Roy Keane has chimed in on the recent appointment of Rob Edwards, and what he thinks would have been going on at Wolves even before Vitor Pereira’s dismissal.
Wolves didn’t take long to fill their vacancy after giving Pereira the sack.
Ten days after the news broke, Wolves announced Edwards as manager. A quick turnaround, and one that could be down to early discussions behind the scenes.
That’s the theory the former Man United midfielder is going with, claiming the search would have been ongoing even before making the decision to replace the Portuguese.
Roy Keane says Wolves would have been in discussions before sacking Pereira
On the latest episode of Stick To Football, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the guest in question, and the conversation shifted onto Wolves.
Solskjaer was one of the free agents discussed to replace Pereira at Wolves, but no concrete links came to the fore. On the topic of the manager search, the ex-United men reckon there was no shortage of interest in the vacancy.
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Gary Neville said: “I think the sporting director of Wolves would have been getting contacted from agents saying, ‘Would you like to have a conversation with…?'”
Keane responds: “I think that would have been going on before he was sacked. There’d be agents ringing and going, ‘If you make any decision with this manager, would you consider…’, I’d say that was constantly going on.”
Considering Wolves just handed Pereira a new contract, they were obviously optimistic about his chances of another turnaround.
But once his time was deemed to be up, there were a number of candidates that emerged quickly — Gary O’Neil the first to be approached by Wolves.
Edwards was likely one such case
Wolves is Edwards’ dream job, which he admitted upon arriving at Molineux. As such, he was probably one of the first to inquire when it looked like the role might be available.
When Wolves came calling, the decision was clear for Rob Edwards
“Wolves is a special club for me. It’s where I grew as both a player and a coach, it’s where my family calls home. It has always been my dream to come back and these opportunities do not come around too often.”
Despite Middlesbrough’s fantastic start under his leadership, he would have had one eye on Wolves amid Pereira’s struggles.
Edwards got his wish and will be hoping he can fend off any similar approaches that may come while he’s at the helm.
There’s one sure-fire way to do that. Start winning games.