Express & Star

Steve Bull: Great to see Wolves skipper Conor Coady captain England

What a delight it was seeing Wolves skipper Conor Coady pull on the captain’s armband again for England the other night.

Published
Conor Coady

In just four caps, he has ended two of them as captain.

And that just shows you how highly he is thought of by Gareth Southgate.

I watched Conor closely and only a couple of passes went astray the whole game.

The opposition has to be taken into account, but it was another top night for him.

He is coming on leaps and bounds with England, and you can see that he’s growing in confidence and really making his presence felt.

Anybody who thinks he shouldn’t be in the Three Lions fold needs to look again because he’s a leader.

Whenever he’s out on the pitch for England, he leads just like he does for Wolves, and Southgate – who was a centre-half himself, of course – likes that.

Whether it has been San Marino or the games at the back end of last year, Conor has done a solid job.

At the end of the day, those natural leaders don’t come in large supply, and he always goes out there and gives it 110 per cent. You know what you’re going to get from him.

In such a young side, he has an important role to play – and fingers crossed he will carry on doing so for the Euros.

Finally, I would like to take another opportunity to pay my respects to the wonderful Graham Hughes.

Everyone of a Wolves persuasion knows how fantastic he was.

Yesterday was his funeral and I had the chance to be there and say a final farewell to a lovely man and very, very good friend.

He will be missed by thousands of people, having always been there in the Molineux reception and a smiling, welcoming face happy to chat about all things Wolves.

We gave him the best send-off we could.