Edwards was confirmed as Boro’s new boss earlier this morning, having signed a three-year deal at the Riverside, and will inherit a side that finished tenth in the Championship last season under Michael Carrick.
Boro’s players played some attractive football at times last season, but were often undone by a soft underbelly that left them vulnerable to opposition sides that got on top of them.
Edwards wants to address that failing next term, acknowledging the need to add some “steel” to complement the undoubted ability within the current squad in his first interview with Middlesbrough’s official media channels.
“There’s obvious talent here, and that’s something that’s really exciting,” said Edwards, who won promotion from the Championship with Luton Town. “There’s lots of good things that happen, you can see that in the games. It’s (the team) still big on creating chances and it can control games.
“So I think with what we want to try to bring, there’s some quick wins, some things we can get going really quickly and continue some of the good stuff that’s going on as well.
“There’s a lot of talent, that’s obvious, that’s always been the way at this football club. We want to keep that going – we want to be attractive, we want to be great to watch.
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“We want some steel with that substance. We want some fight, some intensity, and then keep a lot of the really good football and creating chances, those things, going as well. There’s some really exciting players that I’m really looking forward to working with.”
With the transfer window open, Edwards will spend much of the next week in discussions with Boro’s recruitment team, led by head of football Kieran Scott.
He has suggested there will be money to spend this summer, with the new boss happy with the recruitment structure that is currently in place.
“We’re part of the team, which will be led by Kieran (Scott), with Neil (Bausor) and Steve (Gibson) in that,” explained Edwards. “There’ll be opportunities to try to make some changes and improve.
“You always want to do that in every single window, so I don’t think that will be different to every other football club at all. Of course, it would be great to try to bring in players we think are Middlesbrough players, so suit what we want to try and do, and can help improve us as well.
“That’s the exciting thing. There’s some real clarity on how that works in terms of the recruitment and the people we’re going to be working with. We’ve got brilliant people on that side that are going to help us. That’s another reason why it’s a really good fit.”
