Coady ready for Molineux return

Conor Coady admits that it’s going to ‘feel a bit weird’ when he returns to Molineux on Friday evening and takes his place in the dugout rather than the pitch.

The England men’s under-21s assistant coach, who has joined Lee Carsley’s coaching team for the first time this week, spent eight years as a player with Wolverhampton Wanderers and made almost 300 appearances in the famous gold and black with many of them as captain.

During that spell, Coady helped Wolves to promotions from League One into the Premier League as well as earning a call-up to the England senior squad for both EURO 2020 and the 2023 World Cup.

But now he’ll be heading in a different direction when he emerges from the tunnel ahead of England’s game with Kazakhstan, which will be shown live and exclusively on the England app.

“I have the greatest memories in the world from going to that stadium, from being part of that club,” said Coady.

“It is going to feel a bit weird [to be heading into the dugout], but for me it's a massive honour to wear the England badge.

“I think that's huge. Whether I was with the MU19s in March, or I'm with the MU21s now, or I was playing for the senior men’s team, it's always been the biggest honour in the world for me. So going back is just a nice little individual moment for me but no-one else really needs to know about it.

“More importantly, it's about the lads going and performing. We’ll be looking at the preparation, what we're going to do in the game and making sure we've prepared so we're ready for what Kazakhstan throws at us and how we're going to win the game.”

Friday’s game with Kazakhstan is the first of three matches during the September and October international window for Carsley’s team, as they look to round off their U21 EURO qualifying campaign by sealing a place at next summer’s Finals in Albania and Serbia.

After winning successive EURO titles in 2023 and 2025, the message is clear for their ambition heading in 2027 and Coady admits it’s an exciting prospect for him to be involved.

“It's huge and there's a goal at the end of the day and as football players, you want to know what your goal is at the end of it,” he added.

“It’s clear for us all to see and it's a massive one for me to come into, but I'm so focused on helping Lee, Paul and the lads as much as I possibly can.

“I'm throwing myself in as much as I can to try and make the environment, the training and the lads as prepared as they can be going into these games.

“They're massive games and I'm going off first-hand experience, the end goal is to win and you know where it takes you if you win.

“So that's the full focus going into these camps and these games and it's something obviously we all can't wait for.”

You can watch all three of the MU21s’ games this window live and exclusively on the England app.

- England v Kazakhstan, 7.30pm BST, Friday 25 September 2026
- England v Slovakia, 7.45pm BST, Friday 2 October 2026
- Republic of Ireland v England, 6pm BST, Tuesday 6 October 2026