‘We went through a lot together,’ Millwall manager Joe Edwards says of his time as a Chelsea loan manager and staying in touch with current and former Blues players…

The 37-year-old has had an intriguing coaching journey before becoming head coach at The Den

 

After managing the under-18s and winning the FA Youth Cup twice, Edwards was transferred away from the training ground to become the loan manager in 2016.

The position afforded the coach several responsibilities and allowed him to form relationships with some of the numerous young players loaned out by Chelsea during the Roman Abramovich era.

“Obviously at Chelsea, they got to a point where there were a lot of players on loan and a lot of investment in those players,” Edwards told NewsAtDen.

“So although everyone recognized it’s important to get the lads out of the door and into the real world of football, they felt it didn’t make sense to put all that work and support into them and then just send them out and leave them to it.

“So although everyone recognized it’s important to get the lads out of the door and into the real world of football, they felt it didn’t make sense to put all that work and support into them and then just send them out and leave them to it. So when you’re a loan manager, it’s all different from helping to select the loan in the first place. So when you’ve got good players, there’s various calls coming in from clubs that want to take them.

“So it will then be about profiling the club in terms of style of play, what level of competition they’re playing at, who the manager is, and what his track record is like. To make sure first and foremost that it’s a good fit for the experience we want each player to get.

“And then once they’re out there, it’s simply a case of visiting them to watch them train, see where they’re living, see what the local area is like, and to tick that box of helping them settle in, as that’s a massive thing. The longer a player takes to settle off the pitch, the longer you’re going to take to see them produce the goods on the pitch.

“And then once you’ve done those things and they’re on the pitch playing, it’s just a case of watching their game and getting that balance between letting them do what they do—for example, Brooke Norton-Cuffy—letting him be a Millwall player and living that experience. But at the same time, I’m sure there are people at Arsenal who have been working with Brooke over the years and have certain conversations about certain things they want to see from him, linked to what they may want him to be as an Arsenal player one day. It’s just keeping that connection, so it’s not out of sight or out of mind for a year.

“It’s great for the players, but for me as well, I had a period before that when it was just Chelsea games, Chelsea teams, Chelsea players, doing all of that work as it was my job. I was all of a sudden watching Championship games, League One games, La Liga games, and Bundesliga games to follow all of my players. I definitely built my knowledge and understanding of different styles a lot more throughout that year.”