David Edgar - Undr the Cosh

[claretburns]

Similar to the Brian Laws post I did recently, the new episode of Undr the Cosh features David Edgar, below are some points on his time at Burnley:

1. Met Owen Coyle at the training ground, played head tennis and was signed. His medical was unprofessional and just needed to do a few stretches.

2. Day he signed for Burnley he was in a hotel in Blackburn and a report of TV appeared with the news Michael Jackson had died, took that as a bad omen.

3. Didn't realise he would be suspended for first game of the season due to being sent off for Newcastle on last game of 08/09 season and after the first game at Stoke he couldn't never get in the side. (The club didn't realise he'd be suspended either).

4. The whole pre-season in 2009 was the players constantly out drinking.

5. After seeing the training ground he regretted signing for us.

6. Turned out to be best 6 years of his life.

7. Everyone in the dressing room helped him out.

8. Alex MacDonald, Kevin McDonald, Steven Fletcher and David Edgar all did everything together around Ramsbottom. (He says here around Ramsbottom and Bury, so must still live in the area).

9. Coyle was fine with the drinking as long as the players trained properly.

10. Robbie Blake, Steven Caldwell, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff were the older group of players who policed the dressing room.

11. Didn't fall out with Coyle but happy when he went as it would give him more of a chance to play.

12. Coyle very superstitious with team selection, Edgar would ask after a couple of defeats why he couldn't get a chance and Coyle would reply "But they did really well for me 3 weeks ago".

13. Played first game under Laws away at Man Utd then back to being in and out of the team.

14. Kevin McDonald going to pub blown out of proportion, all his family and friends down from Scotland, he got subbed off and when to meet them in the pub to give them his keys and then media blows it up "McDonald drinking in pub during game".

15. Eddie Howe comes in after Laws, and first impression of McDonald was that you went to pub during a game and so didn't select him and got him out the club.

16. More consistent time at Burnley for Edgar was under Eddie Howe, the changing room was just good fun and played good football.

17. When Howe first came in he struggled to manage the older players and so tried to get rid of them the following summer, 2011, and moved forward with a younger team.

18. Howe wanted to play like Barcelona and Edgar said "But I am David Edgar trying to give the ball to Chris McCann we're going to give goals away." Howe didn't care and continued to push that style of football.

19. Howe wanted to surprise the team during pre-season, players thought they'd be off to the pub but he took them sheep herding near Bath, Edgar said it was very dangerous for injuries with all the uneven ground they were running across. They cornered a sheep in corner of the field and Eddie Howe linked arms with Treacy and Edgar and said "We stand as a unit and this sheep will back down, we go together as a team and never break this bond." Sheep bolted towards Howe and he broke the chain and jumped out of the way.

20. Very disappointed when Howe left.

21. David Edgar got Treacy's move to Burnley by being terrible at home to Preston.

22. Treacy at the time at Burnley didn't like football and wasn't bothered about it and all the things around it like looking after yourself etc.

23. Absolutely loved Sean Dyche, Dyche took a real interest in Treacy to help him by taking him on runs around Burnley and trying to get him to act more professionally but Dyche would do that with any player.

24. In and out of the team with Dyche, team just did so well he couldn't get in the starting line up. Best season of his career in 13/14, even though didn't play as much but the whole team, staff, town were buzzing with the form of the team.

25. Leaving Burnley was tough, he felt part of the team and club and disappointed not to get a contract. Thinks if we didn't get promoted he'd have had a new contract but Dyche let him go knowing he wouldn't get the game time in the Premier League.

[gawthorpe_view]

Quite a lot to take in.
They always said new manager, clean slate, not quite the case with Kevin Mcdonald it would appear.

[PremierLeagueClass]

I’ve only just discovered these. Watched the Trippier one the other day. Never knew he’d had a bust up with Wallace on the training pitch and needed stitches.

[Rowls]

That seems a fair assessment of his ability as a player and the insight is what you'd expect.

Fair play to Edgar. Knew he level but we outgrew him as a club.

[ClaretTony]

Quite a lot to take in.
They always said new manager, clean slate, not quite the case with Kevin Mcdonald it would appear.

Just a couple of weeks after taking over, Howe did a Q&A for us and was very critical of one player. He said he was going to send him out on loan to a lower league club. The player was McDonald and I think it Scunthorpe he first went to and then Notts County.

Interesting on the senior players with Howe. These were the same players who’d disrupted everything when Laws came him. Howe had the right answer, get rid of them, which he did.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Very limited was Edgar.
Contributed to one of the funniest days on a Burnley messageboard though when he scored two at Hull.

[mdd2]

Just a couple of weeks after taking over, Howe did a Q&A for us and was very critical of one player. He said he was going to send him out on loan to a lower league club. The player was McDonald and I think it Scunthorpe he first went to and then Notts County.

Interesting on the senior players with Howe. These were the same players who’d disrupted everything when Laws came him. Howe had the right answer, get rid of them, which he did.

Strange that those senior players included Wade who was with Eddie at Bmouth

[ClaretTony]

Strange that those senior players included Wade who was with Eddie at Bmouth

I think Wade wanted out but he wasn’t one of the players who were causing the problems from what I’m told

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Ah Edgar, the man who was clearly meant to play CDM for us according to some.

[Dark Cloud]

For quite a while when he was with us I was bleating on about "give the lad Edgar a proper chance". Eventually he did get those chances and I had to unfortunately admit it was clear, despite some decent performances on occasions, he was struggling with the level and that was mid table Championship! Always seemed a decent, 100% lad who would have had a long and relatively successful career in League 1.

[gawthorpe_view]

Strange that those senior players included Wade who was with Eddie at Bmouth

I was at behind the dugout when Wade once got subbed by Howe and he was very angry.
Effin' and Jeffin' all the way back to the bench.

[ClaretTony]

I was at behind the dugout when Wade once got subbed by Howe and he was very angry.
Effin' and Jeffin' all the way back to the bench.

I always got the impressions that all hadn’t been well between them at Bournemouth. What stunned me was Michael Duff saying at a testimonial function that Howe had never spoken to him during his time at Burnley.

[boyyanno]

I remember going to Huddersfield away under Dyche, from memory I think we got beat 2-0 or 2-1 and Edgar played and was shocking, it's one of my only memories of him.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

A distinctly average player. A bit like Kevin Long spent most of his Burnley career sat on the bench.

[Papabendi]

Eddie Howe has proven himself to be a high quality manager so overall I think we have to say the problems were more about what he inherited than his management style

[ClaretTony]

Eddie Howe has proven himself to be a high quality manager so overall I think we have to say the problems were more about what he inherited than his management style

He inherited players who thought they held the power and he got them out of the club. But I don’t think, after he’d got rid, that he was a good manager for us. But that’s over a decade ago and he’s much more experienced now and has learned from that experience.

[boatshed bill]

He inherited players who thought they held the power and he got them out of the club. But I don’t think, after he’d got rid, that he was a good manager for us. But that’s over a decade ago and he’s much more experienced now and has learned from that experience.

He wasn't a good "fit" for Burnley...
Strangely some of his signings were.

[ClaretTony]

He wasn't a good "fit" for Burnley...
Strangely some of his signings were.

He made some good signings undoubtedly. I marvel now at Newcastle’s defensive record. He had a back four at Burnley of Trippier - Duff - Shackell - Mee and we conceded more goals than anyone. Dyche won us promotion with the same back four.

To be honest, it’s no secret that I was relieved when he left. We were going nowhere with him and the home record while he was Burnley manager was really poor.

[boatshed bill]

He made some good signings undoubtedly. I marvel now at Newcastle’s defensive record. He had a back four at Burnley of Trippier - Duff - Shackell - Mee and we conceded more goals than anyone. Dyche won us promotion with the same back four.

To be honest, it’s no secret that I was relieved when he left. We were going nowhere with him and the home record while he was Burnley manager was really poor.

Agreed.

[claptrappers_union]

Chatted with David Edgar at Half Time when he was the guest a few weeks ago. He was an absolute gentleman.

[ClaretTony]

Only ever spoke to Edgar once and he came across well, and better than his team mate did.

It was in the club shop in the week after he’d been sent off at Ipswich. He was with Kevin McDonald who was buying something. The club had introduced a policy that players who fill out a form and have the cost of whatever they bought taken out of their wages because they hadn’t been paying for stuff.

I was talking to Edgar when McDonald asked him what the date was. That’s understandable, I sometimes don’t know the actual date. Edgar obliged with the date at which point McDonald asked which month. He told him August and McDonald then asked what year it was. But Edgar came across really well.

[Quicknick]

Similar to the Brian Laws post I did recently, the new episode of Undr the Cosh features David Edgar, below are some points on his time at Burnley:

1. Met Owen Coyle at the training ground, played head tennis and was signed. His medical was unprofessional and just needed to do a few stretches.

2. Day he signed for Burnley he was in a hotel in Blackburn and a report of TV appeared with the news Michael Jackson had died, took that as a bad omen.

3. Didn't realise he would be suspended for first game of the season due to being sent off for Newcastle on last game of 08/09 season and after the first game at Stoke he couldn't never get in the side. (The club didn't realise he'd be suspended either).

4. The whole pre-season in 2009 was the players constantly out drinking.

5. After seeing the training ground he regretted signing for us.

6. Turned out to be best 6 years of his life.

7. Everyone in the dressing room helped him out.

8. Alex MacDonald, Kevin McDonald, Steven Fletcher and David Edgar all did everything together around Ramsbottom. (He says here around Ramsbottom and Bury, so must still live in the area).

9. Coyle was fine with the drinking as long as the players trained properly.

10. Robbie Blake, Steven Caldwell, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff were the older group of players who policed the dressing room.

11. Didn't fall out with Coyle but happy when he went as it would give him more of a chance to play.

12. Coyle very superstitious with team selection, Edgar would ask after a couple of defeats why he couldn't get a chance and Coyle would reply "But they did really well for me 3 weeks ago".

13. Played first game under Laws away at Man Utd then back to being in and out of the team.

14. Kevin McDonald going to pub blown out of proportion, all his family and friends down from Scotland, he got subbed off and when to meet them in the pub to give them his keys and then media blows it up "McDonald drinking in pub during game".

15. Eddie Howe comes in after Laws, and first impression of McDonald was that you went to pub during a game and so didn't select him and got him out the club.

16. More consistent time at Burnley for Edgar was under Eddie Howe, the changing room was just good fun and played good football.

17. When Howe first came in he struggled to manage the older players and so tried to get rid of them the following summer, 2011, and moved forward with a younger team.

18. Howe wanted to play like Barcelona and Edgar said "But I am David Edgar trying to give the ball to Chris McCann we're going to give goals away." Howe didn't care and continued to push that style of football.

19. Howe wanted to surprise the team during pre-season, players thought they'd be off to the pub but he took them sheep herding near Bath, Edgar said it was very dangerous for injuries with all the uneven ground they were running across. They cornered a sheep in corner of the field and Eddie Howe linked arms with Treacy and Edgar and said "We stand as a unit and this sheep will back down, we go together as a team and never break this bond." Sheep bolted towards Howe and he broke the chain and jumped out of the way.

20. Very disappointed when Howe left.

21. David Edgar got Treacy's move to Burnley by being terrible at home to Preston.

22. Treacy at the time at Burnley didn't like football and wasn't bothered about it and all the things around it like looking after yourself etc.

23. Absolutely loved Sean Dyche, Dyche took a real interest in Treacy to help him by taking him on runs around Burnley and trying to get him to act more professionally but Dyche would do that with any player.

24. In and out of the team with Dyche, team just did so well he couldn't get in the starting line up. Best season of his career in 13/14, even though didn't play as much but the whole team, staff, town were buzzing with the form of the team.

25. Leaving Burnley was tough, he felt part of the team and club and disappointed not to get a contract. Thinks if we didn't get promoted he'd have had a new contract but Dyche let him go knowing he wouldn't get the game time in the Premier League.

Good post. I enjoyed that. Thanks.

[gc14]

Lived next door to a mate of mine, had a young lad down from Newcastle for a booze up, the lad got the house wrong and was snoring on
my mates sofa when he came downstairs the following morning .. Had no idea how he got there and didn't realise he was in the wrong house ..
Edgar gave some tickets for the Preston game (4-3) to my mate as a thank-you for not battering him !!

[spt_claret]

Will have to give this a listen, interesting summary.
Edgar was always one of those players I really wanted to do well for us for some reason. Felt like 5 years earlier he'd have been a mainstay and crowd favourite.
Interesting his comments on Treacy. Always surprises me when you get a player at that level who for whatever reason doesn't actually like the game. Danny Rose comes to mind as another.

[ClaretTony]

Will have to give this a listen, interesting summary.
Edgar was always one of those players I really wanted to do well for us for some reason. Felt like 5 years earlier he'd have been a mainstay and crowd favourite.
Interesting his comments on Treacy. Always surprises me when you get a player at that level who for whatever reason doesn't actually like the game. Danny Rose comes to mind as another.

Keith Treacy had other issues unfortunately

[Milltown1882]

Keith Treacy had other issues unfortunately

Having been out with him a few times in Preston and Blackpool that's putting it lightly.

[wilks_bfc]

8. Alex MacDonald, Kevin McDonald, Steven Fletcher and David Edgar all did everything together around Ramsbottom. (He says here around Ramsbottom and Bury, so must still live in the area).

Doubt he still lives in Rammy
He’s coaching in Canada

[No Ney Never]

Similar to the Brian Laws post I did recently, the new episode of Undr the Cosh features David Edgar, below are some points on his time at Burnley:

1. Met Owen Coyle at the training ground, played head tennis and was signed.

5. After seeing the training ground he regretted signing for us.

?

[spt_claret]

Keith Treacy had other issues unfortunately

Remember hearing that at the time and how that was the problem but still find that detail interesting as it's new to me

[Claret86]

I remember delivering beer to the footballers Arms (think that's what it was called) in Ramsbottom and got talking to the landlord about football. When I told him I was a burnley fan he said David Edgar and Kevin Mcdonald were always in there.

[claret2018]

Had no idea he is actually Canadian.

I assumed it was a Scott Arfield/Ashley Barnes sort of international arrangement.

[ClaretTony]

Had no idea he is actually Canadian.

I assumed it was a Scott Arfield/Ashley Barnes sort of international arrangement.

His link here was his dad Eddie Edgar who played for Newcastle and Hartlepool as a goalkeeper. Eddie is from the north east but moved to Canada to play and stayed there.

[Andingle]

Dont know if its already been posted but a fascinating insight if you have a spare 90 mins
https://youtu.be/V_7xxl3SQxI