We all went go-karting ...but it was like a scene from Driving Miss Daisy!
NOW COADY’S WOLVES ARE ON THEIR VICTORY LAP
If Wolverhampton Wanderers bear comparison to a finely tuned sports car racing towards the finish it is worth remembering it was not necessarily that way off the grid.
for all the undeniable talent signed last summer there were initial questions over squad harmony. Team-bonding sessions helped find answers.
‘We went go-karting,’ captain Conor Coady tells Sportsmail. ‘I was rubbish. Danny Batth was quite quick. The foreign boys were like Driving Miss Daisy — not used to the English roads!’
Despite their troubles on the track, the new recruits acclimatised rapidly on the pitch, at least. Eleven players came in, a similar number went out, but Nuno Espirito Santo arrived to shape a team into one that looked like it had been together for years.
Not only were results excellent from the off, performances were special too and automatic promotion is now very much in view after last friday’s victory at Cardiff.
Nuno’s celebrations that evening infuriated Neil Warnock, who responded as diplomatically as you might expect, but it was an example of the way matches consume the 44-year-old on the touchline.
He has become known for needing at least one cigarette after every game to relieve the tension. ‘He is intense but his man-management is great,’ says Coady. ‘He will always ask how you’re doing, if you’re recovering properly.
‘He has an aura and the boys respect him incredibly for how he composes himself on the training pitches. During games he kicks every ball, heads every ball. Watching how much he wants to win comes across to the players.’
Winning has become a habit for Wolves, long since regarded as champions-elect by managers up and down the division. Two players in particular have given cause for that consensus. Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota joined last summer from Porto and Atletico Madrid respectively and are proving spectacular successes. As well as scoring five times from longdistance, Neves is adored for his exquisite passing, while Jota has hit 14 league goals from the wing.
‘It’s incredible to watch in full flow,’ says Coady. ‘Neves played a pass against QPR with the outside of his right foot that, if I’d tried it, I would have done something to my knee. And Jota just bounces off people.
‘What’s scary is they are both 21. Neves was the youngest captain in Champions League history. They are playing well beyond their years. You want to watch them in the Premier League. I think they’d do fantastically well. Let’s hope they stay at this club for many years.’
The recruitment policy influenced by Jorge Mendes — agent to Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho and adviser to Wolves chairman Jeff Shi — has attracted major attention but it is paying off, with Ivan Cavaleiro, Helder Costa, and Willy Boly also making crucial contributions.
As the glamour names came in last summer it would have been easy for Coady to fear his time at Molineux was up after two years. Instead he proved his worth to Nuno in pre-season and accepted a switch from midfield to central defence in a back-three system. Last week he was named in the Championship team of the year.
‘The manager came in implementing the 3-4-3, 3-5-2 system, so he was changing the bodies around to find out what his best solutions were,’ Coady says. ‘Luckily I was put in there and liked it. I listened to what he wanted. If that was where he saw me, fantastic. You want to get on the rollercoaster with the club.’
Coady so impressed that he was rewarded with a new four-year contract in September and he has continued to lead from the back, both vocally and technically. for passing accuracy he ranks third in the Championship at 89.1 per cent.
‘Playing that position is a lot about organising and talking,’ he says. ‘We work a lot on our shape, then when I am on the ball I try to use it correctly.’
It feels important that Wolves retain an English core and when Coady lists Coronation Street’s Steve McDonald as an ideal dinner guest and karaoke classic Sweet
Caroline as his favourite song on the drive into training, you sense the foreign contingent have a good source for understanding their new home.
Now 25, teetotal Coady joined Liverpool at the age of six, but is reaping the benefits of leaving the club in 2014 when he realised first-team opportunities would be limited. He had won the European Under 17 Championship with England in 2010, gone on preseason tours to the USA when Kenny Dalglish was in charge, and made two senior appearances.
But he knew he faced a battle to dislodge the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson in Brendan Rodgers’ team. ‘I wouldn’t say it was tough to leave because I just wanted to play football,’ he says.
‘If you’re happy being at a big club but playing reserve team football, I never really understand that. I had been on loan at Sheffield United — played 50 games including an fA Cup semi-final at Wembley — and I didn’t want to go back and just sit around. I spoke to Brendan Rodgers and he helped me massively.’
Training with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher provided stimulus too. ‘There was no single day when they took it easy, so as a young lad you can only think, “They are playing at the highest level, that’s what I need to be like to get anywhere near that”.’
As a Liverpool fan, Coady still visits Anfield occasionally, but mainly watches on television. ‘I have two boys now so the missus will go mad if I say I’m going to Liverpool,’ he says. ‘freddie is nearly one and Henry is three in August. There is nothing better. They take my mind off football when I go home.’
At work, the chequered flag awaits.