Eddie McGoldrick

Eddie McGoldrick

Personal information
Full name	Edward John Paul McGoldrick
Date of birth	30 April 1965 (1965-04-30)
Place of birth	Islington, England
Playing position	Winger, Central Midfielder, Right Back, Sweeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1981–1985	Kettering Town	110	(9)
1985–1986	Nuneaton Borough	?	(?)
1986–1988	Northampton Town	107	(9)
1988–1993	Crystal Palace	147	(11)
1993–1996	Arsenal	57	(1)
1996–1999	Manchester City	39	(1)
1998	→ Stockport County (loan)	2	(0)
2000	Corby Town	0	(0)
Total		352	(22)
National team‡
1992–1995	Republic of Ireland	15	(0)
1992	Republic of Ireland B	1	(0)
Teams managed
2000	Corby Town (player-manager)
2003	Bashley F.C.
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 January 2007. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 January 2007

Edward John Paul "Eddie" McGoldrick (b. 30 April 1965, Islington, England) is a former Irish footballer whose clubs included most notably Northampton Town, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Manchester City. He was also capped at international level for the Republic of Ireland; he was a member of Ireland's 1994 World Cup squad though he did not play in the tournament.

He started out at non league side Kettering Town, but following a transfer to Nuneaton Borough he established himself as a utility player in the early 1980s, before moving into the Football League with Northampton Town, where he collected a Fourth Division title medal in 1987.

McGoldrick then had a successful spell at Crystal Palace where he played 147 times, scoring 11 goals; he is best remembered by Palace fans for the cross that set up Ian Wright's goal to secure promotion to the First Division in Palace's 4-3 aggregate victory over Blackburn Rovers in the 1988-89 Second Division playoff final. He also won a Zenith Data Systems Cup winners medal in 1990-91, when Palace also recorded their best-ever finish of third place in the league. He did however miss out on Palace's appearance in the 1990 FA Cup Final.

McGoldrick moved to Arsenal after Crystal Palace's relegation from the Premier League in 1993, linking up with Wright once again, and made his debut in the Charity Shield against Manchester United on 7 August 1993. However, his time there was less successful; after playing 38 games in the 1993-94 season, including a substitute appearance in Arsenal's European Cup Winners' Cup final win over Parma, he was less of a regular the following season, and in 1995-96 he played only one match. McGoldrick took Arsenal corner kicks with an unorthodox 'looping' style, by lofting the ball high into the air before it dropped in the penalty area. In all he played 57 times for Arsenal, scoring one goal.

He left Arsenal for Manchester City in 1996. The move was initially on loan, becoming permanent in on 18 October 1996 following a £300,000 transfer. McGoldrick joined the club amid a whirlwind of managerial changes. Initially signed on loan by caretaker-manager Asa Hartford (who took over from Alan Ball), his permanent move was the only signing of Steve Coppell's 32-day reign, and he played under two more managers before the end of the season. McGoldrick spent two seasons with City, but was consigned to the reserves for much of his final season at the club, a loan spell at Stockport County providing his only first-team action for 1998. He retired from professional football in 1999, though he had short spells as manager of Corby Town in 2000 and Bashley in 2003.

Prior to becoming player-manager at Corby Town he had a brief spell as commercial manager. In 2008 he was confirmed as the under-14s manager at Northampton Town, and the following year he stepped up to become manager of the club's youth team.

References

Now plays veterans football for Great Wakering Rovers

External links

• Crystal Palace profile