Coady: A Great First Week

- Leicester City's pre-season work got underway last week
- The Foxes are due in Évian-les-Bains in France for a week now
- Conor Coady has been excited by the early stages of pre-season
- He has commented on Steve Cooper's start to life as Manager

The experienced centre-back, who joined the Club last summer, says new Manager Steve Cooper has settled in quickly following his appointment in June.

Players new and old have come together in Seagrave last week to start preparations for the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, which will see the Foxes return to English football's top tier after a season away.

It's certain to be a year which brings challenges, but Coady believes the early signs are good as new signings including Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Michael Golding and Caleb Okoli get used to their surroundings.

"The first week’s done," the former Wolverhampton Wanderers defender said. "For me, it’s been really good, really intense. It’s been tough, it’s been training where we’re working on a lot of new stuff under the new Manager.

"The first impressions of the new gaffer and the coaching staff have been brilliant. He’s a real hands-on manager. He’s someone who wants to talk to the lads constantly, he’s always around the boys, having a little bit of banter.

"But when you’re on the pitch, it’s work time. I’ve known him previously as well, from my time when I was growing up at Liverpool. His love for the game is so intense when you go out there.

"You can see it resonates with the players, it resonates with how he comes across in training, it resonates with all of us in training well, so he’s been brilliant.

"The first week has been tough, but it’s been great to listen to the ideas, listen to the way he wants to play, and I think it’s important to know that he doesn’t want to change a massive amount, but he wants to put his own stamp on it as well.

"It’s been a great week, it’s something we’re looking forward to, and we just want to kick on now."

The City squad are now set for a week away in the picturesque setting of Évian-les-Bains for further pre-season work and Coady, 31, is looking forward to seeing those preparations develop again.

"Without a doubt, Évian comes with its challenges, just because of how hard pre-season is," he added. "We all know it, we all understand it, I’ve had a lot of pre-seasons in my career.

"I don’t know what number this is now, but I love them each and every year, so it’s great to spend time with the lads. Going to somewhere like that, new lads come all the time, and it’s important we incorporate them as much as we can.

"It’s something we’re looking forward to in a lovely part of the world."

The summer presented an opportunity for Coady to add to his punditry resume at UEFA EURO 2024, watching a wide range of fixtures. Although now fully focused on pre-season, it was a chance for the defender to see other sides to the game.

"I just love football," he explained. "To go out and watch games of football and be able to speak about football… as you can probably tell now, speaking to the camera, I speak quite a lot!

"To be able to watch games that I would probably not go to live, I did Poland vs. Austria, which was amazing as well… just to watch these games of football was fantastic and something I really enjoyed."