Ten days after Vitor Pereira was relieved of his duties at Molineux, Wolves have hired Middlesbrough manager Rob Edwards to lead the survival charge.
The past week at Wolves has been a hectic one.
After Pereira’s sacking was announced, a number of candidates came to the fore to take on the burdensome task of saving Wolves’ season.
Gary O’Neil was tipped for a Wolves return, but he withdrew his name from consideration. Many others were linked, such as Abel Ferreira, Rui Vitoria and another familiar face in Bruno Lage.
But Edwards always looked like the preferred choice. A former player for the Old Gold, his early-season success at Middlesbrough made him an attractive proposition. There was a bit of drama between Wolves and Middlesbrough leading up to this point, but he is now officially the new Wolves manager.
Jeff Shi releases a statement as Rob Edwards is announced as Wolves manager
It wasn’t going to be easy tempting him away. Middlesbrough did not want to entertain an Edwards approach, making that very clear on Thursday. But by Friday, it looked a foregone conclusion.
The press conference was cancelled, and on Saturday, Middlesbrough decided to stand Edwards down against Birmingham, implying that something was happening behind the scenes — and indeed, something was.
As part of Wolves’ official announcement, Jeff Shi has released 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.”
How Wolves could look under Rob Edwards
The style of play we’ve been subjected to this season has been tough to watch at times. There have been flashes of quality, but the attacking play just hasn’t been good enough and goals have come far too easily for the opposition.
Speaking to The Northern Echo back in September, Edwards outlined how he wants his team to play.
He said: “We want to be aggressive, we want to press hard, run hard, win duels and be competitive.
“We want to be able to attack quickly too. But then, as you do all of those things, we want to focus on what fits this group of players that we have here now.”
It’s not like Wolves haven’t tried to be that kind of team under Pereira. Last season, everything was clicking.
This season it hasn’t quite worked out, which is natural when you have this many new signings in the team. But Edwards comes in with fresh ideas and no preconceptions, and that could allow those summer arrivals to settle in proper.