Wembley Hero to Depart Exeter City

As rumoured this morning, the Club have confirmed that Rob Edwards will be leaving Exeter City. We wish him well, he has been an integral part of the success we’ve enjoyed under Paul Tisdale and includes a great season for the Under 21s this season.

He nearly didn’t come to St James park! In the Hellier/Endicott interviews, Paul Tisdale revealed that Rob Edwards turned him down. Tisdale had said he wanted senior professionals to take a role in developing the younger players rather then just collect one final salary before retirement. Edwards phoned him back the following day and said he had changed his mind. The rest, as they say is history.

He joined the Grecians at the start of the 2006/07 season, making his debut in the 0-0 draw with York City. He made 47 appearances that season,  finishing the season at Wembley in 2-1 defeat to Morecambe in the Conference Play Off final.

The former Welsh International (he played for times for the senior team), played 53 times the following season. The most memorable being that game at Wembley where he scored the only goal of the game which meant Exeter returned to league football.

In all he made 179 appearances for Exeter, scoring 3 times. He hung up his boots after the 2010/11 season and took on the full coaching duties with the Club.

Speaking on the official site Rob Edwards said:-

I would like to thank everyone at the club for eight great years.  I am very much looking forward to furthering my career, although it is disappointing to be leaving right now as everyone can see a really talented crop of young players coming through after many years of commitment from all the coaching staff.

I am now looking forward to furthering my career in coaching.  Despite moving on, I will always think fondly of everyone at the club – in particular the hard-working people around the club, players supporters and volunteers and I consider myself very fortunate as I really enjoyed the last years of my playing career.

It fills me with immense pride to see the young players from the under-21 group break through into the first team and my only regret in leaving is that I won’t be at the club to enjoy them blossoming into a winning team.

Paul Tisdale added:-

Rob has played a huge part in the progress made at Exeter in recent years.  His performance on the pitch ‘raised the bar’ when he arrived in 2006 and was a pivotal factor in our back-to-back promotions.

However, his largest contribution will be the way his professionalism and character helped to improve many Exeter City players over his eight years at the club, both on and off the pitch.

I expect him to develop his coaching further and go onto a very successful career.  I will miss him as the very thoughtful and diligent assistant manager he proved to be over the past few seasons.

Here is Exeweb’s view of his goal at Wembley!