Eddie Niedzwiecki (born 3 May 1959 in
Bangor) is a retired
Welsh footballer of
Polish origin who played as a
goalkeeper for
Wrexham and
Chelsea. His surname is usually ).
Starting at Wrexham at the age of 14, Niedzwiecki stayed with the club until the summer of 1983, when he was signed for Chelsea by former Wrexham manager,
John Neal. He quickly won a regular place in the Chelsea starting line-up and was impressive as the side romped to the
Second Division title in his first season. He also earned two caps for
Wales during his playing career.
Niedzwiecki was forced to retire aged 28, after failing to recover from numerous injury problems. He later went on to become a
coach at Chelsea, leaving the club in November 2000 after the arrival of
Claudio Ranieri. He joined
Arsenal the following month, succeeding the late
George Armstrong as reserve team coach. He also worked part-time as coach with
Wales during this time. In September 2004, he joined
Blackburn Rovers, under
Mark Hughes, as first-team coach. Four years later, when Hughes left for
Manchester City, he was among the several backroom staff from Blackburn to follow him in making the switch. However he became unemployed on 19 December 2009 when
Mark Hughes and his complete backroom staff were relieved of their duties at the club. In 2010 he once again linked up with Mark Hughes at
Fulham as part of the new Fulham manager's coaching staff.
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