Rob Edwards confirmed as Wolves head coach with task to ‘refresh whole club’

Wolves want their new head coach, Rob Edwards, to help “refresh the whole club” after luring the former defender back for a fourth spell at Molineux, where he has signed a three-and-a-half year deal.

The 42-year-old replaces Vítor Pereira, who was sacked at the start of the month, taking over a team bottom of the Premier League with two points from 11 matches. Wolves paid Middlesbrough £3m to prise him away from the second-placed Championship club after less than five months and only 15 games.

The former Forest Green, Watford and Luton manager felt this was an opportunity he could not turn down. Edwards’ family are based in Telford, where he was born, about half an hour from Wolverhampton.

“I know Rob very well and I have seen his growth in different jobs,” the Wolves executive chair, Jeff Shi, said. “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.”

The former Wales international’s association with Wolves began as a player in 2004 when he joined from Aston Villa. He had four seasons at the club, before returning in 2014 as an academy coach, rising to become first-team coach and caretaker for two matches. After a spell managing Telford, he was drawn back to Wolves as their Under-23 head coach.

The Wolves director of player recruitment and development, Matt Jackson, said: “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.”

Harry Watling has moved with Edwards from Boro, where he was part of the backroom staff. It is anticipated more coaching appointments will be made before Edwards’ first game in charge on 22 November against Crystal Palace at Molineux, when Wolves will be aiming to avoid a fifth-straight defeat.

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