Matt Maher: Conor Coady's Wolves departure is the last link to the bygone era

Lining up alongside Coady at Ewood Park that day were, among others, Scott Golbourne, Dominic Iorfa and James Henry, all long departed. Adam Le Fondre, signed on loan from Cardiff a week previously, came off the bench late on as Kenny Jackett’s team held out for a 2-1 opening day victory.

For Coady and Wolves it has been quite the journey from then to now: The switch from midfielder to defender, captaincy, winning the Championship, the Premier League, Europe, England.

His exit from Molineux after more than 300 appearances feels anti-climatic partly because everyone assumed they’d said their goodbyes last summer. For the first half of the season at least it seemed unthinkable Everton wouldn’t trigger their £4.5million option to buy Coady permanently.

Even so, the low key manner of his exit now to Leicester in a deal worth an initial £7.5m feels inappropriate for a player who contributed so much. It’s nobody’s fault, of course, more a reminder of how football is a ruthless business where time and sentiment wait for no man. Very few stories receive the perfect ending.

What Coady and anyone who followed his Wolves career can’t be denied is the memories. A key component of the club’s best team for probably 40 years, his name will forever be etched into the Molineux fabric. Nuno Espirto Santo must take credit for the positional switch, yet it was Coady who made the most of the opportunity.

Almost as important is what he delivered off the field. Quite simply, Coady was everything a supporter would want their club captain to be. He was one of those players who realises the heart of a club is its people and for them he genuinely cared. Neither did he ever change. For all the success, he leaves Molineux the same person at 30 he was when he arrived at 22.

The ending might have been better. The story is still a great one.