MY BOY IS NO THUG
Wales back Taylor over horror tackle
CHRIS COLEMAN leapt to Neil Taylor’s defence last night – revealing the star is DEVASTATED by Seamus Coleman’s leg break.
Full- back Taylor’s reckless challenge in Friday’s World Cup qualifier has left the Ireland skipper fighting to save his career after he underwent surgery to repair his broken leg in Dublin.
The Aston Villa ace, 28, went to Ireland’s dressing room after the game to apologise – but Coleman had already left in an ambulance.
Taylor was left so distraught by the incident that he was unable to speak to team-mates.
But Wales boss Coleman – and team-mates Chris Gunter and Joe Allen – insist the tackle was NOT malicious.
The Red Dragons chief said: “Neil is numb. He couldn’t say a word and when I first approached him in the dressing room, he was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.
“He is not the type of player to go out and hurt someone. Far from it.
“I have never really been in the situation where I have had to defend anything like this. But I defend Neil as a person because he is a lovely lad – a real gentleman.
“He suffered a bad break himself earlier i n his career and i s absolutely devastated by what happened on Friday.
“But I want to make this clear – no matter how badly he feels or we feel, it is far worse for Seamus. He is a great professional and we wish him a swift and speedy recovery. I will speak to Martin O’Neill about what happened.”
Gunter added: “Neil is an honest pro – a really decent lad. As Chris said, we wish Seamus the very best.”
Allen offered another character reference as Taylor was accused of, “a vicious and nasty challenge” by outspoken I rish TV pundit Eamon Dunphy while former Republic and Juventus star Liam Brady described Taylor’s challenge as, “absolutely disgusting”.
But Allen maintained it was not a deliberate attempt to cause injury.
The Stoke City player said: “Neil’s in bits to be quite honest.
“He’s one of my best mates, he is a great guy and he’s really disappointed that one of his tackles has ended up with someone getting badly hurt.
“But there was no malice in what Neil did. He’d never intend to hurt anyone but in football, these things can happen unfortunately.”
While Taylor’s challenge was, by some distance, the worst in a fiery game, it was not the only X-rated tackle.
Gareth Bale left John O’Shea nursing a nasty gash on his shin while Allen was on the end of an accidental elbow from Stoke team-mate Glenn Whelan.
But Coleman refused to blame Ireland for the rough nature of the game.
He said: “I am not going to complain. I knew it was going to be tough and physical. Our boys will stand up for themselves.
“Take the Coleman incident out of it and there was a bit of needle but you have to expect that. Ireland did what they needed to do.”