Rob Edwards paid tribute to the work of Kenny Jackett and Joe Gallen after taking the team for today’s final pre-season friendly against Swansea City.
The Wolves first team coach was assisted by Scott Sellars for today’s game, but was also in close contact with new Head Coach Walter Zenga as he vowed to support the new man at the helm in much the same way.
Wolves were beaten 4-0 in their final workout before the big kick off at Rotherham on Saturday (3pm), but that included making several changes to protect players in what is currently a very light squad.
“It has been a bit of a whirlwind over the last day or so and in the end it was a disappointing result,” said Edwards.
“I found out on the way home from a game last night at about 11pm that Kenny and Joe were leaving.
“I have a lot of admiration for Ken and for Joe because they gave me the opportunity to work at first team level.
“I have been working with them for a year and a half and I have learned a lot from both of them.
“I was sad to see them go but we all know it is the nature of the business that we are in so we accept that.
“I want to say thank you to both of them and I saw Kenny early this morning to do that personally and I know he and Joe will go on and have very successful careers
“I spoke to Kevin Thelwell this morning and he explained the situation and asked me to take the game and Scott came along to assist me.
“I was at the training ground nice and early and met Walter who had a look around the facilities and we had chance to sit down and go through a few things.
“He knows the players already as I think he has been watching DVD’s and doing research and familiarising himself over the last couple of days.
“We had a chat about the players and the game and came up with a plan for some substitutions as well because we needed to protect some players with the season just a week away.
“Going into the game we only had four fit senior defenders so we thought it made sense to bring Danny off at half time but then we lost Dominic in the first half as well.
“I thought the first half was quite tight and a good game but after the changes the game went in their favour in the second half.
“To lose 4-0 was bitterly disappointing – no one wants to do that.
“To look at some positives I thought there were a few including Niall Ennis who had a good game up front.
“And it is another 90 minutes into some of the lads ahead of the start of the season.
“For me, if it never happens again, taking a team at Molineux is something I will look back on and be very proud of.
“But you can never really enjoy losing a game, although it is an experience that I will never forget.”
Whilst Edwards says staff are waiting to see how things pan out over the next few days, he says they are keen to work and support Zenga in the new regime if possible.
And he is also looking forward to the end of an unsettling period regarding the ownership coming to an end.
“There are a lot of questions in the players’ heads and it has been an unsettling period for everyone,” he added.
“Players are thinking are they going to still be there if new players are coming in and there are all sorts of things going on.
“It is a team game but people want the best for themselves as well but the players have been around long enough to know that in football sometimes managers leave and new managers come in.
“They are professional, and they just got on with preparing for the game.
“For us now we are not 100% sure yet what will happen.
“I would hope to be involved and trying to support the manager if I can but I don’t know for sure yet that will happen and I can’t speak for the rest of the staff.
“All we can say is that we hope so and we want to support him as much as we can.
“He seems like an amiable guy but he has a presence about him and as soon as he walks in the dressing room, he is the manager and everyone sits up and listens.
“He has got a clear vision on how I think he wants the game to be played.
“He knows what players we have got at the moment and what we need as well because we need some reinforcements.
“I am sure he is going to go on and do very well and we will support him in every way we can.”
Edwards confirmed that Joe Mason missed out on the game after suffering a concussion in training but should be available for Rotherham, and that Bright Enobakhare missed out with illness.
Dominic Iorfa is having a scan on his foot injury which will be assessed more over the coming days.
