Ifirst met Rob Edwards nearly 20 years ago on my first assignment covering Wolverhampton Wanderers for the city’s bustling evening newspaper and you could tell fairly quickly that he was different.

Nice guy, for a start. Unfailingly polite, interested in others, popular in the dressing room and genuine.

But, even in his early twenties, you got the feeling he thought about the game that little bit deeper than some of his teammates. Mick McCarthy saw him as a dressing room lieutenant even back then and it’s no surprise he’s gone on to enjoy success as a manager.

Those initial impressions of Edwards are why the heart sinks at the manner of his departure from Middlesbrough. It is a really bad look for the man and the managerial profession to walk away from a brilliant job at a fine club at

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