Rob Edwards today accepted the improbable task of leading Wolves to Premier League survival after agreeing to succeed Vitor Pereira as manager at Molineux.
Edwards quit Middlesbrough after less than five months at the helm to return to Wolves, where he spent four years as a player and six as a coach.
The 42-year-old has signed a three-and-a-half year deal with the club.
Wolves have only two points from 11 matches and are already eight adrift of safety heading into the international break. Edwards’ first match in charge will be against Crystal Palace at Molineux on November 22.
Edwards will find a restless atmosphere at Wolves. Many supporters long since turned against owners Fosun and executive chairman Jeff Shi and are resigned to relegation.
The highlight of Edwards’ career was leading Luton to the Premier League in 2023. Though they were relegated, the Hatters fought creditably for much of that campaign – only for life to turn sour the following campaign, when Edwards was sacked and the club suffered a second consecutive relegation after his departure.
Shi said: ‘I know Rob very well and I have seen his growth in different jobs. He’s a very good person, he knows the club very well, he knows the city, the fans and he is very talented.
‘When he was a youth coach here, he showed his tactical awareness, but after he took first-team jobs he started to grow his own identity, character and leadership.
‘We need to refresh the whole club with a new coach’s philosophy, bringing his own identity and ideas, and we can build on that. We are at a new chapter for the club and Rob will be a key piece of that.’
He had made a strong start at Middlesbrough, who collected about £3m compensation when he left, but opted to return to the West Midlands, where he and his family have strong links.
Edwards will be joined at Wolves by Harry Watling, who takes on the role of assistant head coach and also leaves ‘Boro.
After the manager was stood down from the north-eastern club’s game at Birmingham City on the weekend, fans held banners in the away end reading ‘Edwards you rat!’
He leaves the North Yorkshire club after taking charge of a mere 15 games.
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, ‘Boro made a thinly-veiled dig at their departing boss.
‘Rob had signed a three-year contract with ourselves during the summer,’ it read. ‘But after he made it clear he was keen to join Wolves, we reluctantly agreed a figure of compensation for both himself and one of his first team coaches, Harry Watling.
‘On Saturday the Riverside came together as one, players, staff and supporters, and you could the sense of unity which is at the core of the club. To everyone involved, we would like to say thank you.’
The Welshman returns to the club where he made 111 appearances across four seasons as a player between 2004 and 2008, most notably as a centre-back under Mick McCarthy.
But it was also in the Black Country where Edwards got his first taste of coaching, taking charge of the club on an interim basis in 2016 after the sacking of Walter Zenga.
He replaces Vitor Pereira, who was dismissed a couple of weeks ago after presiding over a dismal and winless start to the season. His final match in charge came at Fulham, one which Wolves lost 3-0 just a week after tensions boiled over in the west Midlands following a 3-2 home defeat to Burnley.
Edwards’ first four fixtures in charge come against Palace, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Man United in games which will be crucial in determining whether Wolves can climb out of the relegation zone.
In the last 10 seasons, of the 37 managers who have parted ways with a club in the bottom three, just 13 have managed to stay in the league.
Upon Edwards’ appointment, Wolves’ director of player recruitment and development Matt Jackson said: ‘Rob and his staff have demonstrated previously that they can be really good in shifting the culture, getting confidence quickly into players and building foundations for a really positive future. He loves being on the grass and making a change to a team, embracing the tactics of different situations.
‘The energy that he brings off the field, we have to get it on to the pitch. We have to be realistic about where we are, and we definitely need to be held accountable. We now need to get that belief into the players quickly and think Rob will be great culturally for the whole football club.’
