Rob Edwards is hoping to irritate his in-laws following a’special’ Aston Villa admission.
Birmingham Live brings you the latest Aston Villa news as Luton Town manager Rob Edwards discusses leading the Hatters against his previous club.
Rob Edwards, manager of Luton Town, admits it will be a “really proud moment” when his team faces Aston Villa on Sunday.
Edwards progressed through the Villa junior academy before making his senior debut in Claret and Blue in 2002. He then had loan spells at Crystal Palace and Derby County before joining Wolves on a permanent basis in 2004.
And the former center-back has gone on to have a successful managerial career, leading Luton Town to the Premier League for the first time in their history via the playoffs last season. The Hatters have had a rough start to life in the Premier League, but Edwards is looking forward to their trip to B6 on Sunday.
“It will be a nice one, a really proud moment for me on a personal, selfish point of view,” he told Luton Today.
“It was a club I spent about 11 years at, most of my life at from the time I was a 10-year-old boy until I left for Wolves.” There, I made my Premier League debut and had several memorable moments.
“It’s a club that’s very close to my heart, so returning will be a very special moment.” It’s a fantastic football club, and it’s great to see them doing so well right now. All I want to do is win the game, but it will be good to have that moment of pride.”
Edwards then reflected on his time at Villa Park, where he played alongside Dion Dublin, Lee Hendrie, Darius Vassell, and Steve Staunton. “There were a lot of, not household names, but big players, it’s a big football club,” he remarked. There were a lot of us young players who came through around the same period.
“Gareth Barry was a year or two above who went on to have a fantastic career, but there were many who went on to become full internationals and good Premier League players.” Steven Davis, Gary Cahill, Liam Ridgewell, and too many others to name at the time.
“It was a good club to be a part of; it was a club that gave young players opportunities, and it still does.” People like Jacob Ramsay and others that are coming up, they’ve got some pretty good young players coming up.”
Returning to Villa Park in November 2010 was one of Edwards’ favorite memories as a player. He played 90 minutes in the Tangerines’ 3-2 loss.
“I got back to the Premier League with Blackpool, I didn’t play much, but I played at Villa Park in that famous game when Ian Holloway made a lot of changes and got in trouble for it,” he added. I was one of the adjustments he made because I wasn’t on the team, which was also a good moment.
“It was the right thing to do at the right time.” I wasn’t going to play following my injury, but I’d had a year off and gone on loan a number of times, so the move to Wolves was exciting.
“At the time, it was the right thing for me and the football club, so it didn’t feel like a big, big change.” But I’ll be extremely proud to go out there because a lot of my relatives, my wife’s side, are from Birmingham and support Villa, so it’ll be a wonderful one for the family.”
