, in search of regular first team football and signed for Division Three outfit Chesterfield for a nominal fee of around £20,000.
Under manager Nicky Law, Edwards enjoyed something of a renaissance to his career at Saltergate and in his first season played a huge part in the Spirerites success as the won promotion to Division Two, despite having 9 points deducted due to a breach of rules.
Edwards spent two more seasons at Chesterfield, helping them to establish themselves in the Second Division, and made a total of 109 appearances for the Derbyshire club, before leaving on a free transfer in the summer of 2003.
His next move saw a him return to Huddersfield Town, now playing in the country's bottom Division, where his former manager Peter Jackson was back in charge. The duo managed to recreate some of the glory years in 2003/04 as the Terriers reached the play-offs and Edwards scored the crucial 83rd minute goal which put them through 4-3 on aggregate in the Semi-Final against Lincoln City.
In the final against Mansfield Town, played at the glorious Millennium Stadium in front of 38,000 spectators, Edwards was the hero again. After a nervy 0-0 draw, the now veteran defender was one of four Huddersfield players who kept their nerve in the resulting penalty shoot-out which sent the Terriers up.
Edwards spent another season with the Terriers in 2004/05 and was named club captain that summer, before ultimately being released in July 2005.
He signed for UniBond League side Ossett Albion for the 2005/06 season before joining Mossley in May 2006. Retired in November 2006 after a disappointing spell at Mossley.

1974/75
1975/76

Liverpool born David Eyres has been a good servant for all his clubs over the years. Eyres didn't get into the professional game until he was 25 years of age. He played non-league football with Morecambe, Southport and Rhyl. He was playing at Rhyl during the 1988/89 season, before getting his big break. 

He was given a trial by Jimmy Mullen at Blackpool in a reserve match at Boundary Park against Oldham Athletic. The Oldham manager Joe Royle was impressed, and looked into signing him, but he eventually joined Blackpool in August 1989. At the time he joined he had been working on a production line at Halewood's Ford plant in Liverpool. Joining Blackpool meant a drop in wages, but he was prepared to do this to fulfill his dream. 

He signed for Blackpool from Rhyl for £10000 in August of 1989 and formed a great wing partnership with Trevor Sinclair. The partnership was very similar to the Holden/Adams partnership at Latics in the early 90's. His league debut was a bit of a disaster. Blackpool lost 3-0 to Crewe, and Eyres was taken to hospital with suspected broken ribs. Whilst at Blackpool, he played at Wembley twice in play-off finals. He was a loser against Torquay in 1990/91, losing on penalties. He was in a winner a year later in the 1991/92 final. Blackpool beat Scunthorpe United in the final on penalties. Eyres scored the the winning penalty that day. In four seasons at Blackpool, Eyres played 196 league and cup games, scoring 45 goals. The 1992/93 season saw Eyres scored 16 league goals, from 46 games. A superb record for a winger.

In July 1993, Eyres moved from Blackpool to local rivals Burnley. He played most of his games at Burnley at left-wing back. He was a real success there and in the 1996/97 season he got into the PFA divisional side. Jimmy Mullen signed Eyres for Burnley, and it was him that originally signed Eyres for Blackpool. His very first season at Burnley was a huge success. He scored 19 league goals in 45 league games. Burnley reached the play-off's that year, and Eyres was back at Wembley again. Burnely took 40,000 fans to Wembley, and they won 2-1. Eyres scored a goal that day, and it was a special goal. He bet three men before banging the ball in the net. In his first four seasons at Burnley he played over 150 games, scoring around 40 goals. His very next season saw Eyres play 13 games for Burnley, scoring once, before a major shock.

In October 1997 Eyres made a shock move to Burnley's most bitter rivals Preston North End. Chris Waddle surprisingly let him go for just £80,000. Eyres became a legend, as he had done at Blackpool and Burnley. His debut for Preston came in a 1-0 defeat at York City, but the very next game saw him score in a 3-1 win at Luton Town. He scored 28 league games in the 1997/98 season, scoring 4 goals. The 1998/99 season saw Eyres play 34 league games for Preston, scoring 8 goals. A famous moment and disaster for Eyres was when he was sent off in a televised match for chopping down Marc Overmars. Preston lost 4-2, but Eyres received hundreds of letters from Preston fans telling him it wasn't his fault. Preston lost in the play-off's that season to Gillingham. He scored in in the first leg of the semi-final at Deepdale. 

The 1999/2000 season was another great season for Preston. Preston won the second division title and Eyres played 41 league games, scoring 7 goals. He was included in the Carling Opta team of the season scoring over 800 points and that is a great amount. The 2000/01 season saw David start off on the bench for Preston. He wanted to go out on loan, but David Moyes wouldn't let him. He played four games, before Andy Ritchie offered him a chance of first team football at Oldham.

Preston agreed to let Eyres leave, and in October 2000 he joined Oldham Athletic on a free transfer. He signed a deal until the end of the season, although Latics did want him to have a 20 month deal. Eyres felt it was fairest for both parties to review it at the end of the season. Eyres joined and was a revelation for Latics. Eyres went on to play 30 league games in the 2000/01 season, scoring three goals against Brentford and Oxford home and away. His superb displays kept Latics in the division, and he was rewarded with a new contract.  

The 2001/02 season was superb for Eyres. He played 45 of the 46 league games, scoring 10 goals. He also played in most of Latics cup games, and scored a further 4 goals. His final tally for the season was 14 league and cup goals. Brilliant for a 38 year old. He scored in four consecutive games in December/January, and scored two of the best goals of the season. His goals away at Wrexham and at home to Bournemouth were nothing but superb.  His superb season, saw him make a clean sweep of the player of the season awards at Boundary Park that season. Eyres reward was a new contract with the club. Latics gave him a deal that would keep him at the club until the age of 40. Eyres was retained again after that and remained at Boundary Park until May 2006.

The 2006/07 season began with Eyres returning to his non league roots by signing for Hyde United before arriving at Mossley in October 2006.