From shooting a gun to shooting at goal. From sun-drenched days in the Caribbean to the sometimes bracing cold and wind of North Wales. From playing in the Trinidad &Tobago league to running out at Anfield and Old Trafford.
The footballing journey of Carlos Edwards is quite the story. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I should write a book,” he says with a hearty laugh.
“It could be a bestseller!”
The affable Edwards, now 46, has something of a stake on both sides of this weekend’s massive Premier League encounter between Wolves and Ipswich at Molineux.
Perhaps more so for the visitors – he is an ambassador for the Tractor Boys and his family home is in the area – but that’s not to say he hasn’t still got fond feelings for all things Wolves following an ultimately all-too-brief spell on loan in late 2008.
That Championship-winning season, packed with so many exciting attacking threats and so many goals. It may have been a small role, part of the supporting cast, but Edwards played it.
A winger, and later a wing back, with the capability to glide across the playing surface with the ball at his feet, not to mention chip in with assists and goals, the freedom to play his game was always the priority for this particular footballer.
“From the day I first stepped inside the training ground, I really enjoyed my spell at Wolves,” recalls the Trinidad & Tobago international.
“There was such a good group of attacking players there such as Kightly and Jarvis, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Chris Iwelumo, and so many other good guys including Karl Henry and Kevin Foley.
"They were all so tight knit, even in just a short space of time I could see how Mick (McCarthy) and TC (Terry Connor) had got them all playing and being all together as a unit.
“Everyone was enjoying their football, both playing and in training, even the guys that weren’t in the team.
Carlos Edwards for Luton
“In the end it was a shame I had to leave so quickly as I was called back by Sunderland, just as I was getting into my stride.
"I was about to come back from international duty when I got the call from my agent that I was to head back to Sunderland, even though I had a month of the three month contract remaining.
“When I went back, I wasn’t really starting games so it’s a shame I wasn’t able just to finish the loan off even if it wasn’t going to lead to anything else.”
Roy Keane was the manager of Sunderland at the time, prompting Edwards to be slightly surprised that the loan had been sealed with Wolves in the first place, given the history between him and then Republic of Ireland manager McCarthy following the fallout from the Saipan affair at the 2002 World Cup.
The two had, however, long moved on from that controversy, even though it is set toreturn to the public consciousness with the release of a film next year starring Steve Coogan and Eanna Hardwicke.
“That should be an interesting watch,” Edwards admits.
In truth, he believes that both managers adopt very similar characteristics when it comes to their approach and styles of leadership.
Relentless, demanding, uncompromising, but equally willing to forgive and forget mistakes if they can see 100 per cent effort and work rate.
For Edwards, the ability to deliver that level of approach and commitment alongside his undoubted technical ability helped him shine under both, for Keane at Sunderland and later when signing for Ipswich, and for McCarthy in that short stint at Wolves and also later at Portman Road.
“Roy used to tell me that if I saw I was giving 100 per cent every game, even though he knew I wasn’t going to be outstanding every game, he could work with that,” Edwards explains.
“And Mick was the same, he was always demanding hard work off everyone and what you saw is always what you got.
“He was always honest, and if you weren’t playing, he would always get you in the office and tell you why.
“Even if it was something you didn’t want to hear, it was always better that way, and he would always tell you what you had to do to get another opportunity.
“TC is a top man as well, and a great coach, and I enjoyed working under them both.
“I think maybe because Mick and Roy were quite similar in their approach, that could be why they fell out that time, but they definitely knew how to get the best out of players, and they both did that with me.”