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ED OF THE GAME
I’ve played for legends Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney & Michael Carrick – English coaching talent is there
And this player has just enjoyed back-to-back promotions
PAUL SCHOLES, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, and Michael Carrick were all part of England’s Golden Generation - and they all have an eye for talent.
That, at least, is according to Middlesbrough star George Edmundson.
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The 27-year-old has enjoyed an incredible career that he would never even have dared dream of while still playing Sunday League with his pals at 16.
Now he has the unique experience of playing for four of the biggest names in English football this century.
He had United legends Scholes and Rooney at Oldham, albeit for just seven games, and at Derby on loan in 2021.
He went to the Rams from Glasgow Rangers, who had snapped him up from the Latics two years previous, where Liverpool great Gerrard was his boss.
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These days he has another Red Devils icon in Carrick in charge of him after joining Boro on-loan from Ipswich on deadline day following successive promotions with the Tractor Boys.
“I must be doing something right,” a smiling Edmundson told SunSport. “They were all brilliant players so I’m hoping that they can all spot an alright player.
“It’s bizarre and I bet that I’m the only player to have played for all of them.”
With questions over whether there are enough talented English coaches coming through amid Thomas Tuchel’s England appointment, there seems no-one better to ask than the centre-half.
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“100 per cent the talent is there,” declared Edmundson. “Scholes was a bit different, he was only there for a few games but that wasn’t down to his knowledge or not doing well, but if you look at all of the managers I’ve had then they have all done well.
“Gerrard won the league at Rangers and Rooney had an impossible task at Derby.
Inside SunSport's Justin Allen's day covering Ipswich's win over Sunderland as he interviews George Edmundson
“The year that I was there we stayed up, which was incredible and we celebrated like we’d won the league because everybody knew how difficult that season was.
“I don’t think that Rooney gets the credit he deserved for that. He was brilliant and I really enjoyed it under him.
“We know the success Kieran McKenna has had and obviously the gaffer here, everybody knows where we want to be, and you can see something is building under him.”
On McKenna, Edmundson says absolutely nobody at Ipswich believed that they would achieve back-to-back promotions.
But even the English-born Northern Irish coach showed just how good he was when he suffered his first sticky spell at the helm with Ipswich as they threatened to blow-up in the Championship run-in.
He said: “I’ve had managers after a hiccup where the running stats are going up, or we are not eating enough pasta, doing this or doing whatever but he remained really calm.
ZARACH - EAT SLEEP LEARN
Zarach, a non-Government funded charity, supply beds for children across the region of Teesside who would otherwise not have one.
The charity are on a mission to end child bed poverty in England, giving Every Head a Bed.
George joined deliveries in the Stockton and Thornaby areas of Teesside, supporting families who needed the provision for their children.
Our man said: "It was an eye-opening experience, but a real demonstration of the vitally important work that Zarach do.
"I'm sure the name of the charity will be new to a lot of people, but having seen the work they do and the passion that the people have for helping families, I hope we can create awareness and raise some valuable funds."
Ellie McGrath, Fundraising and Communications Manager from Zarach joined George on the deliveries and she said: "We're so passionate about being able to reach the 11,600 children across Tees Valley in bed poverty and 900,000 around the country, and we're asking local businesses and individuals to support us by donating.
"It's a fact that if children sleep properly they are better prepared for school and for learning. Having a bed is so important.
"It was fantastic to have George with us for an afternoon. He was so respectful of the situation and was very keen to help us."
“He told us that we were doing the right things and that we just had to make a few little tweaks. That was the best thing about him is how he stayed calm, never got flustered or made rash decisions and stuck doing the things that had worked and we got over the line.”
And he is enjoying life under another cool character in Carrick, saying: “Looking from the outside in before I came you would see him and how calm he was. Then you meet him and he is even calmer.
“Most of the time he will say his point rather than ranting and raving but don’t get it wrong as he can go for you and give you that kick that you need to spur you on if it’s needed.”
Edmundson “boxed off” one ambition while at Rangers by not only playing but also scoring in Europa League for them.
But it has not always been the glitz and glamour of big European nights and being coached by superstars.
The Manchester-born ace said: “I was playing Sunday League until I was 16 as I’d never got signed on anywhere.
“I then managed to get one and do a scholarship at Oldham but was originally told ‘no’ that I wasn't going to get a pro.
“I could have just given up then, but I decided to play the final game of that season and they changed their mind and gave me a pro.
"But when I got it I thought that I needed to go somewhere and play games with the thought that if I got released, hopefully I could sign for the loan team if I do well there.”
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Edmundson continued: “I probably wasn’t ready for League One and when I look back now the kit drowned me. I went out to non-league Ramsbottom United of the EvoStik North, and no disrespect, that is not the level you grow up dreaming of playing at.
“But it was great, I played Saturday and Tuesday and just got kicked around, smashed for 90 minutes and I learned so much about the dark arts and what it actually meant to get three points in front of fans.
“Football then changes quickly. When I was at Ramsbottom I was just thinking that if I can at least get to the Conference then that would be really respectable.
“But after a couple more loans and then having a really good season in League Two the next minute I’m going up to Glasgow.”
Things did not quite work out fully for him at Ibrox and after impressing at Derby he moved back south to Ipswich, who were then languishing in League One.
He said: “From the first day talking to Mark Ashton the CEO you could really tell they were serious about going up. But up until about Christmas time it didn’t really go to plan but then when Kieran McKenna came in it just took off and we went to the next level.
“After that we went into his first proper season and everybody felt ‘we have a good team here’ and with a few more additions we’d be right up there.
“If anybody says that they thought we’d do back-to-back promotions then they are lying, there’s no chance.
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“But after getting up we then made a good start and just kept winning and then when it got to January I started saying to my mates ‘I think we could do this’ and I bet the lads were thinking the same.”
Edmundson and Town did manage to secure automatic promotion and that enabled the very likeable and engaging defender to fulfil another life-long ambition - playing the Premier League at his beloved Etihad.
Days before he left for Boro in August, the star came on as substitute for the final few minutes of Ipswich’s 4-1 defeat to the champions.
“I’m a big City fan so to come on was special,” Edmundson said. “Honestly I had about 50 ticket requests but I managed to narrow it down to nine as that was as much as I could get - my parents, sister, mates and close family friends all came and were buzzing for me.
“I was on the bench and I think I spent the full game warming up. Obviously we were losing but I came on at right-back.
“The thing that I was most buzzing about was that you get a Premier League debut ball with all the details from the game in a glass case now.
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“I got to finally pick that up from Ipswich during the international break. I’d really wanted one of them for ages and finally got one. It’s now at my mum’s house.
“That was another box ticked and nobody can ever take away from me that I’ve played in the Premier League.”
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