In a cosy room off the reception at Wolves’ Compton training base, Rob Edwards is reminded he is back talking at the top table where, nine years ago, he struggled to conceal his excitement at being in caretaker charge of the club. “Was that when I had to sort of say I didn’t want the job and had to be really diplomatic?” he says, smiling.
This is the real thing after jumping at the chance to take permanent charge despite the club being bottom of the Premier League with two points from 11 matches and possessing the ignominious record of being the only winless team in the top seven tiers of English football.
No Premier League team have recovered from such a poor start to retain their top-flight status, but Edwards is pleased to be back and has belief in achieving the seemingly impossible.
These are familiar surroundings – his family remain in the Midlands – though the stakes are far higher than those couple of games in interim charge in the Championship in the autumn of 2016.
“I’ve had loads of experiences since then, so I’ve probably toughened a little bit and learned a hell of a lot,” he says. “You know when you go somewhere on holiday and then don’t go for a few years, but go back a few years later and it is almost like you’ve not been away? It’s like that, it feels natural and normal and very special.”
Edwards has swapped Middlesbrough, whom he joined in the summer, for a club and city he knows well. “My best years as a player were here,” he says of his century of appearances as a defender. “And I have some amazing memories as a coach, in my first sort of proper job, if you like.” He was appointed Under-18s head coach a year after his 2013 retirement.
He worked as a first-team coach under Kenny Jackett and Paul Lambert either side of that caretaker spell when Walter Zenga was sacked and took his maiden steps in management with Telford, his home-town club, in the National League.
He came back to Wolves as Under-23s coach in 2018 before returning to frontline management with Forest Green in League Two. The 42-year-old had never really faded from the sight of the Wolves chair, Jeff Shi, and the rest of the hierarchy, who interviewed him before Julen Lopetegui took charge three years ago. Edwards had established Boro as promotion contenders after 14 league matches, but felt compelled to accept Wolves’s offer when the call came.
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It has been a whirlwind few days in the job and some players, such as Hwang Hee-chan and Santiago Bueno returned to Wolves training from international duty only on Friday.
“This opportunity and this job is something I’ve always wanted and dreamed of,” he says. “I’m well aware I was at a really good club and I want to be really respectful to Middlesbrough and I know I would have let them down. I get it and I understand that. But this is something I’ve always wanted to do.
“I didn’t want to live with regret. I didn’t want to look back and think: ‘Maybe I should have given that a go.’ I know it’s going to be a big challenge, but I’m well up for it.”
For Edwards, it is a return to the biggest stage, to which he led Luton via a Wembley playoff final two years ago. Shi has spoken of Edwards succeeding Vítor Pereira as an opportunity of a hard reset after a few years of circling the drain and all parties acknowledge time is against them if Wolves are to avoid returning to the second tier for the first time since 2017-18.
“I do want to be here for the long term, but I’m well aware that to be able to do that you need results,” Edwards says. “There is a realism to these discussions: we know where we’re at. We can’t hide away, bury our heads in the sand and then all of a sudden get caught out if things don’t go the way we want. We have to be prepared for all scenarios.”
There are familiar faces, too, from 86-year-old Brenda in the canteen to Dave the cleaner. “He was calling me ‘boss’ the other day which felt weird, so I said: ‘Dave, just call me Rob.’
“I have seen lots of friendly faces, which has been nice; Doc [Matt Doherty], who I coached when I was here previously. Hugo [Bueno], who was a young lad in the Under-18s when I was coaching the Under-23s. But the more the club has grown and the more years it’s been in the Premier League, there are more and more people around so there are a lot of new names to learn.”
Edwards starts at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday. How does he expect to feel on the touchline? “I’ll be nervous, because it’s a very big moment and a very big game,” he says. “But I’ll be excited and very proud. Unfortunately, the one thing I can’t guarantee is wins, but we can guarantee we’re going to try absolutely everything to try and achieve them. We know it’s a huge challenge but we believe we can do something special.”
