‘Great signing.’ ‘Fantastic news.’ ‘Exactly what we need.’ ‘You’re very lucky.’ ‘Love that.’ ‘Will quickly be a fans’ favourite.’
It’s not often, especially in the ultra-critical modern world of social media, that a new signing at a football club receives such universal approval.
When it happens, it’s a thing of beauty. And even better, when every word turns out to be true.
Ten years ago today, on a sunny Friday afternoon at Compton Park, Conor Coady completed the formalities of a move from Huddersfield to Wolves for a fee in the region of £2million.
He had been described by the Huddersfield Town then press officer and now chief operating officer David Threlfall-Sykes as, ‘the nicest footballer I have ever met.’ An opinion which it is very difficult to argue with.
And that day, a decade ago, launched a Wolves career which would ultimately make its way into Molineux folklore. One of those players, and contributions, whose impact stretches way beyond performances and achievements on the pitch. Maybe Coady will return to Wolves in some capacity in the future. Even if he doesn’t, his position in the annals of club history is assured.
At the end of April, he was back at Molineux for the first time in on-pitch opposition, as already relegated Leicester were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Wolves.
During the second half, with the game safely in the bag, the South Bank launched into a rendition of Coady’s song. ‘Allez allez allez’. ‘He’s the leader of the pack.’ And a few more choice lyrics besides. It was one of those moments unique to football. A very public thank you, almost two years after his permanent departure and three since his final appearance for the club, perhaps fittingly, against Liverpool at Anfield. A spine-tingling moment in time. ‘A moment I will cherish’, Coady wrote in an Instagram post afterwards.
He is one of only 36 players, male or female, to have made over 300 appearances for Wolves. Another among that exclusive club is Dave Edwards, whose spell at the club was even longer than Coady’s. And who can very much imagine just what it will have meant for his pal to have heard that song back at Molineux.
“It is always nice for a player to build an affinity with a club and stay for a sustained amount of time,” says Edwards.
“You see a lot of players bounce around clubs, staying for two or three years, and then moving on.
“But to stay there, through different leagues, to still be reliable, still be accountable, through all the ups and downs, I think fans really appreciate that.
“There might be moments within all that which are tough, and a player might not feel appreciated because performances aren’t as good, but I think fans will always appreciate the loyalty, and that is what I felt from my career.
“I was very grateful to experience what I did at Wolves, and I know Conor is exactly the same.
“Like me, he never really wanted to leave Wolves either.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be playing as much football as before and had a World Cup with Wales to try and qualify for, so I needed to move on to be a regular, and for Conor it was exactly the same.
“He found out he wasn’t going to play, and was still very much involved in the England set-up and needing to get more football to be considered for major tournaments. Purely a professional reason.
“I have no doubt that had he still been involved at Wolves, he would have loved to stay, and maybe even still be there to this day – that is how highly he thinks of the football club.
“For that reason, I was so happy that he got to enjoy that moment when he came back with Leicester last season.”
Edwards was perhaps slightly less happy a decade ago when the highly-rated young midfielder Coady, then 22 and a former Liverpool academy graduate and regular in the England age groups set-up, checked in at Wolves.
The previous season he had scored at Molineux with a superb long range strike for Huddersfield, and also found the net in the return fixture in Yorkshire – his own net – as Wolves won 4-1.
Edwards was more concerned about the new man pinching his place!
“I think it’s human nature in that situation, that I wasn’t completely happy to see Conor Coady arriving,” he recalls.
“Someone in my position, who the club had paid a lot of money for, during pre-season when you really want to cement your place in the team!
“It did mean I played out on the left wing for a few games at the start of the season – Kenny (Jackett) had been trying to solve a problem out there after the loss of Bakary Sako – but as soon as I met Conor, I hit it off with him straightaway.
“We had a great relationship throughout our time together at Wolves and have done since as well.”
And that effervescent personality, the open and approachable nature which sets Coady apart from so many others within the sport, quickly cranked into gear, even at a relatively young age.
Joe Gallen was assistant head coach to Kenny Jackett when Coady checked in on that July afternoon. His view? “The Conor Coady that walked into Wolves that day is probably the Conor Coady that you still see now,” he replies.
“Kenny was always talking about Conor, having watched him on loan at Sheffield United and at Huddersfield.
“He’s got such a great attitude and personality, he’s intelligent with a real spirit about him who always thinks positively.
“He has what I call a ‘can do’ attitude, and just loves football, and looks forward to training.
“For some players, training was almost like a means to an end to prepare for games, but for Conor, every day of training was a big day.
“If we had got beaten at the weekend, or even if it hadn’t gone well for Conor, you would never have known when he came in on the Monday morning.
“He was back in, ready to go, excited about training, and just so enthusiastic.”
Very quickly, Coady became a central figure within the dressing room, even in the years before Fosun. Close to the likes of Edwards, Matt Doherty, Kevin McDonald and Ben Marshall, within a few minutes of meeting Andy Lonergan he had asked him to move in with him and Mike Williamson for the time spent up in Tettenhall and away from his family. It certainly wasn’t any sort of repeat of Men Behaving Badly, Lonergan recalling how he and Williamson would secure a sofa each for Monday Night Football, with Coady sat on the floor in front of the screen, absorbing every last nugget of pre and post-match analysis.
“The type of character Conor is, always chatty, always inquisitive, he wants to know as much as he can about individuals, which is a great way to start relationships at a football club,” adds Edwards.
“He does that ever so naturally as well.
“I have walked into a new dressing room before and kept myself to myself a little bit, but someone like Conor will go straight in, talking to everyone, trying to find out about their background, what makes them tick.
“It’s such a strength of his, not just on the football pitch or the training ground, but away from it all as well – he’s got such an attractive personality and good energy that people just want to be around him.
“And he’s like that through the good times and the tough times, he can have all those conversations when things aren’t going well in terms of making sure the lads are accountable for what they are doing.
“He’s got a very good ability to pick up a group when they are little bit down, and if there’s been a bad result or a bad injury, Conor Coady arriving on a Monday morning can very quickly change that.
“I don’t know anyone else in football who has that ability quite like he does.”
There were some big moments for Coady – and strong foundations – even before the incredible transformation under Nuno Espirito Santo that took his game, and Wolves, to a completely new level.
Converted for a time from centre midfield to right back, one incredible goalline clearance against Nottingham Forest helped lead to a Nouha Dicko winner barely second later, whilst he made a triumphant first return to Liverpool in a memorable FA Cup win at Anfield.
Then came Nuno, in the summer of 2017. Coady was one of those who might have feared for his place with the arrival of the Portuguese boss and a string of new signings, particularly Ruben Neves at the heart of the midfield engine room.
The opposite, however, proved true. Having departed to France on pre-season within 24 hours of signing back in 2015, two years later it was a plane journey sat next to Nuno enroute for Austria which paved the way for the change in position which helped propel Coady into the echelons of Molineux history.
As the central figure in a back three, he not only dictated the play as Wolves headed into a new era, but also captained the team as they embarked on new adventures with consecutive seventh placed finishes in the Premier League, an FA Cup semi-final and Europa League quarter final. Halcyon days.
“I remember a few years after we had left Wolves, watching a Premier League game on telly when Conor was in the middle of the back three, pinging balls everywhere,” recalls Gallen.
“I was like, ‘wow, what is this? Look how good he has got since we left!
“I remember texting Kenny, and also Conor after the game, saying how unbelievable I thought he had played.
“Obviously we can never take any credit for that, but it was nice to have been there when he signed, and he was always definitely a Kenny type of player.”
“When you look at the different positions Conor has played, it showcases just how he can adapt to any circumstances,” adds Edwards.
“He has so many attributes to play centre midfield – workrate, stamina, the way he reads the game, passing ability – but then when he went to right back, he was so reliable in giving you a seven or eight out of ten every week.
“I always thought he was such a good defensive midfielder because of the way he reads the game, and he was tailor made for that role in the back three when Nuno arrived.
“I don’t know whether Nuno had seen something in him or fell into it but having tried it in that pre-season camp in Austria, he never looked back.
“It looked like Conor had been playing that position since he was seven or eight years old, it is brilliant he has such a range of technical skills to be able to adapt like he has.”
With the form and consistency shown in central defence, Coady soon came to the attention of England boss Gareth Southgate.
Having captained England Under-17s to the European Championships in 2010, a decade later he made his senior debut, becoming the first Wolves player to start for the Three Lions since Steve Bull, 30 years previously.
Famously scoring against Wales at Wembley during a time during Covid when games were played behind closed doors, Coady has won ten international caps in total, and was in the squads for both the 2020 European Championships – played a year later – and the 2022 World Cup.
Although not playing at either, he was more than ready, and would go as close to bristling as Coady ever does in answer to any suggestions he was there merely as a tourist.
Such was his off-field impact and leadership that assistant boss Steve Holland described Coady as his player of the tournament after the Euros, and he was also the narrator of the well-known ‘Wolf’ card game enjoyed by the squad whilst out in Qatar 18 months later.
Andy Walker is the FA’s long-serving Senior Communications Manager with England, who has been one of the key figures in helping build bridges between players and the media and generate a more open and relaxed culture around the national squad. For him, the likes of Coady were paramount in helping continue that process.
“From speaking to counterparts at Wolves, I’d already got some good background on Conor’s character and personality, and while there is always an element of excitement around a player’s first call-up, he certainly didn’t disappoint,” he says.
“From the first time he arrived in camp there was a real warmth, approachability and kindness about him – he was keen to get to know everyone’s name, everyone’s role, and instantly became a big member of the squad.
“On the pitch, he went on to score at Wembley – which left him so full of joy – the only downside being it came during Covid with no fans in the stadium.
“Off the pitch, he could never do enough for everybody, he helped us pull together the culture in the squad, and was a massive part of bringing staff and players together.
“Whenever he wore that England badge, on a kit or a tracksuit, you could always see just how much it meant to him.”
It wasn’t just England that did, and does, still mean so much to Coady. So too Wolves. Sadly however, not every story has a Disney-style ending.
Coady’s departure, including being called by Turkish side Trabzonspor saying they had agreed a fee with Wolves before he even knew he was available, was far from perfect. Not befitting of a man who had given so much, for so long, for the cause.
But that is sometimes football. And time moves on. He has maintained positive relationships with many senior figures at Wolves, and returned for the ceremony to mark the inauguration of the ‘300-club’ of which he is such a proud member. A total of 319 appearances, seven goals, and an immeasurable number of highlights currently adorns his Molineux CV.
And highlights not just for Coady, but his family, who follow him everywhere, kick every ball, offer unflinching support and have invested themselves into each and every one of his clubs in just the same way as he has. And will continue to do so, wherever the next years take him be it in playing, coaching or management.
After all, what is football about? A sense of community, togetherness, a collective desire for success. Coady abides by all of those sentiments, and instils them in others. He was a proud ambassador of Wolves Foundation, and a regular participant in Wolves Wishes initiatives for supporters, not just because it was part of the job, but because he thoroughly enjoyed doing it.
For fans, there is also tribalism. Sometimes fiercely so. Players who leave are not necessarily welcomed back with open arms. But for those that are, as per those memorable few minutes of the second half against Leicester back in April, it’s always that little bit special.
And that was the reception, almost ten years later, for the most successful Premier League captain Wolves have ever had. His name is Conor Coady. The leader of the pack.
