I first met Rob Edwards nearly 20 years ago on my first assignment covering Wolverhampton Wanderers for the city’s bustling evening newspaper and you could tell fairly quickly that he was different.
Nice guy, for a start. Unfailingly polite, interested in others, popular in the dressing room and genuine.
But, even in his early twenties, you got the feeling he thought about the game that little bit deeper than some of his teammates. Mick McCarthy saw him as a dressing room lieutenant even back then and it’s no surprise he’s gone on to enjoy success as a manager.
Those initial impressions of Edwards are why the heart sinks at the manner of his departure from Middlesbrough. It is a really bad look for the man and the managerial profession to walk away from a brilliant job at a fine club at the first offer that has come his way.
It was only a few weeks ago that I spoke to Martin O’Neill, the chair of the League Managers Association, about the way management had evolved.
He argued, with some merit, that it was ridiculous Ange Postecoglou lasted 39 days at Nottingham Forest. He believed short-termism was a problem. But perhaps we need to turn the spotlight the other way when things like this happen.
I get Edwards’ likely mitigation for taking charge of Wolves. It’s close to his home, it’s a Premier League gig, and it’s a club very close to his heart. He will feel he has put himself back in the shop window with his brilliant early season work at Boro.
Edwards knows only too well that even pulling off something miraculous – as he did leading Luton Town to the Premier League – only buys you a certain amount of credit, and needs to look after himself.
And yet it is still desperately disappointing, perhaps even more because it is someone of Edwards’ calibre further tarnishing the notion of loyalty in football.
He did a great job at Boro of talking about respect for the club, its history and reputation. He had a pint with members of the Red Faction, the club’s Ultras group, and seemed to “get it”.
“We’re a family,” was what he said back in September, in words that now feel bitterly ironic. Perhaps there was an acknowledgement there that, given he was viewed as damaged goods after Luton’s relegation, he was a tad fortunate to get such a good job so quickly.
Boro is undoubtedly a fine role for the right person. Steve Gibson, the owner and chairman, is demanding but one of the best in the business. Had Edwards turned down the interest from Molineux it would not have been forgotten.
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He’s swapped that for Wolves, a club that doesn’t seem to know what it is anymore. Edwards will be given a chance but surely he must have watched the team recently.
It is a huge job to turn the Old Gold tanker around and will require a huge cash injection in January to arm them with the tools for survival. There’s nothing to suggest the sort of joined-up thinking there is at the Riverside these days.
Ultimately – like every manager out there – Edwards will back himself. But he can expect little sympathy if things go wrong.
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