Welcome to Wales

In 1994, the Welsh national team needed a fresh theme. Manager Terry Yorath had twice taken them close to their first major championship in over thirty years, and twice fallen painfully short. He’d led them to their highest-ever FIFA World ranking but gold stars mean nothing next to big tournaments, and after Yorath got the boot his successor lasted all of one game before Cameron Toshack’s dad got sick of the Welsh FA.

Youth coach Mike Smith was already tolerating whatever was going on at the FAW so he was called upon to try and bag the seniors’ ‘third time lucky’ qualification to Euro ‘96. A sensible man from Hendon, West London, Smith had passed up his footballing father’s profession in favour of teaching, and coached in schools before becoming the first English-born manager to take charge of the Dragons. Only a man accustomed to the rough-and-tumble boisterousness of English grammar schools could take a look at Londoner Vinnie Jones’ twilight application to be the Dragons’ well-needed firework up the arse and imagine he could stop it from misfiring into the bins behind the gym.

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