Wolves set to name Paul Lambert as manager

The Scot is due to be announced imminently as Walter Zenga's successor after sporting director Kevin Thelwell and Fosun supremo Jeff Shi settled on their preferred choice.

Lambert was ironing out the details of his Wolves contract and his backroom staff yesterday.

It's thought that Wolves wanted to hold off on an announcement until after today's important game against Derby County so as not to distract the players and staff.

Lambert, who has been out of work since the end of last season when he left Blackburn Rovers, has seen off stiff competition from Nigel Pearson to land the role.

The 47-year-old is believed to have been Thelwell's preferred choice for the job since the first round of interviews were concluded last week.

He ticks the boxes required by Thelwell and Shi in that he is a British manager with a track record of success in the Championship.

Lambert led Norwich to promotion to the Premier League in his only full season as a Championship boss in 2011 and is seen as an experienced pair of hands who is open to new ideas, such as from his frequent trips to Germany to monitor coaching methods.

It's expected that Rob Edwards, who was due to take charge of today's Derby match, will be part of the club's coaching staff under the former Villa boss.

Lambert signed Edwards on loan during his time at Norwich and Wolves are keen to keep the 33-year-old at the club.

Edwards said his brief experience in charge at Wolves had whetted his appetite for a future career in management.

"It will have given me a lot of confidence going forward, the fact I can do it," he said.

"We've tried to keep as much consistency as possible and enjoy it as much as possible. We've tried to train the way that we play. I'll take a lot from it.

"It's something I'd love to do in the future and it has whetted my appetite for it. There's the belief that I can do it at some stage. I'm realistic enough to know that things change in football – I could be back in my old role, it could be a different role...we shall see. But I've really enjoyed it."

Edwards also revealed that Zenga had wished him good luck in the temporary role.

"We've spoken since a couple of times," he added. "He's calling me 'coach' now which is quite funny because that's what we were calling him.

"He said good luck. There are real feelings there. I know his time at the club was short but I think he really enjoyed it and he built some good relationships with people – hopefully I was one of those people."