Playing Career
After making his way through the Chelsea youth system he was loaned out to Cardiff City in January 1992, making his debut in a 4-0 win over Chesterfield. Unfortunately Cardiff fell three points short of a play-off place and Newton returned to Chelsea. He played for Chelsea in the 1994 FA Cup Final, but his foul on Denis Irwin in the second half saw him cautioned and led to Manchester United receiving a penalty which was scored by Eric Cantona. He then made a defensive error which allowed United's Mark Hughes to make it 3-0.
Chelsea went on to lose 4-0 but United had won the double to qualify for the European Cup, allowing Chelsea to play European football for the first time since the 1970s with a place in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Newton was part of the team that reached the semi-finals of the 1994-95 competition and also the semi-finals of the 1995-96 FA Cup.
Newton famously scored Chelsea's second, clinching, goal in the 1997 FA Cup final to seal a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough. He won the Cup Winners' Cup and League Cup with the club a year later, but was thereafter hampered in his quest for a starting place by injuries and manager Gianluca Vialli's signing of French World Cup-winning midfielder Didier Deschamps.
He joined Birmingham City in July 1999 on a free transfer before spending short spells at various lower league clubs, including Oxford United and Barnet. He later retired due to a knee injury and converted to Islam. and married his Turkish/Swedish wife Zeliha (Kilic) Newton in 2003. He is business director of New Vision Sports Ltd, which offers grass root multi sports for children, after school clubs, personal training and holiday schemes. Newton also hosted Football Icon 1 and 2 alongside Jamie Redknapp.
Read more about this topic: Eddie Newton
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