When former Welsh international Rob Edwards dropped out of the Football League a couple of years ago, joining Exeter City in the Conference from Blackpool, he could hardly have envisaged that two years later he would be preparing for another crack at League One after back-to-back promotions with the Grecians.
This time last year it was Edwards who scored the only game of the game for
Exeter in the Conference play-off final at Wembley and the 35-year-old, now a player-coach at St James’ Park, remains a key performer for Paul Tisdale’s men.
Edwards, who began his career at
Carlisle before wearing the colours of
Bristol City,
Preston and
Blackpool, spoke exclusively to Givemefootball’s Mark Shail to reflect on what has been a fantastic season for the Devon outfit.
Q: What a campaign it has been for the club, you must be delighted?
A: Of course I’m very pleased. To be honest it did come as a bit of a surprise to finish in the top two though.
Brentford deserved to win the title because they were the best team in the division but to finish second was a great achievement for this club, especially after only returning to the Football League last year.
Q: Exeter really put a great run together in the last third of the season, didn't they?
A: If you look at the teams Paul Tisdale has coached over the last few years they have always come on strong in the second half of the season. He always says it is a long campaign and you have to build your season. He doesn’t get too carried away when we win and visa versa when we lose. He looks at it from a balanced point of view and he knows it’s no good getting off to a flying start if you can’t sustain it.
Q: How far can Tisdale go in the game?
A: He can go a long way. He is a modern-day manager who uses all the latest training methods and preparation. I don’t think he ever has a day off. I’ve heard this week that he has been linked with the
Reading job, I don’t know how much truth there is in that, but it is inevitable that other clubs will be looking at him after the job he’s done here.
Q: How does you duel coaching-playing role work?
A: I take a lot of the warm-ups and get involved in the set-play stuff, but because I’m still a player I have to take part in most of the full training sessions – so Paul does almost all of the organisation work.
Q: Are you going to continue playing next season?
A: I think I will still play but I’m not sure I’ll play as many games as I did last season. If I do play it will probably be in a holding role in midfield. I’ve played a few games at full-back and centre half this season but I’m not sure I’d get away with that in League One. A lot of the strikers have got that extra yard of pace at that level.
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