We're still in the 2011/2012 season and we're featuring another John Coleman signing and you'll NEVER guess which team he'd made over 200 appearances for before joining Dale.

Position: Defender

Appearances: 3 (first spell) 43 (second spell)

Goals: 0

Signed from: Stevenage (loan - first spell), Stevenage (permanent - second spell)

Left for: Stevenage (end of loan - first spell), Burton Albion (permanent - second spell)

By this point, it was becoming almost too predictable that John Coleman was looking to sign Liverpudlian ex-Accrington players after six months of Steve Eyre dipping into his address book that was presumably titled 'Manchester City Youth Players, 2008-2011'.

Phil Edwards was another Liverpudlian, born in Bootle and coming through the ranks at Wigan Athletic without ever making a league appearance for the club. He made one appearance during a loan spell at then non-league Morecambe, then joining newly-promoted Accrington Stanley on an initial loan deal in October 2005.

After 10 loan appearances that coincided with Stanley's rise up the Conference National table, he signed permanently for the Reds in January 2006 and would help the club secure a long-awaited return to the Football League by the end of that season, beginning a long association with the club that lasted for another five years.

Up until 2011, Edwards racked up over 200 league appearances at the Crown Ground, scoring 23 goals. He took some time to settle into life in the Football League, but once he became an established player within the starting eleven he really came into his own and became a key player at centre-back, also chipping in with headed goals and penalties along the way. He was particularly prolific in the 2010/2011 campaign, when Stanley reached the play-offs only to be beaten 3-0 by Stevenage in the semi-final.

Despite beating Stanley 3-0, Boro were clearly impressed with what they saw from Edwards and he joined them in League One for the following campaign, rejecting an improved offer from John Coleman but before the season was out he would find himself reunited with his former boss when Coleman took over from Steve Eyre at Rochdale the following January.

After 22 appearances at Stevenage, Edwards had appeared to fall out of favour, with more than half of those appearances coming from the bench. After coming off the bench against Oldham and Huddersfield, he started the final game of his loan spell against Tranmere, but had to end the deal early due to a knee injury sustained in training before the end of March.

It seemed inevitable that Edwards would join Dale on a permanent deal at the end of the season as his one year contract at Broadhall Way expired though and he was picked up on another one year deal by Coleman at the end of that season.

Although he had featured more as a central defender at Accrington, Edwards was used predominantly as a right-back in the early stages of the 2012/2013 season, with his experience giving him the edge over the likes of Joe Rafferty and Matty Pearson in that position.

Occasionally donning the captain's armband, he was clearly seen as one of John Coleman's lieutenants, but was never tarred with accusations over application and professionalism like some of the former Stanley players that joined during this period. Steady at right-back or centre-back alongside his namesake Ryan, or even occasionally at left-back or defensive midfield when required, he was a solid lower-league defender that prioritised the simple things rather than overplaying, which was perhaps what the team required at the time.

Even as form faltered, Edwards was reliable enough under Coleman and kept his starting spot following the return of Keith Hill later in that season, mostly at centre back and alongside loanee Shane Cansdell-Sherriff. An excellent reader of the game, perhaps a lack of height was the only thing that really prevented him from going playing at a higher level and he seems to have been appreciated by every manager he's played under since.

Hill appreciated Edwards enough to offer him a new deal at the end of the season, but the defender decided to move on to join Burton Albion instead, leaving the club having failed to score in 46 league appearances, despite a decent previous goalscoring record at Stanley.

It's fair to say he was respected rather than loved during his time at Dale, for his professionalism, versatility and reliability rather than for any particularly stand-out performances.

He became a mainstay in the Burton Albion defence over the next handful of seasons, racking up 132 appearances and scoring eight times for the Brewers, He missed just one league game as they won promotion to League One in 2014/2015 and then, as they won a second successive promotion into the Championship the following season he played in every single league match. Unsurprisingly, he remains a very popular figure at the Pirelli Stadium.

The step-up to the Championship however did see Burton strengthen significantly and as a result of that strengthening, Edwards found himself out of favour. He failed to make an appearance for the club at that level and spent the season out on loan in League One at Oxford United, before eventually joining the 'revolution' occuring at Bury ahead of the 2017/2018 campaign, making his Shakers debut in a goalless draw against Dale in the August of that season.

He made 37 appearances for the Shakers as they were relegated from League One in that season, but didn't feature at all in the following season in League Two. He returned to Accrington in 2019, but made just four League One appearances in his second spell at the Crown Ground. He briefly featured for Warrington Town in the 2020/2021 season but has since ended his playing career and he's now working as a coach at Robbie Fowler's Academy.

Photo: Action Images

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