The Thistle Archive

Signed from Campsie Black Watch, he played fairly regularly in his first two seasons, although he was not consistent enough for a regular place, and often appeared as a substitute. In his last full season he became a regular goalscorer at last, finishing top of the Thistle charts with 18 competitive goals, his tally of five in the Scottish Cup being particularly enjoyable. In late October '88, Hamilton gaffer John Lambie paid £40K to secure his services and threw in Jim Kerr as a sweetener; 2 weeks later Thistle used the money to tempt Lambie to Firhil, it's a funny ol' game! Before the season was out, Eddie moved on to Dunfermline (March 1989).

The striker had a short loan spell at Linfield in October 1990, and later signed permanently with Dundee in November 1991. There, he earned his nickname 'Fast Eddie' after scoring a brace in his first game against Hamilton Accies at Douglas Park on 9th November 1991. Both goals came within the opening five minutes of his debut! Eddie continued his hot start at Dens by smashing a first-half hat-trick against Partick Thistle the following week. Groan. His goals were vital that season as Dundee marched on to the First Division title. When it became apparent that game time would be limited for Eddie in the top-flight, he transferred to First Division St Mirren in December 1992 where he found good form, appearing 32 times in the three main competitions over one and a half seasons, scoring 18 goals.

A bust up with manager Jimmy Bone signalled the end at Love Street, and the 29-year-old made a surprise move to Hong Kong where he played with Instant-Dict in 1994-95, a side who had most recently finished as runners-up in the Hong Kong top-flight. Instant-Dict were a company specializing in English-Chinese translation machines and dictionaries. They took on the membership of the 'Double Flower' club from 1991 to 2001 so they could promote their brand, a manoeuvre which was effectively a highly prominent sponsorship deal. Unfortunately, injuries and suspension hampered Eddie's game time, although he did show signs of his old form as the season drew to a close. The club (who would be champions in 1995-96) were miles off the pace in 1994-95, finishing third bottom of the ten club League.

After retiring, Eddie did a bit of coaching at youth level back in Scotland and, in 2007, his sense of adventure took him to the Ghanaian Second Division where he's said to have managed a club to promotion, before leaving after a punch-up with one of his players!