Wolves Sack Rob Edwards as Peixoto Takes Charge
Wolverhampton Wanderers have sacked Rob Edwards in a move that rips up their planned Championship rebuild and clears the way for Portuguese coach Cesar Peixoto to take charge at Molineux.
Edwards was informed of the decision by the club’s hierarchy despite playing a key role in landing marquee summer signings Kieran Trippier and Raúl Jiménez. His dismissal comes just weeks after Wolves publicly backed him to lead a reset following relegation from the Premier League.
From rebuild architect to out of work. All before a ball has been kicked.
Edwards out, Peixoto in
Peixoto, previously head coach of Gil Vicente, is poised to replace Edwards and would become the latest Portuguese manager to work under Wolves’ Fosun ownership. He is represented by Gestifute, the powerful agency owned by Jorge Mendes, whose influence at the club has remained strong since the 2016 takeover.
The 43-year-old has only coached in Portugal so far, but a deal for him to step into the Wolves dugout has been assembled by Mendes and his associate Valdir Cardoso, who retain close ties with Fosun. That process was gathering pace in the background even as Edwards fronted the club’s summer reset.
For Edwards, the timing is brutal. Wolves paid Middlesbrough £4 million to prise him away last season, when Boro were top of the Championship, and handed him what was framed as a long-term project. He arrived in November after Vitor Pereira was sacked, with the club already braced for relegation and a full-scale rebuild in the second tier.
The message then was clear: Edwards would be trusted to construct the next Wolves side.
Positivity punctured
Instead, the decision to remove him threatens to puncture the optimism generated by two high-profile arrivals. Trippier and Jiménez were presented as statement signings for a club aiming to bounce straight back, and Edwards was central to both deals.
He featured in Jiménez’s “Welcome Home” video released on social media just two days ago, a clear sign of his perceived importance to the new era. Trippier, in his first interview on Wednesday, openly cited Edwards’ presence as a major factor in choosing Wolves, with insiders pointing to a cultural shift the manager had been driving since his appointment.
Behind the scenes, Edwards had forged a strong working relationship with technical director Matt Jackson. Together they had targeted British talent this summer to bolster the home-grown quota and rebalance a squad that had leaned heavily on overseas signings.
Now that strategy stands at a crossroads. The man who helped convince new signings to buy into the project has gone, and a coach with a very different background is waiting in the wings.
Power lines and pressure points
This is not the first time Wolves’ managerial picture has been shaped by their connections to Gestifute and the Portuguese market. From the moment Fosun arrived, Mendes has been a central figure in recruitment and coaching appointments, and Peixoto’s impending arrival underlines that alignment once again.
For supporters, the sense of whiplash will be hard to ignore. Relegated, then rebuilt around a manager who was sold as part of the solution. A £4 million compensation bill to secure him. A new culture, new signings, new messaging.
And then, days after unveiling those signings, the club turns the page again.
The Championship season has not yet started, but Wolves have already delivered their first shock. The next one will be how quickly Cesar Peixoto can justify the gamble.
