Big interview: Dave Edwards on his ‘whirlwind’ months wearing the Shrewsbury Town badge again

It has been a whirlwind few months for Edwards, stepping into his first coaching role to help the club he loves and his close friends.

But it has also been hugely rewarding, playing a key role in steering Salop away from danger and preserving their Football League status.

“Looking back, it was a big risk; I do not want to be part of a coaching staff which takes Shrewsbury down to the National League,” Edwards told the Shropshire Star.

“To finish the season so comfortably outside the relegation zone, you have to say it was a massive success.

“There's obviously ups and downs in there; we learned an awful lot on the way about the football club, about playing staff, and for me seeing that side of the football business as well.”

Pontesbury-born Edwards needs little introduction at Shrewsbury, where he is remembered for bursting onto the scene as a youngster before later returning to finish his professional career at the Croud Meadow.

He also earned 43 caps for Wales, helping his country reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

His current assistant role offers a unique perspective too, having now been part of the club at youth level, as a player and now as a coach.

The 40-year-old continued: “Being on the coaching side and behind the scenes, it’s very different to what it's like as a player. It's been a massive learning curve, but one I've really enjoyed.

“Ultimately I think we'd have snapped your hands off on January 29 when we walked into the training ground in that situation to join the football club.”

Salop made the bold decision to appoint Gavin Cowan to his first Football League role in late January, stepping up from non-league after enjoying success with Brackley Town.

Alongside him in the first photographs was Edwards - an unexpected addition to the coaching staff for many supporters. But few understand the football club better, and all three members of the coaching set-up share a deep connection to the badge.

For Edwards, the role represented a continuation of service to the club he grew up supporting, and there is immense pride in helping guide Shrewsbury to safety with three games to spare after inheriting a side deep in relegation trouble.

“There's a lot of pride there,” Edwards said.

“Me, Gavin and Jamie have spoken about it a lot, we do feel that it was our duty in a way. We were all very closely connected to the football club in different ways.

“It's been a huge whirlwind, it's gone so fast. The success of staying up, it was a lot of pride but also a lot of relief.

“But I feel like, with our connections to Shrewsbury, it's something that we just felt like we had the duty to do, we had to do it.

“I feel like the football club was at a point where it needed the right sort of people to try and guide them forward - and with Gav they certainly got that.

“Then with Gav's team around him, I feel that that is why it worked so well. Although we had some indifferent results at times, we naturally do, but it was just the right people at the right time in the right moment that the football club needed.”

Edwards already had experience discussing Town’s fortunes, having co-hosted the In The Stiffs podcast alongside Cowan and close friend and former Shrewsbury favourite Sam Aiston.

That project is currently on pause, with the latest social media post featuring Aiston sitting alone beside two empty microphones.

But Edwards admitted there are strong similarities between those conversations and the work now taking place behind the scenes at the club.

He added: “It's not been too indifferent because it's the same conversations that we would have whether it's me, Sam and Gav to now me, Jamie and Gav.

“It's always centred around the football club - what we think's good, what we think's not so, what we think we could do better, that was the same when we were doing our podcast and that's the same now.

“Obviously the podcast has taken a bit of a back seat to this, but it's something that we're all very passionate about, it comes naturally to us all that we just talk about football.

“But it's just gone to the extreme where it's been very consuming for the last few months, but very enjoyable.”

Edwards completed initial coaching badges during his playing career before later beginning a combination of UEFA A and B licences in his early 30s. Even then, however, he never believed coaching would become part of his future after retirement.

Since hanging up his boots, the former midfielder has worked across several media outlets, including the Shropshire Star, while also founding the Little Rascals Foundation, a charity supporting children and young adults with special educational needs and disabilities across the county.

Edwards spent much of his spare time in recent months preparing for the London Marathon, during which he and lifelong friend Ben Wootton raised more than £11,000 for the charity.

As a result, life in the dugout was something Edwards never anticipated.

“I didn't envisage it at all, it was never never on my radar - coaching's never been on my radar,” he explained.

“Obviously I have a real love for the football club, I come and watch every single time I can.

“To see the football club almost from every possible angle now - from a young fan to a young player, to an adult fan to an adult player, having finished my career, captained the football club and then being part of the coaching team to lead the club - yeah, it feels amazing.

“When I was going with my dad to the games and had my own heroes that I would watch - Richard Scott, Darren Currie, Lee Steele, super Sam Aiston a little bit later - if you said to me as a 12-year-old kid that I would firstly play for the club, but then also be part of a coaching staff to be in charge of helping them get results, it would have seemed impossible. That's where a lot of pride comes.”

Edwards, an energetic six-foot midfielder during his playing days, enjoyed plenty of memorable highs on the pitch - including the Conference play-off triumph with Shrewsbury in 2004 and promotion-winning campaigns in both the Championship and League One with Wolves.

But he admits success from the dugout brings a very different feeling.

He continued: “It's a different feeling on the coaching staff when you win a game.

“When you score a goal, it really hits differently than as a player. As a player you are very selfish, you're looking after yourself all the time, you're always analysing your own performances, but as a coach you're analysing the football club all the time and there's a bigger responsibility.

“I think it makes the highs a lot higher, but then also when you're losing games it makes it a lot tougher. But to experience that has been really nice.”