though he is primarily remembered as a defensive midfielder
Edwards was only 18 when he became England’s youngest post-War
international, a record that stood until Michael Owen’s debut in
1998. But long before he starred in England’s crushing 7-2 defeat of
Scotland at Wembley on April 2, 1955, every club in the land had
been monitoring the movements of the boy wonder from the Black
Country.As early as 1948, a handwritten letter from United’s chief
scout in the Midlands, Jack O’Brien, landed on Busby’s desk. “Have
today seen a 12-year-old schoolboy who merits special watching. His
name is Duncan Edwards, of Dudley. Instructions please.” O’Brien’s
recommendation was promptly passed on to coach Bert Whalley with
the added instructions: “Please arrange special watch immediately
MB.”
With
the
young
man
in
question
turning out for Wolverhampton Street Secondary School, Dudley Schools XI, Worcester County
XI and Birmingham & District XI, arranging a ‘special watch’ represented something of a
full-time occupation. At the age of 13, he walked out at Wembley on April 1, 1950, to win his
first ‘cap’ for England Schoolboys against Wales Schoolboys in front of a crowd of 100,000; at
14 he was appointed England Schools captain - a position he would hold for two seasons. With
Wolverhampton Wanderers hovering, on June 2, 1952, United pounced, Whalley banging on the
Edwards front door at 31 Elm Road on the threadbare Priory council estate at 2am, brandishing
amateur forms. Having put pen to paper, young Duncan, still in his pyjamas, left Whalley and his
father, Gladstone, to sort out the details while he climbed the stairs to bed, muttering: “I don’t
know what all this fuss was about. I’ve said all along that Manchester United were the only club I
wanted to join.”Ten months later Edwards made his first-team debut at left-half aged 16 years and
183 days against Cardiff City at Old Trafford; not that the date April 4, 1953, is writ large in the
history of Manchester United, a 4-1 defeat leaving the reigning champions in the no-man’s land of
mid-table. Busby was fully aware that despite his side’s league title success the previous season,
the majority of the United players belonged to the over-the-hill gang and Edwards’ fellow ‘Babes’,
David Pegg, Dennis Viollet, Bill Foulkes, Mark Jones and Jackie Blanchflower, were also
introduced during the closing weeks of the season.A permanent fixture in the England Under-23
side from the age of 17, United’s teenage sorcerer may have grown in fame with every passing
game but he remained engagingly modest throughout his all-too-brief career. “He might have
been the Koh-i-Noor diamond among our crown jewels,” Murphy explained, “but he was an
unspoiled boy to the end, his head the same size it had been from the start. Even when he had won
his first England cap but was still eligible for our youth team, he used to love turning out with the
rest of the youngsters. He just loved to play anywhere and with anyone.” (He had one known vice
as a child - as well as representing his school at football, he was also a member of the Morris
dancing team.)Edwards was revered for his all-round game and versatility, and how he could excel
at almost every position on the pitch, whether it was centre-half, centre-forward, inside forward
or half-back. “He was never bothered where he played,” said Murphy.However, he would make
the majority of his appearances as a left-half, a hybrid between a defender and a midfielder, which
was his favourite position as he was constantly involved and could use both his defensive and
attacking abilities.
“He was Roy Keane and Bryan Robson combined,
but in a bigger body,”
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