DOUBTLESS THOMAS
Legend Mickey confident ahead of Brits battle
MICKEY THOMAS says England will hold no fear for Wales when they meet in the World Cup.
Former Wales and Manchester United star Thomas believes Rob Page’s resurgent side have every chance of beating Gareth Southgate’s men in Qatar in November.
Thomas feels England’s shock 4-0 home defeat to Hungary showed Southgate has big problems to solve before the tournament and reckons Wales are ready to take full advantage.
“There will be no fear at all when Wales play England in the group stage,” said Thomas (below). “Why should we fear anyone? We’ve proved in the past we can get results.
“Whenever you play England, you always raise your game, because they are the team everybody wants to beat.
“So they won’t be scared of England – we have proved in the past that we can play at their level, no question about that.
“What will encourage Wales is that, in England’s last couple of games, it looks like they’ve got quite a few problems they need to address. They’ve lost something they had, that winning mentality has gone.
“They’re like a team of individuals at the moment, they’re not connecting properly, they don’t seem like they’re together.
“I know there’s more pressure playing for England.
“The players are in the public eye more than anyone, and a few of them haven’t been playing well for their clubs which can have a knock-on effect in terms of lacking confidence.
“Gareth Southgate has been in charge of England for a long time, and he’s done a great job, but you only get judged as a great manager if you can win things. So the pressure is on.
“I don’t know much about the other teams in the group, Iran and the USA. But the US aren’t the force they were, so England and Wales should qualify from that group.”
Thomas, who won 51 caps, also believes the fact it is set to be the last tournament for Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen will give Wales extra motivation to go far in Qatar.
“Gareth’s not the player he was,” he added.
“Everyone knows as you get older you lose certain things, but he still has an aura about him on the pitch and he commands attention when he plays.”
Thomas, 67, has made a successful recovery from oesophagus cancer and is walking to the summit of Snowdon today to raise funds for the NHS that saved his life.
The walk, which has already raised £10,000, is to provide funds for the Upper Gastrointestinal Surgical Unit at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
“I’ve got the surgeon who saved my life and the chief nurse walking with me, and that’s quite powerful, because these are amazing people,” he said.
“They don’t want publicity, all they want to do is to try to get some financial backing for the equipment they need and this is a way of helping them do that.”
■ To donate to Mickey Thomas’ fundraising walk, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/WalkforLifeMickeyThomas