Richard Edghill - Once a Blue Always a Blue: The Autobiography of Richard Edghill

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2014

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

RICHARD EDGHILL, 2014

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN: 978 1-90962-627-0

eBook ISBN: 978-1-909626-88-1

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A CTIONS speak louder than words and Richard Edghills record speaks volumes. I first saw Richard play at 16 and it was obvious to all he would be a top player. He was technically good, very athletic and very competitive.

He went on to have a great career at a great club. Richard showed tremendous character as captain of City during challenging times for the club he adored and showed loyalty to the club through very difficult times.

He helped the resurrection from League 1 back up to the Premier League. Taking a penalty in the play-off final especially showed great bravery. I felt that was really a defining moment in his career as he was someone not particularly recognised for being a goalscorer but he took on that responsibility when there was so much riding on it and he would have been under extreme pressure.

Lets not forget the pressure got to some of our fans that day, many of them had already left the ground, but bravery is when you are under extreme pressure and you are still prepared to step forward. We knew the pressure on our players and I knew how nervous they were. The teams strength of character, epitomised by Richard, is what got us through.

I know Richard struggled with injuries and he didnt become the England player I had expected, but maybe he will enlighten us in his book. Working with him was a joy as he worked hard and wanted to learn. I am sure with these qualities he will be successful in whatever area he decides in the future. He played an important part in a fabulous history of a real peoples club.

Willie Donachie, former Manchester City full-back and Scotland international, and assistant manager to Joe Royle when Richard Edghill was Citys club captain.

M Y name is Richard Arlon Edghill and I was born in Oldham on 23 September 1974. That particular year saw Oldham affected by boundary changes. The Local Government Act saw the birth of Greater Manchester, and Oldham a proud major cotton mill town during the industrial revolution which made Lancashire so famous was no longer officially part of the red rose county.

Around the time of my birth Manchester City had just beaten Liverpool 2-0 in front of 45,000 at Maine Road with goals from Rodney Marsh and Dennis Tueart. This was then followed by a real thumping at Middlesbroughs old Ayresome Park ground, 3-0, before by a 0-0 draw at Brunton Park against Carlisle United who were in the top flight at the time. A totally mixed bag of results in the week of my birth.

Yet isnt that City all over? The time period around my birth illustrates that. City were the only Manchester club in the top flight at the time having despatched the neighbours into the second tier while I was growing in my mothers womb! It was also the season Franny Lee came back to the club and scored the winner for Derby County at Maine Road with an amazing shot from the edge of the box, a famous goal which gave Barry Davies one of his best commentary moments, Look at his face...just look at his face! Citys loss was Derbys gain. They won the league that year.

Manchester City traditionally have always been a rollercoaster club and I feel I was born to take part on that ride. My own career was a rollercoaster in itself. Plenty of highs, plenty of lows but things were never dull at the countrys most topsy-turvy club.

I was born into a large family with four boys; Matthew, Mark, Lewis and myself.

In terms of my own family, my mother and father have been huge influences on my life. My mother is called Benedetta and she was born in Genoa in northern Italy. She has a crazy, zany side and settled over here in Coppice in Oldham after the war. My father Colin was from St Lucia in the Caribbean. He was a big influence on me and my brothers.

Mums home area is the home of Genoa FC and Sampdoria two good teams. Ive never been there but Ive heard its very nice. My dad has been even though hes got absolutely nothing to do with the place! Almost all of the family on my mums side were over here already so I have not really had a reason to go over I suppose, only curiosity.

There was some kind of split in the family. My mums mum was already here, my mother and her sister Angela too, and then there was my uncle Guilio who had links to the Granelli ice cream family.

Matthew is my oldest brother. He became a father at the age of just 16 and moved in with his partner Melanie. Mark is the second-oldest and moved out a year later.

Matthew, Mark...youd think the next two would be called Luke and John given our strict Catholic upbringing but no, Lewis and myself made up the foursome.

Our grandmother was very religious and made us go to church every Saturday when we were very young. We would always call in and see her as we were walking home, usually to try and pick up a bit of pocket money, but then she would drag us down to church and said we had to go, no excuses! She was a very strong-willed woman too, very strict and believed in discipline.

That song Our House by Madness. I can relate to that. Theres always something happening and its usually quite loud. Growing up in our house wasnt bad, it was just stressful at times because we were forever getting under each others feet and treading on each others toes.

Secondary school for me was St Augustines in Oldham. I wasnt particularly academic. To tell the truth I absolutely hated school. The highlight of the day, every day in fact, was being able to have a kickaround at lunchtime. The only other subject I vaguely enjoyed was craft, design and technology...a chance to use my imagination, making things with Mr Glennie!

I still have some friends who go back to my primary school years, from St Patricks School in Oldham. One of them, Kevin, came to my wedding. I lost touch with most of the guys from primary school and indeed secondary school really because I was always playing and training by the time I got to a certain age and they were all starting to go out on the razzle in town. They went their way, I went mine.

When I was just five or six years old I discovered a mole on my right arm. I found it to be cancerous and had some deep skin grafts to remove it. You do daft things when you are young. There was a scar there, as big as an egg. It would be dressed in plaster from my shoulder down to my right hand but one day when I got home from school it was itching like hell so stupidly I picked up a metal coat hanger and started to scratch it to ease the itchiness.