HOW A REVOLUTION HAS TURNED

SOMETHING very special is stirring in Welsh football... and it stretches way beyond Gareth Bale and his Euro 2016-bound colleagues.

They make history by marching upon France and, quite rightly, will grab the headlines over the coming days and weeks.

But Chris Coleman and his back- Euros in the coming days.

You don’t get route one rubbish with Wales. The mantra is possession is ten tenths of the law. It’s about keep the ball, keep the ball and keep the ball.

But it’s a system not only implemented with Bale and co, but with every Welsh ide at age-grade level. The plan from Roberts is designed to smooth the pathway for a conveyor belt of young Dragons talent for when they reach the senior side.

“When Gary Speed came in as manager, he immediately bemoaned that we would compete once a decade... and then disappear for the next nine years,” explains Roberts. “Gary knew that better than most because he had been there twice as a player, under Terry Yorath in 1993 and Mark Hughes for Euro 2004.

“It was a bugbear of his. Gary would say, ‘ On each occasion we almost qualified... then went into oblivion. We must end that’.

“So we implemented plans to ensure we do. Chris Coleman immediately bought into that too and we have kept the record going, I guess, by actually reaching the Euros another decade on. This time the test is to ensure it is not yet another oneoff, that what is happening with the age-groups below is the key to sustainability.

“It’s not just about the present, the future is looking rosy for us, too.”

For several months, the staff under Roberts at the FAW Trust’s hi-tech new home in Newport have been poring over video analysis of the Slovakia, England and Russia players WALES also have what they call a Bale and the rest will be locking traffic light system in place to monihorns with in these Euros. tor fitness through daily saliva and

No stone is left unturned to prourine tests. The days of everyone runvide Coleman and his team with the ning out at 10.30am and doing exactup-to-the-minute data they require ly the same training routine are well to give them the so-called extra one and truly gone. per cent required in elite sport. If the test results show Bale needs

“You hear about cycling excelto be held back before Slovakia, red lence and marginal gains in other will trigger and his work-load will be sports. reduced. If the tests show Aaron

“But I would argue we have been Ramsey needs extra training, the developing that in Welsh football for green light will be given for that. the last five years,” says Roberts. Training sessions are filmed, ana

“We have a video analysis presenlysed, poured over and fed back to WE have become accustomed to the tation for the entire squad a few days the players to get them ready like a ‘Welsh way’ of playing, a pleasing on before the game, but each player well-tuned Ferrari engine for kickthe eye passing approach which will off.alsohasspecificdataonhisdirect wow followers of the sport at the opponent fed onto his Ipad to look But the key here is that this doesn’t THE man who has led the revolution is not Coleman, but his No2 Osian Roberts. He is the highly-regarded Technical Director of the FAW Trust and who doubles up as Coleman’s assistant with the senior side, having previously held down that role under Gary Speed.

Roberts isn’t one of Welsh football’s more high-profile figures. His CV shows he played in the Northern League for Bangor City, in America for New Mexico Chiles and managed Porthmadog in the League of Wales.

Make no mistake though that while Bale and Co grab the limelight, the undemonstrative work put together in the background by Roberts and his technical staff is just as pivotal to the wellbeing of our game.

It’s not just about beating Belgium, marching into the Euros ond looking to overcome Slovakia, England and Russia in France.

There is much to write home about lower down the scale too. Our Welsh under-16 side beat England to win the Home Nations Victory Shield for the first time in almost 60 years. They also defeated France for the first time in history.

Roberts has also persuaded three legendary World Cup winners, Thierry Henry, Marcel Desailly and Patrick Vieira, to come to Wales to take their coaching badges. In return, they have given Wales tips about how to handle the pressure of a major tournament in France.

Few know better, because they were each in the France side that won the 1998 world Cup on home soil.

The fact that they are prepared to help proves that when it comes to commanding new-found football respect, the name of Wales is reaching out way beyond these borders.

Wales is suddenly a buzz word in world football. Paul Abbandonato Head of Sport room team are determined to ensure this is not a one-off and we have no more repeats of the once every 10 years Welsh football boom-bust scenario that we have become so familiar with.

To that end, Wales have adopted a state-of-the-art sports science approach behind the scenes which has not only helped put Bale and his team-mates in France, but will also ensure that the stunning success can be sustained for years to come.

This is the story of what goes on behind closed doors to turn Wales into a Euro force. at. So, for example, let’s look at Ashley Williams. If he’s playing against Cristian Benteke, as he was during the qualifiers, he knows pretty much everything about him anyway.

“But at international level that’s not always the case. So we’ll give him the videos to show which way the opposition centre-forward tends to move, which foot he favours, the type of runs he makes, where he goes for corners. And so on.

“We provide that data for every player and it’s up to the individuals whether they look at it. Physically and mentally we ensure they are absolutely 100 per cent ready come kick-off time.

“We can’t be cluttering minds with new information less than 48 hours before a game. Everything has been provided before that.

“The psychological aspect is huge and I remember the lesson we learned from Craig Bellamy ahead of one Saturday game. We had stopped the players from any golf activity, but Craig came to us on the Tuesday and pleaded to go out on the course. ‘I have to switch off, relax. If not, I will end up playing the match in my mind by Thursday night’, he told us.

“It was a fair point. Craig’s such a buzz of activity he would have been mentally drained two days ahead of the game, had nothing left to give. We had to think of his wishes.” just happen with the superstars in Coleman’s X1. It is a system which has been implemented at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 level too, with individual action plans given to the players to make them more rounded footballers.

The Welsh style of play is central to everything, Roberts saying: “It has been implemented from top to bottom. We want our Wales teams to have control of the ball, passing through the thirds, not just lump deep punts upfield where it becomes fightball between the centre-forward and centre half.

“We’re not saying that style is right or wrong, but what we are saying is that it is the Welsh way. “We accept some of our players will go back to their clubs and be asked for a more route one approach. That’s fine. But when they come into a national pool, we ask them to do it our way.

“Anyhow, I tell the younger players that through their career they will work under different managers who have different tactical approaches, so learning about adaptability at such a tender age is no bad thing.

“Ben Davies went straight through from under-19s to senior side. He stepped up like a duck to water because the teams play the same way. But it doesn’t matter when they