Petr Cech has wished Joe Edwards well after he left Chelsea to join Frank Lampard's coaching staff at Everton.
Edwards was assistant coach to Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea but, after 27 years at Stamford Bridge, has departed for a new challenge on Merseyside.
A former schoolboy player with Chelsea, Edwards has enjoyed a remarkable rise through the coaching ranks after being released at the age of 16.
He initially started working with the youngest players in the Chelsea academy in 2004 but was quickly promoted. He twice led their Under-18s to the FA Youth Cup, guided their development team to the semi-finals of the Checkatrade Trophy and their Under-19s to the UEFA Youth League Final before he became assistant to Lampard in 2019.
The 35-year-old was part of the Tuchel backroom team that won the Champions League last year and Cech, Chelsea technical and performance adviser, has sent him a classy message following his move to Everton.
“At the start of this week, Joe Edwards took the opportunity to join Everton as Frank Lampard’s assistant manager,” said Cech, writing in his column on the Chelsea website.
“Joe has been Chelsea through and through for many years, since his time in the academy. He had huge success there as a coach before joining the senior team with Frank and becoming part of Thomas Tuchel’s coaching staff, with more huge success.
“On behalf of everyone here, I want to say thank you to Joe for all he’s done for Chelsea and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for him.
“Obviously we will miss Joe, but we wish him all the best in this new chapter of his career and hope it all works out well for him.”
