Harry Watling joined Wolves from Middlesbrough alongside Rob Edwards.
Assistant head coach Harry Watling believes his relationship with the players has helped Wolves and Rob Edwards’ progression.
The 36-year-old made the move with Edwards from Middlesbrough in November, as Wolves bolstered the rest of the coaching staff by adding Rui Pedro Silva, Paul Trollope, and goalkeeper coach Danny Alcock.
Watling had a different career trajectory, as he went into coaching at a young age and worked his way up through the levels, while also having a stint as manager at Ebbsfleet United.
The assistant believes his age has helped him connect with the Wolves players in the dressing room and aided their improved form in recent months.
“I think I can communicate probably on a different level with the lads, because of the age thing,” Watling said.
“Even with the younger ones coming through, I've got quite a special relationship with (Mateus) Mane because he knows a lot of the lads that maybe I've helped develop in the past, so he draws lines of comparison.
“Even the senior players like Doc (Matt Doherty) or (Jose) Sa, we're quite close in age, so there's a real good openness to have those conversations, which can then go back to the manager.
“As a manager, you have to not be too familiar and manage that distance.
“As an assistant, you can be on the ground and you can hear the good news and the bad news, and then you have to decipher what needs to go upwards towards Rob, maybe he needs to hear it today, maybe tomorrow, maybe he doesn't need to hear it at all, and we can put that fire out.
“There's three of us, and we've all got different relationships with different players, so I think it's really helpful.”
Watling’s help with developing Mane has proved invaluable for Wolves, as the teenager has burst onto the first team scene in the second half of the season.
The credit must go to the player, Watling says, but he is pleased to have played his part and revealed he spoke to Mane before his first start for the club, which came at Liverpool.
“Mane’s talent is what's got him into this position,” Watling said.
“He arrived at a really good time for us. We went for a walk before the Liverpool game, and I said, ‘Look, you're going to start the game, and your world is going to change if you play well’.
“Then it's about how we manage that. We go through all of his clips, a lot of his extra stuff which is individualised for him, for his position, set him little tasks before games.
“You're trying to protect him at the right time, and you also want to expose him at the right time.
“He's passed a lot of these tests with flying colours. It's credit to him and it's not just me, all of the staff have been great with him.
“The way Rob's managed him has been brilliant, but it's an example of a relationship, for sure.”
Edwards came in for plenty of criticism when he left promotion-chasing Middlesbrough for struggling Wolves towards the end of 2025, as he brought Watling with him.
The head coach has given a glowing endorsement of his assistant and Watlings admits feeling pride at being trusted to move to ‘massive’ Wolves.
“We initially had the conversation to go on a journey at Middlesbrough, which a brilliant football club,” Watling said.
“I really enjoyed it. I felt like we were building something special with the work in pre-season, but ultimately, I went on the journey with Rob.
“So, my mind was made up, Wolves is a massive football club, and I know how much it meant to Rob.
“He was very strong in wanting to take me, which was a massive privilege. He told me how important I was in the team, and I felt like I'd earned my stripes with my work at Middlesbrough. It was a real pleasure to be asked to come.”
He added: “It’s a massive privilege to work here – a really, really historic football club.
“The opportunity to work for a club like this is a massive privilege. Every day when you come in and put the kit on, you've got to give 110 per cent, which is what we ask the players to do.
“It didn't need a massive sell, the fact that you come to work for a club as big as this, with the history that it's got, with a fan base that it's got, and working in the Premier League with the players that we have here, it was one that we took with both hands.”
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