Conor Coady has featured in some massive clubs and represented England at several major tournaments as part of the squad, and now he is part of Wrexham as they continue their journey towards the Premier League.
While the England international may not be part of the Wrexham team that may compete in the English top flight due to the Red Dragons’ poor start to the season, he will be important to ensuring they don’t drop back down to League One.
This experience has been acquired by playing for some of the biggest clubs in England, including Liverpool, Everton and Wolves, a key quality Phil Parkinson will want to utilise at Wrexham.
Now, Coady has revealed the manager and conversation that changed his life and the trajectory of his career.
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Conor Coady believes Nuno Espirito Santo changed his life while at Wolves
The current Wrexham defender spent the best seasons of his career at Wolves, as he helped them earn promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.
He was an integral part of the team as they became a Premier League regular, and now, speaking on the Still Talking Show, he reveals just how former Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo changed his career.
Coady said: “Nuno changed my life, honestly; he changed my life.
“When he first came in, we knew the calibre of manager coming in; he was coming from Valencia.
“He came to us, and it was like he was going to make big changes here, and we all wanted to be a part of it.
“I remember the first couple of days in training he worked on a back five, and I had played centre mid and right back the season before in the Championship… and I was in the middle of the back five, and I was thinking, ‘Is he putting me in here to make up the numbers or something? I am not going to be in his plans.’
“Honestly, that conversation I had with him for two hours or whatever it was to Austria was unbelievable; he just basically told me that this was now his club, and he said I will have you there or thereabouts by the end of the season. This is how we are going to play.’
“I was going to play in the middle of a five, and I took a step back. For the whole duration of the flight, he spoke, and I just listened.”
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Conor Coady at Wolves
The Wrexham defender joined Wolves from Huddersfield Town in July 2015 and would spend the next eight years on the books of the club until he opted to leave to join Leicester City.
Conor Coady experienced some incredible highs at Wolves, with most of these coming under Nuno Espirito Santo, who was appointed manager of the club for the 2017-18 season, and he would remain at the club until the end of the 2020-21 campaign.
In this period with the club, Coady and Santo would guide Wolves back to the Premier League and back into Europe.
During the European campaign the club would reach the quarter-final of the Europa League, and now Wrexham have a player who can pass these experiences on to his teammates.