Rob Edwards has been officially announced as Wolves manager – and assistant coach Harry Watling has left Middlesbrough with him.Edwards has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract at Molineux, returning to his former club 17 years after leaving as a player. The ex-centre-back departs Middlesbrough less than six months after being named boss, with the North East club sitting second in the Championship.Wolves have paid in the region of £3million in compensation to bring in their replacement for Vitor Pereira, who was sacked at the start of the month.Edwards will be joined in the dugout by ex-QPR and Rangers coach Watling, who was his assistant at the Riverside. Executive chairman Jeff Shi said: “I know Rob very well and I have seen his growth in different jobs. “He’s a very good person, he knows the club very well, he knows the city, the fans and he is very talented. When he was a youth coach here, he showed his tactical awareness, but after he took first-team jobs he started to grow his own identity, character and leadership.“We need to refresh the whole club with a new coach’s philosophy, bringing his own identity and ideas, and we can build on that. “We are at a new chapter for the club and Rob will be a key piece of that.”Director of player recruitment and development Matt Jackson said: “Rob and his staff have demonstrated previously that they can be really good in shifting the culture, getting confidence quickly into players and building foundations for a really positive future. “He loves being on the grass and making a change to a team, embracing the tactics of different situations.“The energy that he brings off the field, we have to get it on to the pitch. We have to be realistic about where we are, and we definitely need to be held accountable. Edwards has been confirmed as the new Wolves managerGetty“We now need to get that belief into the players quickly and think Rob will be great culturally for the whole football club.”Edwards’ first game in charge of Wolves will be at Molineux in front of his new home support against Crystal Palace on November 22.Edwards’ controversial decisionWolves have announced Edwards as their new manager after a weekend of speculation over his future.The 42-year-old originally played down rumours of talks, while Middlesbrough rejected an approach for him. But things quickly changed and Boro eventually allowed Wolves to speak to their boss after he expressed willingness to discuss a move.Edwards was pulled from managing the Championship side on Saturday after a pre-match press conference was cancelled.And his decision to leave Middlesbrough for Wolves, who have lost nine of 11 Premier League games this season, has been criticised.But he will now hope to lead his former side out of relegation trouble and fight against the drop down to the second tier.