**With the help of Tom Lockyer, Edwards’ captain at Luton, Paul Berry looks at why this is his dream job, after an affiliation with the club which has transcended two decades.**
“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.
Rob Edwards in playing action for Wolves
“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.”
'He geniunely cares about his players'
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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.