An autumn feast?
The greatest Welsh club bosses... where do these ex-Bluebirds managers rank?
WAYNE Pivac’s Wales side could play eight matches this autumn in a mouthwatering feast of Test rugby as part of a revised calendar World Rugby are drawing up.
Three of the games would be against New Zealand, if the plans get the go-ahead.
World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont revealed “excellent progress” is being made towards a revised Test structure for 2020 following in-depth talks with northern and southern hemipshere powerbrokers.
Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips has been among those canvassed for his views, with Beaumont saying competition bosses and players have also been consulted.
Although World Rugby have not come up with definitive dates, their actions are being interpreted as paving the way for a crammed Test calendar in October and November to make up for summer tours being cancelled owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wales are due to play two Tests in New Zealand in July, as well as a June 27 warm-up clash with Japan.
However, those three matches may each be switched to October, when Wales are also due to play Scotland in their re-arranged Six Nations finale.
Wales then have four November matches lined up, against New Zealand again, world champions South
Africa, plus Argentina and Fiji, bringing the possible number of autumn games to eight in total.
It is unclear yet whether the planned summer fixtures would still be tour matches, which is the preferred option for New Zealand, or be staged at the Principality Stadium.
Wales are planning for various scenarios, but everything is dependent upon the advice given by the authorities.
It seems unlikely they would stage eight matches pretty much back-toback in Cardiff, however, so something may need to give.
Beaumont says the discussions remain ongoing for what he calls “the delivery of a viable 2020 international competition calendar.”
World Rugby want the summer tour matches to still go ahead, if possible, because of the millions in revenue they would bring in. England are due to head to Japan, Ireland to Australia, while Scotland have two games in South Africa and one in New Zealand.
These fixtures would each need to be rearranged as part of Beaumont’s new calendar.
World Rugby have also announced an £80m relief fund to help unions struggling with the financial crisis. Beaumont said in a World Rugby statement: “Global sport is facing a crisis never seen before and at this most challenging time we are taking unprecedented action as a sport united to support global rugby, its unions, competitions and players through the enormous challenge presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have chaired many productive meetings in recent weeks with my union, region, competition and player colleagues and we are moving rapidly towards a viable calendar solution and, while compromises are being made, the outcome will be in the best interests of the whole game.
“This sets a potential blueprint for successful collaboration in the future and I would like to thank everyone for their openness, cooperation and global view.”
Once they have played autumn matches, Wales, of course, would then go into five Six Nations games in February and March 2021. It could mean Alun Wyn Jones and his team playing as many as 13 Test matches in a short six-month period.
TO THE younger breed of supporter, Welsh football is about the Premier League, Euro semi-finals, Gareth Bale, Craig Bellamy, Michu, Wembley cup finals and sell-out crowds. Wow. It is fair to say we have had a golden era since the turn of the millennium.
Older fans, of course, know it wasn’t always like this. Many of us have been at Ninian Park, or the Vetch, in front of gates barely touching 3,000 to watch Cardiff City and Swansea City in the old Third Division.
Or at Wales matches where 10,000 was regarded as a really good attendance.
Don’t believe it? In 1996, a gate of 3,721 were at the Cardiff v Swansea league derby clash.
Three years on, a mere 5,064 turned up to watch a Wales team captained by Gary Speed lose to Switzerland in a European Championship qualifier.
That wasn’t so far in the distant past, you know, enabling those who have seen the dark days to put into perspective just how magical things have been over the past two decades.
There have been a whole raft of reasons for the success stories, including a number of top managers in the Welsh game.
Here we take a look at the men who have played a significant part in the Welsh football revolution by ranking the top 15 managers this century.
Everyone, of course, will have their own view of what the order should be, such is the beauty of sport.
Here goes...
15: BRIAN FLYNN Most of his excellent work with Wrexham was in the 1990s, but he did keep Swansea City in the Football League with that final day great escape act against Hull and went on to do well at Doncaster. His role as Wales youth guru under John Toshack also paved the way for the likes of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey to be fast-tracked through the system.
A great spotter of talent. And one of the nicest blokes you could wish to meet, too.
14: KENNY JACKETT Took over a Swansea City side that just a year earlier, like Newport County, had only avoided going out of the league with victory over Hull on the final day of the season.
Jackett began the Swans’ march up the divisions, winning promotion from League Two in his first season and also the Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium. Has gone on to also take Wolves and Millwall up. 13: LENNIE LAWRENCE Kind of did for the Bluebirds what Jackett managed for the Swans by starting the brighter days with that epic Millennium Stadium play-off victory over QPR.
Cardiff City have had some truly great days this century - but few better than this one as Lawrence took the team into the Championship.
12: DAVE JONES (below) If Lennie stablised the Bluebirds in the second tier, Jones took things on several notches by bringing big name stars to the Welsh capital and producing some scintillating football during a thrilling six-year reign.
Cardiff fans starved of seeing top players at their club were suddenly enthralled watching Jason Koumas, Jay Bothroyd, Michael Chopra, Craig Bellamy, Peter Whittingham and a young Aaron Ramsey. Under the ambitious Sam Hammam and Peter Ridsdale, Jones changed the mindset at the club as
Cardiff
challenged for the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final.
The only reason he’s not even higher on this list is because ultimately they didn’t win anything.
But what a ride it was.
11: TONY PULIS He could be much higher of course, but didn’t actually manage in Wales.
Has never forgotten his Newport roots, though, and his years spent at the top level, particularly with Stoke and Crystal Palace, command respect and a place on the list.
10: MALKY MACKAY Delivered the Premier League dream for the Bluebirds, winning the league title to send Wales’ capital city club into the top flight for the first time in 51 years. Also came within a penalty shootout of beating Liverpool to lift the League Cup at Wembley.
And everything achieved against a background of the team playing in red, murmurs of discontent among fans and cost-cutting compared to the Jones era.
Cardiff fans had great affection for their manager and made up their own ‘Don’t Sack Mackay’ ditty about him. It worked for a while, but Vincent Tan had his way in the end. 9: MARK HUGHES Another who could be arguably higher, as he gave us that golden year as Wales manager when Italy were beaten and we came within a whisker of Euro 2004. Plus he also managed in the Premier League. But it’s also hard to get away from the fact that under Sparky Wales went a record 14 games without a win prior to that golden run, then two years and 10 matches without a competitive win after it.
Talk about boom and bust. Gave
Wales some great times, though, with 74,000 Millennium Stadium sell-outs.
8: JOHN TOSHACK In a different sort of list, Toshack would obviously be number one. How many others can say they have managed Real Madrid? But his spell as Wales manager between 2004-10 was mixed at best, with the side never in with a chance of qualifying.
Toshack, though, was responsible for implementing the bold youth revolution that fast-forwarded Wales several years and helped lead to the subsequent success, with Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen amongst the plethora of teens he gave debuts to.
7: GARY SPEED Just as Toshack had to reboot post-Hughes, so did Speed when he took the Wales helm. Speed actually took the team down to 117th in the FIFA rankings after a home defeat to Australia, his passion burning brightly as he stated the position embarrassed him and he was going to do something about it.
He did just that, modernising the set-up and spearheading wins over Montenegro, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Norway that saw Wales become FIFA’s fastest movers.
It was Speed’s foundation work, which built upon Toshack’s, that saw Wales make the strides which culminated in a Euros semi-final.
Joe Ledley calls him ‘the best manager I’ve had.’
6: MICHAEL LAUDRUP Gave Swansea their greatest days, winning the League Cup, sparking that 3-0 triumph over Valencia and shocking the Premier League big guns to take the Swans to eighth in the table.
That was some team under him – Michu, Chico Flores, Ki Sung-yueng, Pablo Hernandez signed to supplement the players who had already stabilised in the top flight.
They played with real panache, but it suddenly fell apart very quickly and Laudrup was sacked. Some think it was the wrong decision to this day.
5: RYAN GIGGS (below) Deserves a place in the top five for the remarkable job he has done with Wales, qualifying a new-look team full of exciting youngsters for Euro 2020.
It was a bold decision to ditch the majority of the old guard who had been automatic picks under Chris Coleman, but Giggs went about the task fearlessly and was proven right in his judgement.
That he did it against a backdrop of a hard-core section of Welsh fans not wanting him as manager made the achievement even more satisfactory. Where Wales were often backs-tothe-wall under Coleman, Giggs’s young guns have a licence to thrill. And they do. The future is looking red.
4: NEIL WARNOCK He achieved far more than promotion to the Premier League with Cardiff, he brought a divided club back together again. Where there were previously splits under Solskjaer, Slade and Trollope, the fans rallied behind Warnock and had complete trust in their manager.
The style was never easy on the eye, but Warnock made the Bluebirds a force again – particularly at their Cardiff City Stadium lair.
It may have finished sourly, but Warnock made Cardiff Together Stronger, to coin Wales’ phrase, and that should never be forgotten.
He is a Bluebirds legend.
3: CHRIS COLEMAN Was he just fortunate to take over a group of ready-made Premier League footballers with Wales?
Has the real Chris Coleman been seen afterwards, with his struggles at Sunderland and China?
Judge as you see fit.
The fact is, however, that he was the manager who took Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and gave us the greatest summer we have known. Facts are facts. 2: ROBERTO MARTINEZ Took Swansea to the second tier of English football for the first time in 24 years, then towards the Championship play-offs.
It was his first job as a manager, but Martinez always seemed destined for bigger things. Beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup with Wigan, managed Everton, then took Belgium to the World Cup semi-finals.
Also had the Belgians ranked as the number one side in the world.
A Swans gamble which you can say paid off. Could easily be number one.
1: BRENDAN RODGERS Talking of gambles, he’d barely lasted six months as Reading boss and had taken the team towards the relegation spots. But Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins saw something special in a young Rodgers and, as with Martinez, was proven spot on in his decision-making again.
If Martinez kick-started the Swans’ real rise, it was Rodgers who delivered Premier League football for the first time in Wales with that play-off win over Reading and who stabilised the club amongst the elite.
Some fans, and the odd pundit, refused to believe that having just signed a new three-year deal, Rodgers would leave the job half done at the Liberty to join Liverpool. But there was no way on earth Rodgers was going to reject the lure of one of the biggest clubs on the planet.
Up at Anfield Rodgers was a Steven Gerrard slip away from winning the league, followed that with a recordbreaking time in charge of Celtic and has since taken Leicester to the brink of the UEFA Champions League.
It is a record that speaks for itself. You just see Rodgers going on to bigger things again, be it at club or international level.