He now holds the position of honorary life president at the club and Director of Inview Technology Ltd.[1] Edwards was born at St Mary's Services Hospital in Adlington, Cheshire, England.
There was talk that he would appoint Lawrie McMenemy, who had guided Southampton to a shock win over United in the FA Cup final five years earlier, as successor to Dave Sexton.
He instead turned to Ron Atkinson, whose impressive West Bromwich Albion side had qualified for the UEFA Cup three times in four seasons with top-five league finishes, reaching the quarter-finals on one occasion.
On 4 November 1986, United were floundering in the bottom half of the top division and that night were eliminated from the Football League Cup with a 4–1 defeat at Southampton.
He subsequently discovered that this was Manchester United director Michael Edelson who asked Ferguson if he would be interested in meeting Edwards.
Following a short discussion, Edwards made contact with Aberdeen chairman Dick Donald and the four-man United board drove immediately to meet Ferguson halfway between the two cities in Glasgow.
The club has been subject to takeover proposals by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB with Edwards reportedly agreeing to sell his stake for £98 million.
[8] Edwards gradually disposed of his equity in the club and resigned as Chief Executive in 2000, appointing Peter Kenyon as his successor.
The appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager in 1986 was indeed the turning point in United's history after two decades of relative mediocrity, but it took time for things to improve.
United finished second in the league in 1987–88 (Ferguson's first full season as manager), and around this time Edwards had made millions of pounds available to strengthen the squad with the reacquisition of Mark Hughes as well as the signing of high-profile players, including Brian McClair, Gary Pallister, Paul Ince, Neil Webb and Danny Wallace.
However, an 11th-place finish in 1988–89 tested the patience of the club's supporters and as 1989 drew to a close, United's form was so bad (they occupied 15th place in the league on Christmas Day) that there were continued calls from the fans for Alex Ferguson to be sacked.
The decision by Edwards to remain loyal to Ferguson paid off in 1989–90 as United lifted the FA Cup to end their five-year wait for a major trophy.
By the end of the decade, Edwards had made available the cash for United to buy the first two eight-figure signings of their history – defender Jaap Stam and striker Dwight Yorke.
However, the club continued to have unprecedented success on the football pitch despite an uneasy relationship between manager Alex Ferguson and Martin Edwards.
Edwards enabled United to break the national transfer record twice in 2001 when they signed Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón, but he was forced to resign as chairman in November 2002, after allegations of using a prostitute on an official club business trip to Switzerland.
[10] Edwards married Susan Lloyd Jones at Saint Mary's Church, Rostherne, near Knutsford, Cheshire, on 30 August, 1968.