The Premier League’s basement club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, have announced the appointment of Rob Edwards as their new manager, after the sacking of Vitor Pereira earlier this month, on Wednesday.
Edwards, who was the Middlesbrough manager until the announcement, was given permission to speak to the club he once played for last week, and has now signed a three-and-a-half-year deal to try and keep Wolves in the Premier League.
Boro have reportedly received £3million in compensation after the deal was completed.
Chairman Jeff Shi said in a statement: “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.”
Wolves’ start to the season has been poor, winning none of their opening 11 games, and they sit at the bottom of the table with just two points.
Time at Luton
Edwards, 42, is no stranger to managing in the Premier League. After securing promotion with Luton Town in 2023 via the play-offs, the former Welsh international gained a good reputation for playing attacking and daring football despite seeing the Hatters go straight back down.
He would leave Luton during the last year, where they endured another relegation, sending them down to League One.
Since then, he took over at Boro, where he has had a positive start to the Championship campaign. After 15 games, the Teeside club sit second in the standings with 29 points.
Previous at Molineux
The new Wolves manager has a history in the Black Country. He played 111 times for Wolves between 2004 and 2008, most notably under Mick McCarthy, where he was a stalwart at the heart of defence.
This will be his fourth stint at Molineux. After his playing career, he made his first foray into management in 2014 as he took over the Wolves’ Under-18s, before stepping in as interim manager of the senior side back in 2016.
Wolves’ head of professional football development, Matt Jackson, added: “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 onto 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.”
Edwards will be joined in the dugout by Harry Watling as assistant coach. More backroom staff are set to be confirmed in the future.
