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.uddersfi

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.