Eddie Johnson (English footballer)

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Eddie Johnson
Personal information
Full name	Edward Johnson
Date of birth	20 September 1984 (1984-09-20) (age 23)
Place of birth	Chester, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfield / Striker
Youth clubs
1994–1999 1999–2003	Crewe Alexandra Manchester United
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003–2006 2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006–2008	Manchester United → Royal Antwerp (loan) → Coventry City (loan) → Crewe Alexandra (loan) Bradford City	00 (0) 11 (5) 26 (5) 22 (5) 64 (7)
National team
	England Youth
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:22, 3 June 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Edward 'Eddie' Johnson (born 20 September 1984) is an English professional footballer who is currently unattached. He is a midfielder but has also previously played as a striker. Born in Chester, he began his career with Crewe Alexandra and Manchester United's academies. He had loan spells with Royal Antwerp, Coventry City and Crewe Alexandra, before he was released by Manchester United in 2006 and joined Bradford City, where he played 64 league games in two seasons. He has also represented his country at youth level.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Manchester United 1.2 Bradford City 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Manchester United

Born in Chester, Johnson attended The Bishops' Blue Coat Church of England High School in the city. He started his career at Crewe Alexandra at the age of 10^[1] but in 1999 signed for Manchester United as a junior player,^[2] where he was part of the 2003 FA Youth Cup winning team.^[3] He made his debut for United on 28 October 2003 against Leeds United when he came on as a 112th minute substitute in a 3–2 League Cup victory at Elland Road.^[3] His form also earned him a place in England's team in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship after scoring twice in a friendly game before the tournament.^[4][5]

He was loaned out to the Belgian club Royal Antwerp in January 2004 where he made 11 appearances, scoring five goals.^[6] In July 2004 he was sent on loan to Championship side Coventry City for the 2004–05 season in order to gain first-team experience.^[7] He scored on his Coventry debut in a 2–0 victory against Sunderland on 7 August 2004.^[8] He scored a second later that month in a 4–1 defeat of Nottingham Forest.^[9] He did not score again until October, when he scored three times in four games, but they proved to be his last goals of the season.^[10]

In July 2005 he again moved on loan this time returning to Crewe Alexandra in a six-month deal.^[1] It took him eight games to score his first goal which came in a 1–1 draw with Plymouth Argyle on 13 September 2005.^[11][12] Three more goals followed by the end of 2005^[12] including one on Boxing Day against Hull City,^[13] who then offered him a permanent deal.^[14] Hull and Manchester United agreed a fee for Johnson but he decided to extend his loan deal at Crewe until the end of the 2005–06 season.^[14] It was not until the last game of the season against Millwall that he scored another to bring his tally to five from 22 games.^[15][12] Having failed to make an impact at Manchester United, he was amongst seven United players given a free transfer at the end of the 2005–06 season. He was offered a contract at Crewe,^[16] but also attracted interest from Barnsley and Bradford City,^[17] the latter of whom he joined on a two-year deal.^[18]

[edit] Bradford City

The start of Johnson's career at Bradford City was marred by injury in a pre-season friendly at Boston United which was expected to keep him out of the first month of the season.^[19] He recovered to make his debut in City's 2006–07 season's opening game at Nottingham Forest as a late substitute.^[20] Two weeks later he scored his first Bradford goals by netting twice against his former club Crewe in a 3–0 Bradford victory.^[21] Johnson struggled for goals at City, and had only scored another two by the time he was ruled out for a month after going off at half-time against Chesterfield on 16 December 2006 with a shin injury.^[22] He returned to the City team after a six-game absence for a Friday night game with Tranmere Rovers, which ended 1–1.^[23][24] He had a goal disallowed against Yeovil Town a week later for offside, with his namesake Jermaine Johnson being sent off for dissent.^[25] City manager Colin Todd was sacked,^[26] with his replacement David Wetherall converting Johnson from a striker to a midfielder after an injury to Marc Bridge-Wilkinson.^[27] But City were relegated after a defeat to Chestefield^[28] with Johnson finishing the season with just four goals.^[29]

At the start of the 2007–08 season new manager Stuart McCall continued to employ Johnson in a midfield role, and he was rewarded with goals in back-to-back games and the club's player of the month in September.^[30][31] In November he was ruled out for 11 weeks because of a back injury,^[31] before he was sidelined again when he gashed his shin in his comeback game against Wrexham on 26 January 2008.^[32] He returned two weeks later as a second half substitute against Bury.^[33] He was used in his former striker's role later in the season, and scored his sixth league goal in a 1–0 victory over Morecambe on 5 April 2008.^[34] He scored again three days later in a 1–1 draw with Barnet,^[35] as he tried to secure a new contract with Bradford.^[36] On 29 April 2008, Johnson was deemed to be surplus to requirements at Valley Parade and was released by manager Stuart McCall along with 13 other Bradford players.^[37]

In June 2008, he was offered a two-year contract by fellow League Two side Chester City along with Yeovil Town's Anthony Barry.^[38]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Eddie Johnson career stats at Soccerbase
• Eddie Johnson Vital Profile

Persondata
NAME	Johnson, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	20 September 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH	Chester, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH