The Yorath Dossier …Wales
On the national team
‘I certainly think that things are a
bit more organised than they were. My main memories are of disorganisation and chaos. As a
player I remember turning up to places like Heathrow and not having a hotel to go to; and
then not knowing whether we were flying from Terminal 1 or 2. At one time things just
weren’t professional.’
On recent Wales managers
‘Things improved under Mike Smith
first time around. He was very well organised and helped put Welsh football where it is
today. He organised things like travel, hotels and kit much better. He was also a good
coach. Dave Bowen was a smashing guy; he loved football – such an
enthusiast.’
On playing for Wales
‘I’ve got lots of memories. I
remember losing 4-1 to Italy and playing with people like Mike England, Tosh, Wyn Davies
and Ron Davies. Beating England 1-0 at Wembley was also special and there were also lots
of great Euro-qualifiers at Wrexham. The atmosphere in the side was terrific. People like
John Mahoney, Joey, Brian Flynn and myself were fanatical about playing for Wales –
sometimes too much. And in those players never missed a Wales game.’
On his midfield colleagues
‘John Mahoney was passionate. He was
at Stoke and he loved football and playing for Wales. He wanted to win; he was creative in
the centre of the park and he also got up and down.’
On Brian Flynn
‘He was similar to Mahoney as a
player. He was also very proud of being Welsh. He was a good passer of the ball and often
quite underestimated as a player. I remember that goal he scored against Scotland –
he must have played about five one-twos before knocking it in the back of the net. He was
a pocket dynamo and great to play with.’
On Arfon Griffiths
‘He came from nowhere and was a joy
to play with. He had more skill than any of us but I always felt that he was a bit
of an under-achiever. He moved from Arsenal back to Wrexham and I always had a
feeling that he should have gained more caps than he actually did.’
On himself as a player
‘I suppose I was a defensive-minded
midfielder and a good organiser. I liked to occupy the area between the defence and
the midfield, but at Leeds I played in almost every position. For Wales though, I
was a midfielder for 95 per cent of the time. I remember my time with Wales with
great affection. There’s nothing better than to play for your country and to
captain it. As captain, beating England at Wembley was brilliant. Wales
possibly are guilty of under-achievement at international level, so it was excellent to
compete, and win against, bigger teams. But it’s strange: we never qualified
for any big tournaments and we could never take that final step.’
On his time as Welsh manager
‘I’ve got a lot of tremendous
memories. Working, continually, with players of high quality was superb. They
always responded and they always wanted to play for Wales. It was the same in my
time as a player: the Wales players just loved being together. If you had a big
match like Man Utd v Leeds or Liverpool, all the Welsh players met up and warmed up
together – regardless of the fact that they may be playing against each other.
They’d always talk about the next Wales game because they loved playing international
football so much. In my time as manager the team spirit was 150 per cent - everyone
loved it and it was just infectious.’
On the key players when he was manager
‘First, Neville Southall. He
was a crucial pivot; he had great experience and at one time he was probably in the
top-three goalkeepers in the world. Kevin Ratcliffe as well: he was a smashing
defender, a good lad, and he always wanted to play. Again, at one point, I believe
he was one of the best defenders in Europe. When the Wales team lost Ratcliffe it
started to struggle. We had to bring in youngsters like Mark Aizlewood and Andy
Melville, who was just a young boy. Upfront we obviously had Ryan but that was
towards the end of my time as manager. Ian Rush though was a hero for Wales. I
remember him playing for Wales against Italy, when Wales won 1-0. He had his
problems with Juventus but he always loved playing for Wales. I’ll also always
remember the goal he scored against Germany at the Arms Park.’
On his departure from the Wales job
‘I loved being manager of Wales but
my departure was all about political factors. The FAW just cut themselves off, but
I’m out of it now and it doesn’t really bother me.’
On international ambitions
‘I’ve still got ambitions
regardless of whether I’m involved – that doesn’t make any difference.
Some of the recent Wales performances have been embarrassing.’
On Welsh football today
‘I think there are problems at the
grass roots, at the top and throughout the structure of Welsh football. The main
problem is organisation; the FAW is so short-sighted. The mentality of the people
who run Welsh football is very short term. If they discover a crack, all they want to do
is paper over it. You know and I know though, that that crack will come back again
and it’s a crazy way to go about solving problems.’
On the John Toshack episode
‘John Toshack is a good friend of
mine and when he got approached to become Wales manager he had to tell me about it –
because no-one else told me. I knew though that if he encountered any problems
he’d just walk away – and he did.’
On his departure from the Wales job
‘I was sent a letter and asked to
apply for the job again. I was told I had a good chance of getting it but I was very
naïve. The job was very important to me and I really wanted it. But at the
same time, John Toshack was top of their list. In the end, everything was just a
shambles.’
On Bobby Gould
‘I understand the problems he’s
got as Wales manager. He’s got five or six very good players at the moment but
Wales never has a full squad of 15 or 20 very good players. This problem has never
been solved. Likewise, with coaching there are serious and deep problems,
particularly at the schools level. But as Wales manager, as I found out, you are
always involved, whether you want to be or not, in the politics of the Welsh game.
This really detracts from the job. The job is hard enough as it is, because you
don’t have day-to-day contact with the players.’
On the Robbie Savage/Bobby Gould incident
‘I think if Bobby Gould looks back
on that situation he’ll maybe admit that he did the wrong thing. There’s always
the media there to dramatise and exaggerate things. For example, I said something at the
time of the Savage episode and before I knew it there was a headline in the South Wales
Echo saying something like ‘Yorath says Gould has lost the plot’. Things
just shouldn’t happen like that.’
On Gould’s tactics
‘I was surprised to see Savage
playing as sweeper in a recent game. It’s difficult just to experiment like that and
it was soon abandoned. When you have the players for only three or four days at a time,
it’s quite difficult to adapt. I think Bobby’s got to blood the youngsters
though – even if he takes some stick. He and the players obviously worked very hard
to get the last two results, though from what I saw they looked a touch fortunate against
Denmark. I look forward hopefully – but they’ll do very well to qualify from the
position they’re in now. You’ve got to remember that an international manager is
always going to be under the kosh.’
On non-Welsh players playing for Wales
‘Everyone else does it – so why
not take advantage of the rules. I inherited Eric Young; there was also Pat van den Hauwe,
and even David Phillips was born in Germany. Managers will always get stick for exploiting
this rule but countries like Portugal play around with this rule, so why not Wales?’
‘If that left-back from Barry was worth his place in the squad – fair enough. He’s never been in the squad since though.’