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“Let’s be honest… I couldn’t say it at the time as it wasn’t about me, it was about the football club, but I would have loved to have taken the job on.
“It would have been my dream job, but it was about respecting the club and whoever was coming in, and making sure I did the right things ready for that next person.”
The words of Rob Edwards, in an interview I conducted with him in December 2020.
He was referring back to the time, just over four years earlier, when he had been put in interim charge at Wolves between the departure of Walter Zenga and arrival of Paul Lambert.
Working in the media department at Wolves, I vividly recall Edwards’ meticulous preparation in all aspects of the job ahead, even though he knew from the off it was likely to form only the next two fixtures against Blackburn and Derby.
In what perhaps proved to be something of a prescient response, Edwards revealed how, even during that brief interim spell in charge, he was already thinking – or dreaming – of it becoming more.
And now, just over nine years later, that dream job is his. Just over two decades after first arriving as a player, and with various spells as an academy and first team coach, and caretaker boss with the first team, Edwards, at 42, has his name above the door.
No one should ever underestimate how much that means. Nor how much blood, sweat and tears he has put in to get here. And how much more will follow to try and make it a success. Even under what already have the look of extremely challenging circumstances. That won’t deter him.
Because, boasting such an extensive history with the club is why Edwards has decided to depart a Middlesbrough team which he had taken to third in the Championship having only joined this summer. Even with all the personal, professional – and in some cases vicious criticism – that such a controversial decision has brought.
It is an almighty risk. But one he is more than willing to take, and to back himself to succeed, because of his love of the club, and an association which has endured, off and on, for the last 21 years.
“You get an emotional attachment to a club,” says Tom Lockyer, Edwards’ captain at Luton who has just returned to his first club Bristol Rovers and is playing again after suffering a cardiac arrest two years ago.
“At Luton, we always knew that Wolves were Rob’s team, without a doubt.
“I haven’t spoken to Rob about this, but I was thinking the other day, how much he would have been loving the job at Middlesbrough and what he had been able to build in such a short time.
“I genuinely don’t think he’d have left for any other club in this situation, that is the pull that Wolves has for Rob, but I am sure it still won’t have been an easy decision.
“It will have been hard to walk away, and I think it shows just what Wolves means to Rob rather than Middlesbrough meaning little to him.”
***
I first interviewed Edwards when he joined Wolves from Aston Villa in July 2004. He arrived as a versatile defender who could operate in both full back positions as well as in the centre.
It was on the terrace area at Wolverhampton Lawn Tennis & Squash Club, where Wolves used to train and he was, as Edwards always is, unfailingly polite, engaging and helpful.
That’s Rob Edwards the person.
At the time he was 21 years old. Already possessing an inner determination, fierce ambition and desire to succeed. That’s Rob Edwards the player, coach and manager. And why the only risk for him would be turning this current opportunity down, more so than actually taking it. In his mind, almost 12 years of coaching and managerial experience, much of it unpaid in its infancy, has been building up to this moment.
His footballing education began pretty literally, when, at 14, he was among the final batch of scholars at the FA’s School of Excellence at Lilleshall, alongside the likes of Jermain Defoe.
Securing an opportunity with Aston Villa, Edwards’ debut came under Graham Taylor, one of so many top managers he would play for, work with, and learn from, during his career so far.
After loan spells with Crystal Palace, his first opponents as Wolves manager a week on Saturday, and Derby, he was signed by Dave Jones in that summer of 2004 just after relegation from the Premier League.
The Wolves years were perhaps condensed, like a match, into two halves. Jones was sacked a couple of months into Edwards’ first season and there followed two seasons under Glenn Hoddle, and two under Mick McCarthy. Three more managers whom he tapped into for knowledge and experience, even when still a player.
He certainly learned plenty in that time. Under Hoddle, on the tactical and technical side, in a team which he feels should have done a lot better. Under McCarthy, the value of good man management, and making the team more than the sum of its parts.
Unfortunately, spells on the sidelines through injury were sadly an all-too familiar tale for Edwards during life as a player. The 111 appearances he made at Wolves formed almost half of his overall career total of 238. But being absent for lengthy spells gave him additional challenges and experiences and another sense of empathy to carry into coaching and management.
It’s an empathy which Lockyer feels has made him into the manager that he is. After the play-off final when Lockyer had headed off to hospital after collapsing on the pitch, Edwards made sure calling his captain was a major priority long before deciding to celebrate the historic penalty shootout win which took Luton to the Premier League.
“I think Rob’s best quality for me is how much he genuinely cares about his players,” says Lockyer.
“I have worked for a lot of managers where you are just a piece in the puzzle and if you are not doing it, then you are out the door.
“With Rob, he genuinely cares and brings that feeling that we are all on a journey together and all need each other to progress forward.
“By doing that, he allows you to play with freedom and with the shackles off.
“After the play-off final, he was straight on the phone to find out what was going on, and we were watching the celebrations in hospital.
“When we saw him crying his eyes out doing the interview after the game, it set my Mum off!
“It’s not bravado – if it was, I would tell you – it’s how he is every day, and, from a human level, he’s an incredible manager to work for.”
When the end came as a player for Edwards, it was fairly straightforward. At the age of 30, still struggling with issues which had dogged him since ankle reconstruction surgery early in his career, he turned to his Dad, sat at home, and simply said: “I’m done.”
The coaching journey had already begun, as working with Ian Holloway and Lambert during promotions with Blackpool and Norwich had already got the juices flowing. Whilst doing his badges, colleagues on the course were immediately impressed by his seemingly natural ability to coach.
And yet, so much hard work was ahead, even just to gain a foothold in such a competitive industry.
***
For a year, Edwards worked for nothing. Shadowing, learning, soaking up whatever knowledge and expertise that he could. Former Wolves team-mate Joleon Lescott helped create a link with Manchester City Academy which led to working, more to the point volunteering, with former Wales team-mate, then Under-16s coach and now Liverpool Women’s manager Gareth Taylor.
At the same time, Wolves Development Coach Steve Weaver was keen to utilise more former players within the academy set-up, and Edwards and close friend Matt Murray lent a hand.
Working for free with Wolves Under-15s and City’s Under-16s, including fixtures with both at weekends, made for a tough schedule, but ultimately, it was worth it. He landed full-time offers from both.
That was in 2014, and the following five years proved a proper Molineux rollercoaster ride. From the Under-18s to coaching the first team under Kenny Jackett, Zenga and Lambert. To departing when Nuno arrived, managing AFC Telford who had a link to Wolves at that stage, and then returning to lead Wolves Under-23s to promotion.
Jackett deserves much credit for initially spotting Edwards’ first team coaching credentials. Zenga relied massively on him for input as he tried to adapt to coaching in England, and Lambert made him a pivotal part of what was an extremely tight-knit backroom staff.
And that spell in interim charge, even for just two games, given his head at the age of 33 by then Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell, proved a sign of what was later to come. Edwards planned meticulously for all aspects of the job for those two weeks. And wasn’t afraid to make the tough decisions, including a 32ndminute substitution to bring off Joao Teixeira when deciding he had gone too attacking in the second game against Derby.
Without getting carried away, the more he worked at first team level, the more he learned from more experienced colleagues, the more he believed. Believed that he could do the job himself, if given an opportunity.
Which takes us back to that interview in December 2020. Because, at that point Edwards was frustrated. He had been working with the cream of the country’s talent as a head coach with England Under-16s. He relishes helping to develop young players. At Wolves he had nurtured the development of the likes of Maximilian Kilman, Ryan Giles, Pedro Goncalves and Niall Ennis. He gave a 15-year-old Morgan Gibbs White his debut for the Under-18s, when he scored against Brighton.
But Edwards felt he had served his apprenticeship, and was ready for the next step. To manage a club. Over a 90-minute chat he took me through that coaching journey. The why’s and the wherefores. A nagging feeling that names with higher profiles in the game – but not the same level of work and experience – were being handed opportunities. Yet he didn’t get mad. He worked to get even.
Sitting down with Murray, Edwards produced a detailed presentation on his coaching principles and why he felt he deserved a chance. He tested it out in conversations with Sporting Directors – pressing the flesh, pushing himself forward. And one of those Sporting Directors, Rich Hughes, was sufficiently impressed when he interviewed for a job with Forest Green in League Two, that Edwards finally received his opportunity.
“Beyond him being such a good person, as a manager he wants to win and has a desire to win,” says Lockyer.
“With that, he has all the tactical nous to go with it, and surrounds himself with good and hard-working people on his staff.
“He doesn’t just have ‘yes men’ around him, he wants to be challenged, and doesn’t even mind those challenges coming from the players, in the right way.
“Many was the time at Luton when he would ask me as captain or the players as a group what we thought of something, and whether it was worth exploring different possibilities.
“Everyone would be involved, he was always open to ideas and other opinions, and that also helped instil belief throughout the squad.”
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Edwards led Forest Green Rovers to the League Two title in his first season. Moving on to Watford, amid suggestions they were dispensing with their customary hire and fire mentality, he was sacked before the end of September with the Hornets sitting tenth after ten games. Another lesson learned.
Then came the highs and lows of Luton, leading them to their first ever season in the Premier League, taking the ultimately unsuccessful survival campaign to the final day, and then losing his job midway through the following season in the Championship.
Those experiences, the quickfire exit at Watford, and fan opinion turning at Luton, are a reminder to any manager of the fragility of their existence. More reason too, why he will have decided that, as difficult as it was, moving to Wolves was the right call, for so many reasons. Edwards is a human being who will understand the hurt and anger amongst the Middlesbrough fanbase. He will also understand how easy it is to be sacked, and how important it is to be closer to family, and back with what he sees as his club, with all that history.
It’s not ideal timing to be heading to Wolves with the team eight points adrift of safety and without a win in the first 11 Premier League games of the season. Rarely do these jobs come up when things are going swimmingly. But there is a steely determination and ambition behind the human being. Yes, he cares about people, but he cares just as much about high standards, and adhering to them.
“I have seen Rob ‘go off’ in the changing room, don’t you worry about that,” says Lockyer.
“I’ve worked with managers before who continually lose it, and after a while it’s like ‘here we go again’ – it loses its effect.
“When it’s someone like Rob, it means something, and you know it’s deserved.
“I have started looking at the other side of the game now, and that sort of thing is something I have definitely taken from Rob.
“He’s also a manager who will always talk to players and tell them why they’re not playing before anything is announced – and that sort of thing is also so important.”
For Lockyer, the bond with Edwards forged through professional triumph and personal anguish is one which will now endure forever.
Football management, however, is a less permanent emotion. With Wolves marooned at the foot of the Premier League table, there will be no gradual bedding-in. Edwards will already be working hard to decide his best methods, the best tactical approach, but all with a couple of very simple pre-requisites. Hard work and a positive mentality.
He is battle-hardened now, and is also conscious that Wolves fans will forgive a lot if they see a team giving their all for the cause. Just like he was as a player. And is as a coach.
He is also more than aware just what Wolves means to the city, and the community. He has been here through good and bad times as player and coach. He built mutually respectful working relationships with club icons such as Sir Jack Hayward, Rachael Heyhoe-Flint and Graham Hughes. He’s a Wolves man through and through. But alongside that are his qualities as a very decent human being, and his philosophy as a modern, progressive manager.
There was only one occasion when he ever refused an interview. After his Van Basten-like own goal which made it 2-2 in a game at Hull back in February 2006. Wolves responded, to win the game 3-2, and, with the points in the bag, there might have been the opportunity for a bit of post-match sport about his unfortunate misdemeanour. Not for Edwards.
In the players’ lounge at the MKM Stadium, he smiled and politely rejected the request. Rob Edwards the person. That’s because he was still too disappointed, frustrated and angry, feeling his mistake had nearly cost his team a win. High standards, and meticulous introspection. Rob Edwards the player, and the coach.
Wolves is a huge job, a fiercely challenging job, and one which his decision to take has caused plenty of controversy.
But it’s also his dream job. The one he’s been waiting for. All the way back from those two games back in 2016.
Let the Edwards’ era begin.
