*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
Brian Ede
Appearances: 31 Goals: 0
Clean Sheets: 7
Date / Year of birth: 12th December 1948
Position: Goalkeeper
Season of first appearance: 1968/69
Season of last appearance: 1972/73
Also played for: Sheppey United, Gillingham (0), Canterbury City, Leytonstone, Tooting & Mitcham United, Wycombe Wanderers and Carshalton Athletic
6' 0" tall Chatham-born keeper who was brought up in Sittingbourne and often watched their Southern League team play as a youngster.
Brian began his senior career with Sheppey as a 16 year-old and spent two seasons playing for them in the Metropolitan League against sides from clubs such as Arsenal and West Ham.
Brian then joined Gillingham as an apprentice and became a regular in their London Combination side. He was one of the only goalkeepers in the country to wear contact lenses and on one occasion this led to a Gillingham reserve game at Tottenham being held up for ten minutes. Brian thought he'd lost a lens and players from both sides searched the mud in the penalty area before he realised that it had simply slipped above his eyeball. Brian also played for the Gills reserves in an away game at West Ham and for much of his time at Priestfield he was the club's third choice custodian behind John Simpson and Derek Bellotti, both of whom later had short spells with Margate.
Towards the end of the 1967/68 season Gillingham loaned Brian to Canterbury and he made five Southern League appearances for City.
In September 1968 the Gills allowed Brian to join Margate, initially on trial, and he was signed by manager Almer Hall as a replacement for David Bevis who was in dispute with the club. Brian made his debut on 30.9.68 as Margate beat Ashford 4-0 in a Kent Floodlight Cup game at Hartsdown Park. The local press said that Brian made several "thrilling saves" and he went on to turn in numerous good performances. On 11.11.68 he featured as Margate drew 6-6 with West Ham's full first team - including World Cup winners Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore and Martin Peters - in Almer Hall's testimonial match at Hartsdown Park and on 16.11.68 Brian was in the side that lost 3-1 at Northampton in the FA Cup 1st Round.
He played regularly until the end of 1968 when Bevis was recalled and after that youngster Paul Thomas was often chosen ahead of Brian too. As a result it took until 3.3.69 before he made his first senior appearance of 1969 and unfortunately he dislocated his finger as Margate beat visitors Ramsgate 3-1 in the Kent Senior Cup. Brian featured in three more games later in March 1969 but after a 3-2 home win over Burton on 22.3.69 Thomas and Bevis shared the goalkeeping duties for the remainder of the campaign and Brian left Margate at the end of the season having made 23 appearances.
He spent the 1969/70 campaign with Leytonstone before joining Tooting & Mitcham in the summer of 1970.
Brian spent the whole of the 1970/71 season and part of 1971/72 with Tooting and made a total of 40 appearances for the club before moving on to Wycombe during the latter campaign.
He wasn't a first team regular for the Isthmian League club but Brian did feature as Wycombe beat Leytonstone 3-1 in a league game and won by the same scoreline against Maidenhead in a Berks & Bucks cup tie. Wycombe ended 1971/72 as Isthmian League champions.
Early in the 1972/73 campaign Margate's manager Les Riggs resigned Brian and he acted as the experienced Chic Brodie's understudy, playing regularly for the reserves. Brian also made eight sporadic first team appearances, the first of them in a 3-1 home win over Poole in the Southern League on 7.10.72. He kept his place for a 4-1 defeat at Ramsgate in the Kent Floodlight Cup on 10.10.72 and then played twice more before the end of 1972.
In January 1973 Brian was at Hartsdown Park to see Margate take on First Division Spurs in a famous FA Cup tie but he didn't play for the first team again until 26.3.73, well over three months since his last senior outing. His comeback came in a 4-0 home win over Canterbury in the Kent Floodlight Cup and after sitting out another three matches Brian was back in goal as Margate beat visitors Dartford 3-1 in the Southern League on 9.4.73. He also played in the next two games but the second of them - a 4-1 win at Canterbury in the Kent Floodlight Cup on 17.4.73 - was Brian's last outing for the club and he left Margate once more at the end of the season.
He later had a spell with Carshalton before retiring when in his late 20's. Brian's career hadn't progressed as he'd wished and with other commitments to consider he opted to give up the game. Brian had always been an amateur throughout his career and had hoped to break into the England Amateur squad but never managed to do so.
In 2014 he was living in West Wickham, Kent and by then Brian had been working as a carpet shop manager for 35 years. He sometimes went to watch Bromley play in the Conference South and played outdoor bowls for the West Wickham club as well as playing indoors at Croydon. Previously Brian had played a lot of tennis at the Parklangley Club in Beckenham.
He had happy memories of his two spells at Margate with the match against West Ham in 1968 probably being the highlight although Brian did wonder how seriously they took the game. He also recalled the strange set-up at Northampton when Margate played there in the FA Cup - one side of the ground was roped off with Northamptonshire's cricket ground directly adjacent to the football stadium.
Thinking about his second spell at Hartsdown Park, Brian said it was good to have been around for the build-up to the Spurs FA Cup tie which saw the national media taking a keen interest.
Brian also recalled the two managers he played under at Margate and described Almer Hall as a "gentleman" who was always calm in the dressing room and generally just advised players to do their best and enjoy themselves. Brian said Les Riggs had more of a hands-on style in terms of tactics.
Brian remembered the old slope at Hartsdown Park (reduced when the club reached the Conference in the early 2000's) and also similar ones at both Wycombe and Yeovil's old grounds. He also recalled seeing future Margate legend Brian Hughes playing in goal for Sittingbourne when he watched the club as a youngster.
Looking back on his career as a whole Brian understandably felt that playing for Margate against Bobby Moore and Hereford's legendary Welsh international John Charles as well as featuring for Gillingham's reserves against famous Spurs star Dave Mackay was quite an achievement as those three players were world famous.
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
SLC |
KSC |
KFC |
SLCH |
|
1968/69 (MFC) |
23 (75) |
0 |
0 |
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (18TH OF 22) |
1R |
3R |
RU |
W |
W |
| Played in FA Cup 1st Round (16.11.68 - lost 3-1 at Northampton Town). | |||||||||
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
FAC |
FAT |
SLC |
KSC |
KFC | |
|
1972/73 (MFC) |
8 (64) |
0 |
0 |
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION (7TH OF 22) |
3R |
3QR |
1R |
2R |
GR |