Promising Launch Pad For The New Era

Nuno Espirito Santo may have conducted his introductory Molineux press conference in excellent English – but he had no previous connection with Wolves.

The club weren’t in his blood when he was added to the payroll in the summer of 2017, a short stint learning the coaching arts in Scotland having been as close as he had ever been to working in England.

The love he had for Wolves was a developed love – one that built and built on both sides over a quite brilliant first season or two. 

Rob Edwards is from the other end of the familiarity spectrum. He was not nurtured by Wolves as a schoolboy and he didn’t survive long enough as a coach here for his talents in the dug-out to be fully realised.

But he pretty much qualifies for ‘one of our own’ status because of his substantial service in the two roles.

That club video showing him returning to Compton a week and a half ago should have left no-one in any doubt over how pleased he was to be back. The already warm reception he was guaranteed from the Molineux crowd tomorrow is now likely to be a degree or two higher on the thermometer among those who saw it.

Not all Wolves fans are convinced by this appointment but they will all be on the 42-year-old’s side and willing him to succeed, whether that amounts to an unlikely dodging of the drop in the spring or just a big improvement by way of worthwhile preparation for next season’s Championship.

In one sense, he has some bedding-in time. The first three months of the season have been so dire, results-wise, that it would be utterly unreasonable to expect an immediate, sustained revival.

Put another way, though, if he firmly believes he can deliver a ninth successive Premier League campaign for the club, the heat and pressure are on because the table underlines what a sizeable catching-up operation is required.

Above all, he has a few weeks to assess the squad at his disposal and have his say on whatever signings might be made in January.

And that overview will be crucial in shaping how successful Edwards is here. Seeing him as a quick-fix or a fire-fighter would be to misjudge his talents, so we can only hope that his contract for three and a half years is evidence of the board’s willingness to allow him to rebuild.

Not only is this a huge task for him, with Crystal Palace at home followed by Villa away and both Forest and Manchester United at Molineux, with Arsenal and Liverpool on the horizon. The personal stakes are high.

He, like Wolves, needs some stability on his career path. You can’t demand loyalty from players if you keep hopping from job to job yourself.

One step at a time….the welcome mat is down and the fractures and disconnects are pushed into the background for now. Togetherness is key.

Those who doubted the wisdom of him turning his back on a promotion challenge at Middlesbrough should now realise they underestimated how strong the pull from ‘home’ was. 

If we hadn’t guessed it from his Telford roots and his football past, then his words at his opening media conference today told us everything we needed to know. 

Nuno, who, ironically, was the man who ended Edwards’s second spell at Wolves, came in as a complete outsider and worked wonders alongside his considerable entourage.

From a more traditional all-British background, Rob is the first former Wolves player since Graham Hawkins to be named as the club’s manager/head coach.

He feels like the home-town boy and the fire will be raging in his belly. We wish him all the very best.

*We also draw our readers’ attention to Paul Berry’s excellent weekly series in the Express & Star, in particular his Why Rob Edwards’ big Wolves opportunity has been nine years in the making | Express & Star article. Even for those who don’t pay for the paper’s online content, well over 20 paragraphs of his piece are visible.