David Edwards

**David Alexander Edwards** (born 3 February 1986) is a professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Shrewsbury Town. Although born in England, Edwards represented Wales internationally.

## First spell at Shrewsbury

Edwards was born in Pontesbury, a village just 8 miles outside of Shrewsbury. As a child, Edwards was a Shrewsbury Town fan and would regularly attend games at Gay Meadow. Edwards joined the Town academy in 1996 as an apprentice. He made his way through the ranks at Shrewsbury and eventually made his professional debut on the final game of the 2002–03 season, a 1–2 defeat at home to Scunthorpe United as Town were relegated to the Conference. Edwards only made 16 league appearances the following season as Town made an instant return to the Football League. He then became a regular first-team starter during Town's first season back in the Football League, a role he then retained for a further three seasons. In early 2007, Edwards was subject to transfer speculation after rejecting a contract extension. This speculation led manager Gary Peters to controversially leave Edwards out of the 2007 League Two play-off final, which Shrewsbury lost 3–1 to Bristol Rovers at Wembley.

## Career elsewhere

On 26 June 2007, after a lot of transfer speculation, Edwards signed for Luton Town on a three-year deal. His first goal for The Hatters came a week later, the equaliser in a 2–1 away defeat to Swindon Town. While at Luton, Edwards earned his first senior cap for the Wales national team. Edwards would only spend just under a year in Bedfordshire before signing for Wolverhampton Wanderers on 14 January 2008 for a fee of £675,000. After injuries prevented him from having a regular role in Wolves' promotion-winning season, he became a first-team regular in the Premier League, however in December 2009, he suffered ankle ligament damage which kept him out for four months. In September 2010, he signed a three-year contract extension with Wolves. After making 284 league appearances and scoring 41 league goals for Wolves in a career that spanned 9 years, Edwards signed for fellow-Championship side Reading on 26 August 2017 for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal. On 3 April 2018, during a 3–0 loss away at Aston Villa, Edwards was sent off for the first time in his entire 539-game career after earning two yellow cards for fouls on Jack Grealish and Birkir Bjarnason.

## Return to Shrewsbury

On 7 January 2019, Edwards made a return to his boyhood club, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract and reuniting with friend Sam Ricketts. He made his second Shrewsbury Town debut five days later, coming on as a substitute to replace Oliver Norburn in a 3–0 home loss to Charlton Athletic. In his next game on 9 February, Edwards was shown a straight red card for a foul on Bristol Rovers' Chris Lines in a 1–1 draw at the Memorial Stadium, only his second ever sending off. The sending off was appealed by the club, but the appeal was unsuccessful. Edwards' season ended early as he picked up an ankle injury in training in April.

On 19 November 2019, Edwards scored the only goal of a 0–1 win away at Bradford City at Valley Parade in an FA Cup first-round replay. On 22 February 2020, he scored the only goal of another 1–0 win, this time at home to Doncaster Rovers in League One.