Coady enjoying ‘something good’ at Wrexham after tough times

After a season of struggle with a Leicester City side that failed to avoid being relegated from the Premier League, Conor Coady claims signing to be “part of something good” at Championship new boys Wrexham was the ideal step.

The 32-year-old signed for the north of England for a reportedly £2 million fee last August on a two-year contract with the option of an additional year.

As Wrexham prepared for their first season since moving to the second tier for 43 years, the England centre-back attracted a number of statement signings from Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

“People don’t understand how tough it was, and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn here,” said one participant. “Leicester was tough, really tough,” I struggled last year because I was a member of a team that wasn’t doing well.

“I return home and my kids and my family feel it,” he says. Although I should never say that and I make an effort not to, I did and I found it to be very difficult because of it.

When Wrexham first contacted them and told them what they wanted to do, I immediately thought all I wanted to do was just play football, be as involved as possible, and make people better.

No one was rushing into saying, “We want to be in the Premier League at the end of the season,” and… I simply adore what they were saying to me.

Coady revealed that he left the Stok Cae Ras after signing and that the emotion on display from both young and old fans outside the stadium confirmed that he had made the right choice.

The atmosphere, the feeling of being in the Championship once more for the football team, and for me to be a part of that is truly humbling. The home game against West Brom over the weekend was incredible.

“I’m one of the many clubs going through a difficult time right now, and I want to improve,” he said. “It’s really exciting.

People want to know what’s happening at the club because it feels fresh and full.

There is still a long way to go, and people must be working one step at a time, because the club’s ultimate goal is to reach the Premier League.

He continued, “I’d love to play in the Premier League once more, I want another chance at that, I want another promotion, of course, but I want that long-term.”

Do we need to improve, though? Of course, and I’m going to try to improve things, improve myself, but what’s most important is improving that club.

Expectations were dramatically raised by the Hollywood owners and three successive promotions, but narrow defeats to Southampton and West Bromwich Albion in their opening two league games gave the club a reality check, even though Coady insists that is not the club’s opinion.

Even though the club has embarked on an incredible journey, he said, “It would be silly if I were to say we’ll get promoted.”

Coady continued, “I think it’s stupid to say that we shouldn’t be building and improving because the club has been through a lot of it because they’ve done incredibly well.”

Everyone in the club would say that we are so close, but we don’t want to step back, so I’m glad to be a part of it. What we need to do is lay the right foundations right away to move forward.

We do want to enter the Premier League, but we must make sure we are there when we do because the club has signed a few players or because they club are saying they want to get there.

We are not ahead of ourselves, which is what makes the club so impressive. We are aware of our situation and are on the cusp of the next step, but we must proceed accordingly.

After conceding two goals in the final two minutes at Southampton and going home to the Baggies last weekend, Saturday’s home game against a Sheffield Wednesday side that hasn’t yet scored is given more significance.

Both clubs will be interested in watching it because they believe it will be a significant game for both teams, but Coady said that because the quicker we can win, the better chance we have of getting started.

“We ought to have defeated Southampton,” he said, “we need to practice watching games.” Can we take our chances when we win a game and win it back? Can’t we just concede more goals?