[1] He was educated at a Catholic grammar school but left at the age of fourteen to work in the family's meat packaging and processing business.
From the mid 1950s he was an investor in Manchester United and joined the club's board of directors the day after the Munich air disaster in February 1958 and bought ten shares worth £1 each.
He became vice-chairman in December 1964 and club chairman in June 1965 upon the death of Harold Hardman, overseeing United's success in winning the First Division title in 1967, finishing runners up in 1968, and the European Cup on 29 May that year.
The upgrade and development of Old Trafford occurred under his chairmanship, including a new cantilever stand, ringed by theatre style executive boxes.
[8] The program alleged there Louis Edwards was illegal share deals involving false documentation and large secret cash payments to the Manchester City Council and company staff to win contracts for his business.
In one case in the early 1960s, it was alleged that a bribe of £5,000 was paid to the parents of Peter Lorimer, a promising young player whom the club had wanted to recruit.
[9] The programme explained how Edwards quietly acquired his majority shareholding at Manchester United in the early 1960s and then bolstered his family's holding in the late 1970s in preparation for the controversial rights issue.
[citation needed] Edwards himself hired a firm of lawyers to go through his business transactions and private papers in order to build evidence against all the charges levelled at him.