Watford accused of poaching Forest Green Rovers' Rob Edwards as next head coach

Watford have been accused of poaching Rob Edwards as their next head coach.

Forest Green Rovers have hit out at the soon-to-be Championship club’s tactics in talking to Edwards “behind our backs” after news leaked about the negotiations.

Edwards has just gained promotion to League One with Forest Green and chairman and owner Dale Vince said it would be “karma” if one day his club met Watford in the Championship.

He claimed that Edwards had been told by his agent and by Watford not to inform Forest Green of their interest. It was only on Wednesday morning, via email, that Forest Green received an official approach from Watford.

“Watford advised Rob not to tell us, specifically,” Vince said. “That doubles down on the deceit. Deceit is part of a culture that comes from the top.”

In a statement on the Forest Green website, the club added: “We’re disappointed that our support, loyalty and honesty towards Rob has been repaid in this way - with negotiations taking place behind our backs.

“We had no contact from Watford, from whom we might expect less, but in any event this kind of behaviour gives football a bad name. We thank Rob for all his work at FGR - forgive him the manner of his departure and wish him well."

Watford dispute this version of events especially given Edwards is understood to have had a clause in his contract at Forest Green that allows him to speak to other clubs and give notice in writing.

A Watford statement read: "Rob had a contractual provision allowing him to leave Forest Green Rovers at any time to discuss employment opportunities at other clubs and the Hornets are delighted to confirm our discussions concluded today."

It effectively means he can become a ‘free agent’ allowing him to leave the club as long as six months' compensation is paid. Watford will pay the amount and believe they have acted according to his contract and that they notified Forest Green to allow negotiations to be concluded.

'People come and go all the time - but to have negotiations behind your back is not nice'

Edwards, 39, is Watford’s eighth permanent manager since the start of 2018. The former Wales international, who previously coached England’s youth team, led Forest Green to their first promotion from League Two. He has previously managed Wolverhampton Wanderers on an interim basis and Telford United full-time and joined Forest Green in 2020 after leaving the Football Association.

Vince said he had been prompted to contact Edwards after speculation over the coach’s future. “We were saying this can’t be right because Watford have not contacted us which would be the right way to go about it and secondly Rob hasn’t said anything and we know Rob and have absolute faith in him and believed that if he had had an approach and was interested then he would have told me,” he explained.

“But I called him last night because it was getting a bit intense and as soon as he started speaking I knew that it was real. He said he had been in negotiations, it was a great opportunity for him and he felt a bit bad about it and it was all a bit intense for him and I said overwhelmingly the thing for me was just disappointment that he didn’t tell me. People come and go in football all the time and the important thing is the manner of it and to have a negotiation go on behind your back is not a nice thing.”