‘We sat in the dressing room in silence, listening to the Wales fans singing’

QUALIFYING AND HOW CHRIS GUNTER MIRRORED WELSH RUGBY LEGEND’S STIRRING SPEECH

(Wales had just lost a key qualifier 2-0 in Bosnia, but confusion reigned. Israel, their big rivals for runners-up spot, were in trouble at home to Cyprus. Wales were about to make it to a major finals for the first time since 1958).

Edwards: “The tunnel was on the other side of the pitch from me, so while we were getting bits of information we were never completely sure. Then we heard cheers and roars coming from the Welsh fans — Cyprus had won 2-1 in Israel. Wales had qualified!

For a while though we didn’t know that for sure, but everyone was celebrating, so we just joined in!

It was nice to share the moment on the pitch with the Welsh fans who had followed us throughout Europe for so many years without any real success.

It wasn’t the most luxurious of places to have sealed the deal, but in a way that made things even better.

We had a few beers in the dressing room and then went back to the hotel. They gave us a conference suite for us to use to have a get-together and toast our qualification.

Owain Fôn Williams got his guitar out and played some tunes and we even got the gaffer (Chris Coleman) to give us a song.

Chris Gunter stood up in front of everyone to give us his rendition of one of the famous inspirational speeches made by Wales rugby star Scott Quinnell: ‘You feel those butterflies in your stomach? They’re not butterflies. They’re dragons’!”

PREPARING FOR FRANCE

Edwards: “We had some integrity and commercial meetings in the evening, which was a talk from an FAW official covering UEFA’s guidance – what we

should and shouldn’t do during the tournament, and what we should and shouldn’t say.

We were going to need to do everything by the book. It included details like having to use Adidas-branded washbags when you go into the stadium, and only using officially branded headphones with your personal gadgets.

Some of the players disputed that, saying that Cristiano Ronaldo would – 100% – be getting off the Portugal bus with his Louis Vuitton bag or his Beats headphones, or whatever it was he normally had.

I remember watching the first game and seeing everyone going in with their own gear, completely ignoring the protocols we’d been given.

It even extended to social media and which hashtags we were supposed to use on Twitter and Instagram and so on.

An extraordinary amount of detail, and quite a boring meeting to be honest, but the FAW had to get this right and make sure we avoided any unwanted fines or sanctions.”

ARRIVING IN FRANCE - AND FEAR IN THE PLAYERS’ EYES

(Wales were based in the Brittany coastal town of Dinard where their hotel and training HQ had state-oftheart facilities. But first there was a rather unexpected turn of events).

Edwards: “During that first week, w e were called to a meeting with our analysts Esther Wills and James Turner.

Esther led the meeting and started by giving everyone an iPad Pro to use during the tournament, loaded with analysis details so we could get as much information as we needed about training, opponents and our individual clips.

The lads were excited because we thought we were getting a free iPad. That hope was quickly extinguished as Esther said they needed to be returned at the end of the trip.

If not, there’d be a fine, as there’d be if any of the lads visited any inappropriate websites – as the junior age groups at the FAW would also use the iPads afterwards.

The meeting was then abruptly halted in complete pandemonium, when Les, the head security guy, burst through the doors shouting, ‘Get out of here, follow me and don’t look back!’ Wow. Panic time.

Everyone surged to the door. It was chaos. We ran down the corridors, heading towards the basement, with Les shouting: ‘Keep moving, keep moving!’

I immediately assumed this was a terror attack, and you could tell by the panic and look on the other lads’ faces that they were equally scared!

As I got to the basement we moved into an underground car park. The front of the group were 20 yards or so ahead and there were some tall railed gates to the right.

I could see the gaffer going past

them and, suddenly, someone on the other side started shaking and rattling the gates. Everyone was petrified and in panic mode!

Les stopped at the far wall and started speaking. ‘Relax, that was a drill... we needed to show you where we would go if there was any sort of emergency.’ The lads didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as we trudged back up to the meeting room. As we walked in, it was obvious that everyone had thought it was the real deal because the chairs were everywhere – strewn over the room – and poor Esther’s iPads had just been thrown over the place.

It was remarkable how none of them had been damaged. As we put the room back together and sat down, an air of calm came over the group and the gaffer broke the silence: ‘Who the heck was shaking them gates then?’

Once again, laughter broke out and the mood was lightened.”

THE SLOVAKIA OPENER

(The players were given a special fillip at a team meeting just before the game, the fans were magnificent, the anthem stunning... and we won, of course!) Edwards: “One of the FAW staff had asked us for the names of our next of kin and their phone number. She said they needed it for their records, so none of us thought anything of it. We just handed over the details.

As we sat down for that team meeting, we were told the manager had something to show us, and the room went dark. Suddenly Maddy, Sam Vokes’ girlfriend, appeared on the screen. I was sat next to Sam at the time and he jolted forward, totally stunned to see her. No one knew what was going on.

The FAW had arranged for every single player in the squad to have good luck messages from their loved ones. As the beaming faces of each player’s nearest and dearest appeared, you could just see the lads welling up.

Having those close to us saying how proud they were of them, and telling the players to enjoy it, was an incredibly emotional experience for us. There is a real close bond and close-knit squad. We shared one goal, to win the game. We were in this together.

Then, just as it went quiet ahead of the manager’s team-talk, there was another incredible moment which I’d never previously experienced.

We were sat in the dressing room, in total silence, apart from a thudding noise from the stadium. It was the Welsh fans singing.

It was the only thing we could hear. This was a new stadium and usually, with the insulation, you just don’t hear anything from the crowd.

It was another reminder of how special this day was, and how privileged I was to be there.

Everyone knows how stirring the Welsh anthem is, but on that day in Bordeaux it was stirring beyond words. It is such a patriotic anthem and means so much. I think even people who aren’t Welsh will enjoy it, in the same way as when you listen to the French or the Italian national anthems. There is so much passion in it.

We were singing it, with the Welsh fans away to our right and behind us. We could hear the roar from them belting it out with so much emotion, and we could see the lads on the bench in front of us, with the manager and the backroom staff, with their arms around each other.

The atmosphere was out of this world.

Towards the end of the anthem, I looked up to the big screen and there was a Welsh fan screaming it out with tears streaming down his face. We knew how much it meant to those fans, how much it had cost them to get to games, the time they’d taken off work.

Seeing that fan on the big screen just brought it home to me about just how much it meant for Wales to be at a major tournament after so many years.”

THE REASONS FOR THOSE DAFT TEAM LINE-UPS

Edwards: “Then came the team photo. Wales have become known as having an alternative attitude to it, with players taking irregular positions.

Initially, it wasn’t something that happened on purpose – it was just a bit sloppy – but leading up to the game it was something the lads discussed, and we decided that it seemed to be a lucky thing – so we’d just keep doing it.

The team photo against Slovakia wasn’t too bad, actually quite regular, but for the rest of the tournament you could generally see one player left out on the end of a row.

It’s not necessarily done deliberately. Just that when it happens no one corrects it. Footballers can be a superstitious bunch.”

THE AFTER-MATCH CELEBRATIONS

Edwards: “That 90 minutes was just the best feeling on a football pitch. It was such a big win for us – 58 years in the making – and set us up perfectly for the tournament. It took the pressure off going into the England game, which was always going to be huge.

The celebrations on the pitch went on for a fair time – it felt like we had won the Euros already!

We went over to the Wales fans in the corner to thank them for their support and to share the moment, something we did after every match.

In our post-match huddle, Ash stressed how big an achievement it was to get the three points, but that the job wasn’t done. One more win would get us through – even another point might be enough – but the relief on top of the ecstasy of the game was something else.

We had three points in the bag, and wouldn’t be playing catch-up in the group. It was a great buzz.”

THE AGONISING LOSS TO ENGLAND

(Next came the big one against the old enemy. Wales were beaten 2-1, but were surprisingly lifted by one of England’s leading stars immediately afterwards).

Welsh players loved Bale goading England

Edwards: “Before the England game Gareth replied, ‘None,’ to the question, ‘How many England players would get into the Wales team?’

It caused uproar. He then said that whilst the English players clearly had passion, he believed the Welsh players had more.

The media loved it, and so did we – gathered in the team room, with the lads getting treatment, watching it unfold.

Each of us – staff and players – would be giggling away at some of the storms Gareth would be starting.

Once it was finished we would wait patiently for Gaz to return with a box of goodies from the media room, the best of which were the toffee muffins.

We would tuck-in, making sure we weren’t spotted by our head of performance Ryland Morgans.

The media days had their important purpose, of course, but we also saw them as a way to have fun and keep relaxed.”