Future Wales Manager

[BLUETIT]

Re: Future Wales Manager

I don't buy that at all. tosh was a disaster.

he allowed our ranking to fall so low that it was basically impossible to qualify, probably for a couple of tournaments after he'd finished.

yes he played younger players, mostly because he'd alienated so many of the senior players that he didn't have anyone else to pick.

the fact that some of those players have gone on to be really good has probably got very little to do with being picked early for Toshacks Wales.
if you had to attribute their development as players between club and country setups I'd say it was probably at least 95% club. the few times a year they went to play for a shite Wales team won't bhave don't much to change them as players

What a load of utter bollox

[Rjk]

Re: Future Wales Manager

What a load of utter bollox

fair enough, each to their own

[Pearcey3]

Re: Future Wales Manager

I remember really wanting Flynn to replace Toshack and then he was manager for one game and I felt optimistic about it for the first time in ages and we were shocking, Ashley Williams had an absolute nightmare. Not saying that was Flynn's fault, I just remember it was very depressing at the time. Agree he's been hugely important though, he did great work with the Under 21's

I remember feeling that way too. I also recall that when he took over the u21’s they hadn’t won in years. He turned them around.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Future Wales Manager

I don't buy that at all. tosh was a disaster.

he allowed our ranking to fall so low that it was basically impossible to qualify, probably for a couple of tournaments after he'd finished.

yes he played younger players, mostly because he'd alienated so many of the senior players that he didn't have anyone else to pick.

the fact that some of those players have gone on to be really good has probably got very little to do with being picked early for Toshacks Wales.
if you had to attribute their development as players between club and country setups I'd say it was probably at least 95% club. the few times a year they went to play for a shite Wales team won't bhave don't much to change them as players

I'm surprised you believe any of that.

Hughes should have left after we lost to Russia. His handling of the side after we won our first 4 games in the group was poor. After we beat Italy we failed to win any of our last 11 competitive internationals with Hughes in charge. The fall from grace was dramatic. Hughes's old guard needed changing. To blame our fall down the rankings on Toshack is hardly a fair one - the slide had begun before he was appointed. It was no surprise that we ended up where we were. We had a dearth of talent.

Youngsters were picked as older players, who had been responsible for the slide, fell out with Toshack out of support for Hughes. I remember a phone in on Real Radio where Robbie Savage was roasted for saying he'd do anything to get back into the Welsh squad but actually did very little. No loss to Wales, really. Flynn had an excellent track record of working with youngsters. Between him and Tosh they went further with the grandparent eligibility route and got players their Welsh caps early.

I would argue that playing players at a young age benefitted them when it came to playing for Wales. It continues to work to our advantage, so to rubbish it is a little incongruous.

The Toshack years were a dark time of rebuilding. The team he inherited wasn't good enough. I don't believe anyone would have done much with them. I would argue that it wasn't really until Bale and Ramsey came to the fore in the early 2010s that we started to look capable again and the last decade has been incredible. The building for that didn't start with Gary Speed.

[BLUETIT]

Re: Future Wales Manager

I'm surprised you believe any of that.

Hughes should have left after we lost to Russia. His handling of the side after we won our first 4 games in the group was poor. After we beat Italy we failed to win any of our last 11 competitive internationals with Hughes in charge. The fall from grace was dramatic. Hughes's old guard needed changing. To blame our fall down the rankings on Toshack is hardly a fair one - the slide had begun before he was appointed. It was no surprise that we ended up where we were. We had a dearth of talent.

Youngsters were picked as older players, who had been responsible for the slide, fell out with Toshack out of support for Hughes. I remember a phone in on Real Radio where Robbie Savage was roasted for saying he'd do anything to get back into the Welsh squad but actually did very little. No loss to Wales, really. Flynn had an excellent track record of working with youngsters. Between him and Tosh they went further with the grandparent eligibility route and got players their Welsh caps early.

I would argue that playing players at a young age benefitted them when it came to playing for Wales. It continues to work to our advantage, so to rubbish it is a little incongruous.

The Toshack years were a dark time of rebuilding. The team he inherited wasn't good enough. I don't believe anyone would have done much with them. I would argue that it wasn't really until Bale and Ramsey came to the fore in the early 2010s that we started to look capable again and the last decade has been incredible. The building for that didn't start with Gary Speed.

Well said

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Future Wales Manager

Well said

Why didn't you say it then

[BLUETIT]

Re: Future Wales Manager

Why didn't you say it then

I haven’t got enough years left to type all that

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Future Wales Manager

I haven’t got enough years left to type all that

Valid point