Rob Edwards has stated that Wolves' desperate situation is not his fault and insists he is 'energised' by the club's bright future. The head coach has been under intense scrutiny after supporters booed and jeered following Wolves' draw with 10-man Sunderland.
Edwards Defends His Record
Edwards took over a team bottom on two points in November and has been unable to keep them up, while planning for the Championship has been under way for some time. He has highlighted the situation he walked into and is steadfast in his belief that good times will return to Molineux.
When asked if he has sought advice from people in the game on how to deal with Wolves' tough situation, Edwards said: 'If I'm being honest with you, I'm in the situation right now, this is not my fault. It's a thing that's been going on for a long time. We came into this situation, so I feel energised by what we're going to be able to do and the difference that we're going to make going forward.'
Riding Out the Difficult Period
'We're going to have to ride out this difficult period now and stay strong. It's always going to be the case. It's different to a difficult period that we had towards the end at Luton where we'd done some really good things and then obviously we were able to have a full pre-season with a new group and things weren't able to quite go the way we wanted to go. This is different. We've come in to a team that hasn't won for ages on two points in the Premier League. We've not been able to play the way we want to play. We've been playing survival football and trying to keep confidence levels and keep a minimum level of hard work and what it looks like to compete. It's been challenging. It's been completely different to any other time that we've experienced before but I knew it was going to be because there's not many people who would have come in to this situation either.'
No Regrets Over Tunnel Walk
The head coach was criticised for marching down the tunnel at full-time against Sunderland, without clapping the home fans. Edwards says he does not regret that decision, as he was keen to avoid 'inciting' any more anger from the terraces. Now, he says he must remain strong and stick to his long-term plan for the club.
Looking Forward to Next Season
'It's been a really difficult season,' Edwards added. 'I've never shied away from saying that and knew coming here, the challenges that we faced and how difficult the job was going to be. But we came in with the knowledge that things are going to be tough, there's going to be some short-term pain, but I'm really excited about what we're going to be able to do going forward and in the long term as well. At the moment now, I have to stay quite strong and not take in too much. I'm aware that there'll be a lot of opinions around but in the end, us in the building are really confident. There's a really good plan in place that we'll be able to have a really good summer. A lot of the hard work has already started, but we'll have a really good summer and we'll be able to start well going forward into next season and that's what I'm really excited about. I knew there was going to be some short-term pain. Four weeks ago, there was a little bit of a different feel and that's fine, but we're here now after the relegation has been confirmed and a few difficult results. People will have a lot of opinions about it but our job right now is to look forward as well. I know we've got some games to play and these are still important of course, but what's exciting is what we're going to be able to do going forward.'
