Charles Martin Edwards (born 24 July 1945) is the former chairman of Manchester United, a position he held from 1980 until 2002. He now holds the position of honorary life president at the club and director of Inview Technology.
Contents
Biography
Education
Edwards was born at St Mary's Services Hospital in Adlington, Cheshire, England. At 13, he failed the entrance exam for Stowe School, his parents' first choice, and went to Cokethorpe instead. He left in 1963 with six O levels and started work in the family meat business, initially working as an assistant in shops and on meat counters. He later moved to head office in Miles Platting to work for quality control and sales departments of the manufacturing division, then in the sales office of the catering division. In September 1972, he joined the board, becoming retail/wholesale controller. Edwards was a director of Argyll Foods until November 1983.
Manchester United
He was elected to the Manchester United board in March 1970. He became chairman on 22 March 1980 following the sudden and unexpected death of his father Louis on 25 February, who had been chairman for the previous 15 years. After the Football Association voted to allow football clubs to have one paid director, Edwards became chief executive on 5 January 1982 and paid himself an annual salary of £30,000.
During the 1979–80 season when Edwards took over as chairman, United finished runners-up to Liverpool in the Football League First Division, but had not won the league title since 1967 and had not won a major trophy at all in three seasons of Dave Sexton's management. At the end of the 1980–81 season, United finished eighth in the league after seven successive wins at the end of the season. Manager Dave Sexton was looking set to be offered a new three-year contract, but the deal was never signed and Edwards sacked Sexton after four seasons without a trophy.
Edwards then began the hunt for a new manager. There was talk that he would appoint Lawrie McMenemy, who had guided Southampton to a shock win over United in the FA Cup final five years earlier, as successor to Dave Sexton. It was also rumoured that United were interested in recruiting Brian Clough, a league title winner and twice a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest, but Edwards insisted that he would not be approaching Clough. He instead turned to Ron Atkinson, whose impressive West Bromwich Albion side had qualified for the UEFA Cup three times in four seasons with top-five league finishes, reaching the quarter-finals on one occasion. Atkinson insisted in his footballing biography published in 1999 that Edwards was the best chairman he worked for, and he accepted the offer; soon after this appointment, Edwards made the funds available for Atkinson to bring in Albion's midfielder Bryan Robson for a national record fee of £1.5 million. This national record would remain unbroken by English clubs for six years, and Robson went on to be one of the club's greatest ever players.
Atkinson guided United to two FA Cup glories (the first in 1983 and the second in 1985); but, in the 1985–86 season, United faded away to finish fourth after a ten-match winning start to the league season, and speculation about his future as manager was mounting.
In 1983, Edwards had begun looking for younger colleagues to introduce to the club's board. Sir Matt Busby had been appointed president of the club and Michael Edelson was appointed to replace him on the board by Edwards, followed in June 1984 by the addition of club solicitor Maurice Watkins and club legend Bobby Charlton.
Premier League
Edwards was also part of the 'Big 5', who drove the formation of the Premier League and pulled away from the Football League. In 1985, he said that "smaller clubs are bleeding the game dry. For the sake of the game, they should be put to sleep".
Personal life
Edwards married Susan Lloyd Jones at Saint Mary's Church, Rostherne, near Knutsford, Cheshire, on 30 August, 1968. They have two children, James Louis born in 1969 and Lucinda Jane born in 1972.
Controversy
Affairs
He has been subject to several newspaper allegations about his private life, alleging several affairs. It was also alleged that he used prostitutes while on club business in Britain, Brazil and Switzerland.
Toilet peeping incident
Edwards received a police caution following an incident at the Mottram Hall Hotel, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, on 17 August 2002. A woman in her 40s alleged that he had entered the ladies toilets and spied under one of the cubicles at her.
He resigned from the Manchester United board soon after news of the caution broke, and stepped down as chairman seven months later. After the incident, further witnesses came forward stating that they, too, had been victims of similar behaviour in toilets at Old Trafford.
Careless driving
In July 2005, Edwards was convicted of careless driving, having been involved in a head-on collision near Conwy, North Wales, that April. He had just left the A55 near Conwy golf club, and took a right-hand bend on the wrong side of the road. In a letter to the court, Edwards explained how he had assumed he was on a one-way road after leaving the expressway. The driver of the other car, a Vauxhall Corsa, was badly hurt in the crash, after his car had collided with Edwards's Mercedes-Benz. Edwards was fined £500 plus £45 in prosecution costs, as well as receiving five points on his driving licence.