Shrewsbury Town comment: Welcome home, Dave Edwards

A run in the cup does, a charge towards the top of the league. But it is very rare that a signing can bring everyone together and inject real life into the place.

Welcome home, Dave Edwards.

A fairytale moment for a footballer who is also a fan.

The local boy who has Premier League football, goals, international caps and European Championships under his belt, is back where it means most.

It’s no surprise. There is no surprise factor. It was always going to be a feelgood moment when he officially became a Shrewsbury Town man again, but – even through the usual discontent and doom and gloom of the internet – you were pushed to find a fan young or old that hadn’t found cloud nine.

It is as feelgood as transfers get...and that is before you even factor in the footballing side of Shrewsbury signing a 43-capped Wales international with major championship experience.

It will bring fans of all generations through the doors and continue to do so as Edwards, 33 next month, gets up to speed and works his way to match sharpness under his former Wolves and Wales team-mate (and close friend) Sam Ricketts.

Dave is a class act on and off the pitch. It was his passion, that of an exuberant youngster – as well as his clear ability – that won him blue and amber hearts in the mid noughties.

He, unlike most footballers at the Meadow (Gay Meadow, as it was), knows what it means to play for the club.

Mostly because he is a fan. He’d have stood next to the River Severn in the old Riverside and cheered goals with his father and grandfather.

It is not about money, it has never been with this move. It is known that the midfielder took a pay cut to return home but, in all likelihood, he’d have pulled on blue and amber again for nothing.

The two-and-a-half year deal suggests a will to see out his distinguished career at the club he loves. Then, with his mate Ricketts at the helm, there is likely to be scope for coaching and beyond.

He loves the club and loves the area. With family in the Pontesbury/Minsterley area, he was ‘home’ whenever he could be, despite his 18 months playing for Reading.

The midfielder is a big part of the region, even beyond football, his Little Rascals Foundation meant he left his mark on the wider community too.

Trying to side step away from the romance of the fairytale – Edwards can be one hell of a signing for League One Shrewsbury.

Credit must go to chairman Roland Wycherley, who posed proudly next to one of the Town’s 21st century legends as Edwards’ return was confirmed, and chief executive Brian Caldwell for completing Shrewsbury’s biggest signing for years.

It is well documented that he’s played little-to-no football this season and, of course, will be some way from full match sharpness.

But he returned to fitness amid a very difficult time for the Royals with pressure on management and disillusioned fans. Edwards has played for Reading Under-23s as he worked his way back.

He is a player that should be playing, at the very least, at the top of League One and he still possesses many of the traits that have brought such an inspiring career. Almost at the top of those lists of traits is an impeccable attitude.

Another of those handy little knacks is arriving into the box to finish smartly into the corner. He won’t have lost that knack and Town fans can expect to be celebrating an Edwards strike in the not too distant future.

Edwards is ready to go. Whether that happens at Port Vale in the Checkatrade Trophy in front of just a few hundred is debatable – but there is no question that Saturday at Montgomery Waters Meadow will be some occasion.

There has been a little cloud over the club in recent months, possibly owing back to that day at Wembley and the following 48 hours, but the club and Ricketts are bang on to a winner with this.

Seeing Edwards on the pitch with genuine enthusiasm and joy to be around will be just what was needed.

It feels like just what Shrewsbury Town, and the town of Shrewsbury, needed.