Rob Edwards did not take Middlesbrough training on Friday, leaving his future in serious doubt amid continued interest from Wolves. Boro swiftly rejected an official approach from the Premier League club for their head coach on Thursday but 24 hours later uncertainty remains in regards to the situation.
As of Friday afternoon, Edwards was set for discussions with the Boro hierarchy, including the club’s owner, Steve Gibson, regarding his future, with the high-flying Championship club preparing to host Birmingham at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday. It is understood Edwards’s assistants Adi Viveash and Harry Watling led training on Friday. In an extraordinary chain of events, Boro pulled the plug on Edwards’s pre-match press conference earlier amid the speculation.
Wolves, bottom of the Premier League after taking just two points from their first 10 matches, shortlisted Edwards after sacking Vítor Pereira last Sunday following a 3-0 defeat at Fulham, an eighth league loss in the top flight this season. Their executive chair, Jeff Shi, has a longstanding interest in Edwards, who previously represented the club as a player and a coach. The 42-year-old also had a period in caretaker charge at Molineux in October 2016, shortly after Fosun, Wolves’s Chinese owner, assumed control of the club.
Wolves are pushing to appoint Edwards as Pereira’s successor after Gary O’Neil withdrew from advanced talks after verbally agreeing to return to the club. Pereira replaced O’Neil last December. O’Neil faced a supporter backlash regarding his potential reappointment and is also thought to have had reservations about the structure in which he would be working. Wolves’s Supporters’ Trust said his return would evidence “a clear lack of strategic direction”.
O’Neil, who is still being paid by Wolves under the terms of his severance package, has been sounded out about the Southampton vacancy and has held preliminary talks about succeeding Will Still at St Mary’s. Still was sacked after two league wins in 13 matches. Domenico Teti, the former director of football who was an ally of Pereira’s, departed Wolves on Wednesday.
