[Archived] Toshack Blames Hughes

[bob fleming]

we all know the real problem in this

Evil Saunders

Nah, he's not the Welshs problem, he's got a group of hired idiots into the England setup that resulted in a recall for Heskey.

Disagree. It is Saunders in charge of Wales but he's hiding inside an inflatable "It's A Knockout Stylee" John Toshack suit.

I mean, come on, it's obvious, I can't believe he hasn't been rumbled. I don't know anyone who is actually the size of "Toshack" and nobody other the the "Lord Of All Evil " would come out with as much utter rubbish.

[Flopsy]

The public must be saved

to the Bat Cave Robin

[Teemu]

Well...you kind of answered your first statement at the end...with the talent available, they should have qualified.

They possibly could have but I wouldn't say they should have.

I reckon they played back then in the same qualification group with Finland? They sure worked well as a defensive unit but I really didn't see them as an attacking threat. Against us they created about three chances in two games. They scored from all of those,yes, but against better sides like the Ruskies you can't count on such finishing rate, unless you are a Greek

I think Hughes did good job with them anyway. Hopefully he just finds some more attacking solutions now when he is with Rovers.

[philipl]

My impression of Toshack,who I think was involved in the rise of Swansea from the lower reaches to the 1st Division, was that he had some success in the Basque area as well as some success in Madrid.

Lovely bit of understatement there

Back in the days of Romario and Stoitckov running rampant in the Spanish League for Barcelona, their main rivals were the Deportivo side managed by Toshack.

He also won the league with Real Madrid in 1989, with a side that scored 107 goals in a season... still a record.

Won the Spanish Cup in 1987 awith Real Sociedad and the following season guided the side to second place in the league.

Fantastic what fried bananas can do.

Chicken and beans won one measly Premiership.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

20 years ago in 1985, Wales were on the verge of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup. In one of their best ever performances, they beat Spain 3-0 at home in their qualification group. Ian Rush scored twice and Mark Hughes scored the other one.

The Welsh campaign boiled down to the last match at home against Scotland at Ninian Park, which they needed to win. Hughes gave the Welsh the lead early in the match, but with just 10 minutes of the game remaining, Scotland were awarded a controversial penalty, scored by Davie Cooper. The Scots went to Mexico.

In the late 1990's, under Bobby Gould, Welsh football reached it's nadir, losing 7-1 to Holland and 4-0 to Tunisia. The only way was up under Mark Hughes' management and he gave the Welsh some much needed pride back - although he failed to win any of his last 10 competitive matches.

Today, in front of 47,000 at the Millenium stadium, John Toshack saw his side lose 2-0 to Austria, a result which completely ends any faint hopes Wales still had of qualifying.

Toshack said after the match that the Austrians were stronger and fitter than his players. He denied that Robbie Savage would have made any difference to the result.

"Savage has been an integral part of the side that has gone 10 games without a win," said Tosh. Robbie says that he'd be willing to play for Wales again if Toshack was no longer in charge.

Ryan Giggs, wearing the captain's armband today on his 50th appearance, will have to play on until he's 36 in 2010 if he's to ever fulfil his ambition of representing Wales at a World Cup tournament. It's looking unlikely.

Edited March 26, 2005 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[1864roverite]

You forgot to add

todays result is down to two things only

Blackburn Rovers and Mark Hughes

they were crap, they were outplayed, they were toothless, they were utter rubbish and Toshacks new midfield engine worked a treat didnt it ?

looks like the wales factor has worn off big style after their stunning grand slam, now they have witnessed a slam dunk as well.

[BRFC4EVA]

Ha ha wales unlucky. Im delighted with this result, shows the class above which is hughes compared to that un-organised shambles TOSH-ak. Somehow the clown doesnt think that playing a proven prem savage in place of a league 1 midfielder would make any difference to the team

[philipl]

It gives me no pleasure to write this but the Toshack appointment can be summed up in one word- disaster. Disaster before it was made, disaster whilst he is in charge and disaster, the sum total legacy.

The man has immense abilities and huge achievements to his credit but has been undermined by an alarming personal hubris. So at a time when he should be sitting as a colussus in charge of a trophy winning machine, the giant ego is sitting in a tin pot organisation populated with self-opinionated taffy pygmies with egos from the same Welsh paranoid parochialism as his own.

Only John Toshack and the odd committee man Robbie rubbed up the wrong way can fail to see the folly of dropping Savage.

Effectively Tosh said he wasn't man or big enough to be able to manage Savage- what an admission!

The rest of the world looked on and laughed whilst the Austrians laughingly said taf very much before choking as Poland smashed 8 past the hapless Azeris..

[Krillin]

I must admit I was a bit surprised last night.

After the England game I was scouting about the 'other channels' and came across BBC Wales. I was hoping to catch a bit of the game, but for whatever reason they weren't showing it.

They did, however, have their equivilent of Final Score with some Welsh bod and Leighton James stood outside the Millennium talking about the Wales game.

James was saying that, despite the defeat, Toshack's managership was like a breath of fresh air to the team. He seemed to be very critical of 'the previous regime' who employed negative, long ball tactics and their team had little flair.

Better, said LJ, to lose whilst trying to play good, attractive football, than have to endure some of the stuff played in the last few years (when, I thought, Wales were more competitive internationaly....).

Things to be much better with Toshack, predicted Leighton.

Now, I thought that Sparky & Co were the good guys.

I thought that the Welsh were pleased with Hughes' work and his elevation of their national team to genuine Championship qualification contenders.

Is LJ simply having a go because of The Rovers connection or to some loyalty towards friend? (he would have played with Toshack...probably too old to have met up with Hughes).

Or is his apparent 'speaking on the behalf of many', (anyone who has heard LJ on Radio Lancs will appreciate his use of the burnley tactic of 'talk crap with enough authority and people will eventually believe you') actually vindicated and the Welsh now see Hughes' reign as a boring and negative period in their football ?

I know that tactics at Ewood have changed recently, but I thought that this was a case of needs must. Given the players available to him, Hughes has altered things to make us harder to beat and to stave off relegation.

I was hopeful that next season (following a summer of improving the team quality), The Rovers would be able to play a more attractive, flowing style.

[Eddie]

I only saw Wales play bigger teams, like their games against Italy, and there they were set on defense, so I'm not really one to comment. It is important to remember though that at the moment the Welsh National Team is in a "needs must" situation when it comes to play defensive football with little flair in order to get results.

[John]

The reason Hughes employed 'neagtive' tactics is quite obvious. Look at their centre backs! Gabbidon is prone to Amo mistakes eventhough he looks potentially a fine defender. They are weak at the back, they need protection. The games I have seen Wales they are not international standard at the back.

Its all very well Tosh saying he wants to get the ball down and play but they are a few players short to do that. He really is a kn*b, everytime he talks he refers back to Hughes era as being problematic in terms of the issues he faces now. He did a lot of good Hughes there, and the fact he left when he did, he realised he needed a change and most probably Wales needed a change as well.

Long ball criticism and all that guff, but you would get most managers doing the same if they were in charge of Wales.

[Ozz]

"Bleet Bleet, Baa Baa" more sheep loving nonsense from the welsh.

Didn`t know C3PO was Welsh?

[Gav]

I've always had a soft spot for Wales simply because they've missed out so many times when looking like qualifying for the big tournaments.

If memory serves me correctly Hughes record was less than impressive but you can only go with the players you've got and looking through the Wales side its not exactly brimming with quality.

Hughes seems very capable of assembling a team that can punch above its weight with limited resources and i think thats been the case both managing Wales and Blackburn Rovers.

Toshack on the other hand has been given the keys to the treasure chest on numerous occasions in Spain and has blown it more than achieved success.

Obviously he's a proud man who doesn't want to build on whats been created by the previous manager and that is a big mistake. He's also managed to make a number of enemies along the way with his outspoken comments and its not surprising some of the older end have decided to retire.

You can see nothing but hard times for Toshack and most of it is his own doing so i'll not be feeling sorry for Wales in the future.

[92er]

20 years ago in 1985, Wales were on the verge of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup. In one of their best ever performances, they beat Spain 3-0 at home in their qualification group. Ian Rush scored twice and Mark Hughes scored the other one.

The Welsh campaign boiled down to the last match at home against Scotland at Ninian Park, which they needed to win. Hughes gave the Welsh the lead early in the match, but with just 10 minutes of the game remaining, Scotland were awarded a controversial penalty, scored by Davie Cooper. The Scots went to Mexico.

Wasn't this Welsh tragedy a repeat of a similar one, also against Scotland? Maybe 1974/8?

[Billy Castell]

It seems that Toshack has truely messed up already, and Wales are falling back towards challenging N. Ireland for the worst home nation title. The FAW should send the SOS calls to Mike Ruddock and Steve Hansen !. Different sports, but Clive Woodward is probably going to have a stab.

[philipl]

One thing is for sure. Before every Wales game with Toshack in charge, the Press will only talk about Robbie Savage and Mark Hughes. Here is this morning's version for instance!

As for non-playing Managers, Wales had one in Mike Smith.

Edited March 28, 2005 by philipl

[Flopsy]

"Bleet Bleet, Baa Baa" more sheep loving nonsense from the welsh.

Didn`t know C3PO was Welsh?

[/sad scifi-@#/? mode on] Why is C3PO doing sheep impersonations?

R2D2 might have been a better bet [/sad sci-fi@#/? mode off]

[thenodrog]

20 years ago in 1985, Wales were on the verge of qualifying for the 1986 World Cup. In one of their best ever performances, they beat Spain 3-0 at home in their qualification group. Ian Rush scored twice and Mark Hughes scored the other one.

The Welsh campaign boiled down to the last match at home against Scotland at Ninian Park, which they needed to win.

The match if my memory serves me correctly that ended just as Jock Stein the scottish manager collapsed and died pitchside from a massive heart attack.

[John]

As the row rumbles on- from the times

Toshack resisted the invitation to respond to Bowen’s accusations at his pre-match press conference yesterday, yet there was a characteristic look of mischief on his face when he told the interpreter that he “might have to explain to the Austrian press who Mark Bowen is”.

[grizfoot]

Another defeat for Wales. They look half a team without Hughesy and Savage

[Ste B]

might have to explain to the Austrian press who Mark Bowen is”.

Ex guitarist in Faith No More.

[trueblue]

Ex guitarist in Faith No More.

For the welsh squad... shouldn't that be - No More Faith?

[Blue blood]

What a pillock Toshack is blaming Hughes.

Personally I don't think Hughes' time can be classed as a brilliant success - Greece have shown what can be done and set the benchmark for lesser teams in terms of success. However, without a doubt Hughes has done a good job, and left Wales in a far better position than when he joined them.

Wales don't have that many talented players, that Toshack left out one of the few decent players Wales have in Savage smacks of stupidity. Even Ireland went crawling back to Keane and they've a fair few more options than Wales for cm. Savage is thirty (i think) which means hes at least 2/3 more years left at international level, certainly for Wales.

Ok so quite a few players retired when Hughes left. That to me shows how well thought of and respected our manager is; it seems as if the players were playing for Sparky rather than Wales. And that he managed to get Giggs to actually play for Wales is one of the most impressive feats of modern football. Toshack evidently doesn't have the respect or 'people skills' that Sparky has.

To be fair Wales aren't the most talented of teams. Hartson and Bellamy are hardly international class; in fact save Giggs many of them wouldn't get in most international teams. That Hughes gained them credability is a massive achievement in itself. The early indications are that Toshack will undo this. Shame.

[philipl]

Somehow, I don't think Robbie will be responding to this Toshack effort

[americanrover]

see its a he said he said case. you cant really tell what they tosh or robbie will do next.

yeah i forgot why was hughes fired from wales.