Legendary Cheshunt Fc manager Craig Edwards recently announced his departure from the ambers. Cheshunt fan Ben Chalkley has paid homage to the 59-year-old.
After an impressively successful tenure at Hertfordshire outfit Cheshunt FC, Craig Edwards makes the noble choice to step down from his role as the Ambers manager.
Edwards, the London-born former boxer, has held the post as Cheshunt boss since January 2018, not long after departing Kingstonian in late 2017, and his story since then contains an abundance of footballing joy and jubilation.
The team that Craig inherited boasted the prolific, formidable striker Jason Hallett, and the rapid and direct Kyle Roberts, but a certain Sorba Thomas, who is currently plying his trade in France’s top flight was introduced in one of Edwards’ first of many Amber outings.
With only half of the 2017/18 season left, Edwards mustered up results that ultimately kept them safe in the league, a 4-2 home win against local rivals Waltham Abbey being the pick of the bunch.
Craig then assembled a team over pre-season that he believed was capable of competing in the Bostik League South Central Division, little did he know what the conclusion of the season had in store for him, as he was about to take Cheshunt and their exuberant fanbase to heights that they may never thought were attainable.
Many impressive results accumulated during a spectacular end to the league season, not to mention Craig’s reliable Jamaican mountain Ricky Sappleton’s fluked finish against Football League’s Stevenage sending Cheshunt to the semi-final of the Hertfordshire Senior Cup, The Ambers secured a third-place finish and therefore a place in the playoffs to attempt to gain access to the competitive Isthmian Premier Division.
Two goals in the second half at home to Marlow from the petrifying duo of Brian Moses and club stalwart Hallett completed a delightful playoff semi-final win, the final against Bracknell Town standing between Edwards and early Cheshunt icon status.
Edwards’ team produced a professional performance that blew Bracknell away with a clean sheet and Shane ‘Romanian Messi’ Cojocarel at the double. 3-0 victors, happy fans, superb club atmosphere, surely it doesn’t get better than this? (it did).
Adversity struck in the following two seasons, however, as COVID-19 disturbed the entirety of English football. This registered Edward’s difficult and slightly unsuccessful start to the 2019/20 campaign null and void. The following season met the same fate as Cheshunt’s much more encouraging start was invalidated.
Edwards’ new-look Cheshunt were rampant in an astonishing 2021/22 league season, after enlisting help from current Southend defender Adam Crowther and Kayne Diedrick-Roberts who was comically dubbed “New Bloke” by the Ambers faithful, Craig had a team capable of incalculable success.
In February, Cheshunt were to play away to Stockport in the fifth round of the FA Trophy, a day still referred to as one of the most exciting in the club’s recent history, a noisy wall of southern accents roaring on Edwards and his army in the corner of a rainy Edgeley Park, each fan taking a moment to look around and appreciate the exponential rise Craig had constructed.
A second piece of silverware was added to Edwards’ collection as an in-form Ambers put Hadley to the sword in a 2-0 win in Potters Bar, which secured Cheshunt’s first-ever Hertfordshire Senior Cup in the club’s history. A 1-0 home win against rivals Bishop’s Stortford shortly before the cup win, meant that Cheshunt secured another playoff place, only two illegitimate seasons after their first, but this time it was for National League South status.
Taylor McKenzie, a name now rightly difficult to read for most Cheshunt fans, scored a header in the dying embers of a dramatic playoff semi-final against league runners-up Bishop’s Stortford, which put fellow finalists Hornchurch in the way of Edwards and eternal endearment from the club’s supporters. As tricky goalscoring winger Zack Newton curled an extraordinary long-range effort into the top right corner of the Hornchurch goal, the final whistle followed and emotions poured from Craig and his admirable staff as they crowded the pitch, embracing fans and players alike.
Club legend status had been acquired.
The following season in the National League South, although upsettingly didn’t produce enough positive results, was an absolute joy for the fans, seeing Cheshunt play against teams in grounds they could have only imagined visiting just three years ago. Alongside some touchline “antics” against Ebbsfleet and late drama against Hampton and Richmond Borough on the opening day, Edwards produced a season that despite its shortcomings, gave Ambers fans a campaign to remember.
To the present day now the club and Craig have struggled since departing the second step of non-league. A relegation fight last year in the Isthmian Premier Division and a punishing start to this season saw Craig virtuously step down after a rollercoaster tenure at Cheshunt FC.
Now to speak as a fan…
As someone who has been supporting the club since around the same time that Craig started his journey at the club, it is hard to imagine a Cheshunt without him at the wheel. As a lot of our flags behind the goal may suggest, he really has secured himself club legend status and to put it simply, may not need to buy a pint on his return to the clubhouse.
I hope I speak for Ambers fans when I say, thank you so much for all of the great memories, go well gaffer.
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