Launch Day Looms Down In Devon

They served at Wolverhampton Wanderers some ten years apart and then worked together in off-the-field roles in the less celebrated surroundings of Torquay United.

Now, Dean Edwards and Colin Lee are using the fact they live a mile or so apart in Torbay to team up again in a podcast due to launch in the next few days.

The opening episode of Back On The Ball, with Devon-based BBC presenter Dave Fitzgerald, will be recorded next week and promises football as very much the main topic of the ‘lively and humorous’ studio discussion.

“We have been working on this for a good few months and want it to sound as professional as possible,” Lee said. “We both enjoy linking up on projects and at events with Dave, who is a well-known figure in broadcasting down here and a good friend of the Falklands veteran Simon Weston.

“It was back in the autumn that we chose a studio in Teignmouth, 20 minutes or so from where we both live. We’re looking forward now to recording the first one next week, with a view to it going out a few days after that.

“I got to know Dean when I was Torquay’s chief executive around 15 years ago and he came in as commercial manager in succession to a guy from the West Midlands called Terry Brumpton.

“He knows I have a lot of stories from my career, as he does, and asked if I would like to go into this podcast venture. It will be a chance to tell a few of those anecdotes, provide some insight on the life of a player and coach and, who knows, talk about one or two of the more regrettable things we have done!

“In some cases, it will be an opportunity to put out there what actually happened rather than what fans were told by others but we want it to be fun and to have a good reach.

“We have plans to have three or four events, including one in the West Midlands, at which there will be participation from a live audience and I also have guys like Ludo Pollet, David Speedie and Mickey Thomas lined up to appear, either in person or by Zoom.

“There will be a charity angle to it as well and we don’t want to be restricted to just football. We have Exeter Chiefs down here and very prominent and women’s and disability sport will be on the list to cover as soon as possible.”

Devon-born Lee moved to Wolves in December, 1995, as no 2 to Mark McGhee and took over the manager’s position for more than two years after the Scot’s departure in late 1998. He also managed Walsall and Millwall and has had a variety of other posts since a playing career spent largely with Tottenham and Chelsea.

Proud Wulfrunian Edwards had a double-figure goal haul in the mid-1980s with the club of his young dreams and further made his name in the south-west across two spells with Exeter and one at Torquay.

The two also share an interest in property and have promised to alert us to when their first Back On The Ball podcast goes live…..we wonder whether the debate will at some point cover the issue of whether Molineux has ever witnessed later goals in a League match than it did with the two some time after 10.15pm in tonight’s Wolves-Manchester United clash.