Chris Sedgwick

Christopher Edward "Chris" Sedgwick (born 28 April 1980 in Sheffield) is an England professional football (soccer) currently playing for Football League Championship club Preston North End F.C..

Sedgwick, a right midfielder, began his career at Rotherham United F.C., where he was affectionately known as the Yorkshire Express, and made over 250 first team appearances in a seven year stint at the Yorkshire club.During that time he had earned a reputation as an honest hard-working right-midfielder with good distribution skills. He was often regarded as the talisman of the club because of his Sheffield upbringing and passion for the club.
He signed for Preston for £400,000 in November 2004.

Just games into his Preston career, it was evident that Sedgwick's lack of penetrating pace left him struggling to beat experienced left backs. With this realisation, he was encouraged to use his eye-catching dribbling ability to bamboozle full backs and supply the forwards with his excellent crosses. He started to fulfil his potential as a simple right midfielder under Billy Davies and the news that Davies had left could certainly have affected his and the team's progress. Indeed, Sedgwick lost his place to Simon Whaley on the right wing when new manager Paul Simpson took to the Preston helm. However, with Simpson noticing Jason Jarrett's lack of impetus in central midfield towards the beginning of the 2006/2007 season, Sedgwick was asked to replace him in a new position for the skilful winger. His improvement in tackling and his wonderful vision and creativity brought something to the Preston engine room Jarrett could not offer. With Paul Mckenna, he is, at present, forging a brilliant partnership with the competitive midfield maestro and is flourishing as an individual. He is now seen as an essential part of the progressive Preston North End squad and is turning into a 'fans' favourite'. So far, he has featured 92 times for PNE, scoring 8 goals in the process. Last season he played a part in every single league game and has repeated the feat so far this season. He has been likened to a young Lee Cartwright by his captain, Graham Alexander, but with his changing of positions he will if he strted to score more regularly surely fit into the mould of a modern day Gary Swann.

In conclusion Chris Sedgwick was known to many as a good buy but then his performances started to hinder therefore meaning he wasn't the most popular player among the fans. But ever since Paul Simpson arrived Chris Sedgwick has shown scintillating vision and creativity to form a formidable partnership with Paul McKenna. Not only that but Chris Sedgwick has been encouraged to dribble and beat the left backs if playing on the right wing which he has done ever so well since the arrival of Paul Simpson who has completely transformed Chris Sedgwick into a far better player.