Former Chester striker Eddie Loyden, who had two spells with the club during the late sixties and early seventies, has sadly passed away at the age of 79.

A traditional centre forward Eddie was an out and out goalscorer and not the sort of player to track back or link up play. This is reflected in an impressive goal scoring record that saw him score 48 goals in 99 Football League appearances. Dominant in the air, many of his goals were scored with his head and his tall and rangy physique made him an awkward presence and a handful for defenders.

Born in Liverpool, Eddie started his career as a junior at Blackpool and made his debut during 1965 in a Division One fixture against Liverpool. After a season at Carlisle Eddie was snapped up by Peter Hauser, in July 1967, on a free transfer and made a dream debut with two headed goals in a 2-1 victory at Notts County. He went on to score 22 goals in 37 games that season, including four in a 6-0 win over Lincoln City, and comfortably finished leading scorer for a struggling team that had to apply for re-election. At the end of the campaign Ken Roberts, looking to raise funds to rebuild the team, made the pragmatic decision to sell Eddie to Shrewsbury Town for a club record fee of £13,000. 

After only six months Eddie was on the move again when Barnsley signed him for £10,000 but he returned to Sealand Road in November 1970 in unusual circumstances as Ken Roberts looked for a tall goal grabber to play alongside Alan Tarbuck and Derek Draper. Although an agreement had been reached for Eddie to move to Chester the Yorkshire side selected him to play against a full strength Sheffield United team in the Yorkshire Senior Cup. Eddie promptly put the cat among the pigeons by scoring an eight minute hat-trick to overturn a 2-0 half time deficit and give Barnsley second thoughts. Nevertheless Chester insisted a gentleman’s agreement had been in place and handed over £7,000 to the reluctant Yorkshiremen.

The move proved successful as the big man formed an effective partnership with Tarbuck and managed 15 goals in 28 games as Chester finished just outside the promotion places. Unfortunately a missed penalty by Eddie, in a crucial Easter fixture against York City, proved decisive and although the game finished 1-1 Chester missed out on a top four spot by a single point. 

The 1971/72 season saw Eddie once again finish as leading scorer with 11 goals but, as a whole, the team struggled to find the back of the net and after the start of February appearances were limited as Ken Roberts sought to find the answer to the goalscoring dilemma. In June 1972 Eddie signed for Tranmere Rovers for £4,000 and will be remembered at Prenton Park for scoring the only goal in a famous League Cup victory over Arsenal at Highbury. After two years at Tranmere Eddie moved to South Africa to play for Highlands Park and then on to Hong Kong before retiring in 1978.

In later life Eddie resided in his home town city but suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and passed away on June 5th.