So the first opportunity we had, we played him not as a wing, but an attacking left-sided player. I said, 'there's one thing you'll never believe, he's a left-back at Southampton.' "After the first training session we could see he was something special. He would walk into a training ground, go up to the players and ask, 'Are you Welsh? Are you Welsh? What about you?'" 'Bale is not a left-back' Brian Flynn convinced Wales coach John Toshack that Gareth Bale was old enough to play for Wales aged 16įlynn convinced Toshack that a raw but promising teenager playing at Southampton was worth a go, despite only being 16 years old. "The miles he, the people he met, the people he upset! He was fearless. "Bryan's role in all this cannot be stated high enough," said Mark Evans of the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Future Wales captain Ashley Williams was discovered simply based on a speculative enquiry about his surname, while Flynn was tipped off about striker Hal Robson-Kanu because he spent his summer holidays in Tenby. find new Wales-qualified talent by whatever means necessary. Tasked with finding a new generation of players, Flynn embarked on a personal odyssey, travelling the length and breadth of the UK, sometimes taking in three or four games in a day. "But his parting shot was that this would take a minimum five years, possibly 10, and always remember someone else is probably going to get the credit." Flynn puts in the miles Under head coach John Toshack's orders, Brian Flynn scoured the UK looking for young Wales-qualified talent We put this plan together because he said the squad was too old. Where are you?' I was in Port Talbot and he was in Verdi's cafe in Swansea. He said, 'I've got something for you, a proposal. So Toshack took the crucial decision to start again with a new generation of young players and he knew just the man to help, his former team-mate and Wales Under-21s coach Brian Flynn.įlynn said: "I had a call from John. Twelve senior players retired from international football, including Robbie Savage who, according to Toshack, put the phone down on the manager. Toshack took over for his second spell in charge of Wales in November 2004 but this time inherited a mutinous team who started jumping ship. The cafe meeting The seafront cafe on the Mumbles where the future of Welsh football was mapped out Here are six things we learned from Together Stronger, that kicks off with the appointment of John Toshack. Now with the nation's World Cup hopes on the team's shoulders, a BBC documentary has charted the roots of that remarkable rise.
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