Joe Edwards (football manager)

Joe Edwards (born 26 September 1986) is an English professional football manager who was most recently head coach of Championship club Millwall. A former Chelsea youth player, he has also had coaching positions with Chelsea, Everton and England U20s.

Playing career
Edwards is a product of Chelsea's youth academy since the age of 8, and worked his way up their youth categories. He was released by the club at the age of 16.

Chelsea
Shortly after being released, Edwards was approached by Neil Bath to join Chelsea's staff in 2004 at the age of 17 and started working on his coaching badges. He initially trained the U8s, and from 2006 to 2014 coached various different youth levels for the club. In 2014 he was appointed the manager of the Chelsea U18s and helped them win 2 consecutive FA Youth Cups. In 2016, he was appointed as loan player manager, and often went out to other clubs to track the development of different loan players, and also exposed him to different managerial styles. On 6 May 2017, he returned to manage the Chelsea U19s and U23s replacing Adi Viveash. In 2017, he was also part of the England U20s backroom staff that helped them win the 2017 Toulon Tournament. In June 2017, he earned his pro license. The following season in 2018, he took the Chelsea U23s to the semifinals for the EFL Trophy, the highest placement so far by a reserve team.

For the 2019–20 season, Edwards was appointed as assistant manager for the first time under Frank Lampard. He remained assistant at Chelsea after Lampard was sacked and Thomas Tuchel was appointed, and was part of the backroom staff as they won the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.

Everton, England U20s
In January 2022, he followed Lampard and was assistant manager with him again at Everton, leaving Chelsea after 27 years associated with the club. In April 2023, he once more returned to Chelsea as assistant under Lampard as he filled in as interim manager.

In August 2023, he was appointed as the interim manager for the England U20s.

Millwall
On 6 November 2023, Edwards was appointed as head coach of Championship club Millwall. In his debut game, he led Millwall to a 4–0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, the Lions' largest away win in the second tier since 2017. After a 2–0 home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday, and just four wins in 19 games, Edwards was sacked by Millwall on 21 February 2024.

Manager
Chelsea U18
 * FA Youth Cup: 2014–15, 2015–16