Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Bish Bosh, Fighting Tosh

After cancelling all Monday's media sessions and having had nearly 72 hours to reflect on the horribilus events in Cyprus, John Toshack was still in no mood to be reconciliatory and, instead, launched one of the most savage media attacks a manager has tiraded against his own players I can recall.

Part of me smiled, applauded and nodded with every single word of criticism here. At face value, I can't argue with any of it. (See the story links at foot of this article). Part of me cringed as you do feel no good can come of a public hounding like this, no matter how worthy and deserved it is.

The problem here for me is that Tosh waited so long to say it and the players took so long to get the wrath.

This qualifying campaign had some of the lowest lows I can recall. The 5-2 home defeat to Slovakia was every bit as bad as Cyprus, the 1-0 loss in Dublin must be a leading contender for the worst international football match of all time, that tepid surrender to Germany in Cardiff lacked everything we need to see as a minimum requirement from a Welsh side, namely, bollocks, passion and heart and now the Cypriot debacle. It's a shocking catalogue.

Toshack has lost many players outside the dressing room long ago, it's going to be hard to imagine he'll now have it with those in it. I think it's gone forever with Koumas anyway, a temperamental sod who you just knew would sulk in that German game and go AWOL after Tosh publicly criticised him before that match.

History tells you that, in the modern game, remarks like these and screwing your players to the media is nearly always the beginning of the end. Call it player power and a lack of motivation.

Tosh is very much old skool, steeped in the Scoular/Shankly mould and as much as I wish it did work, trying to do it their way is almost certainly going to bite you in the arse.

I see nothing but an unhappy ending from this point onwards with Welsh fans the victims. The worry is that the FAW look set to spin this out to its ultimate conclusion for a while to come yet.

When was the last time Welsh football was this depressing? Oh for those halcyon days of Bobby Gould eh?

OK, the last comment was taking the piss but, more than ever right now, you need a dark sense of humour to stay close to the Welsh national side or turn your back on it ... as, shamefully, a few of our pampered pooches have done.




BBC coverage with audio of the inteviews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7047321.stm


Western Mail coverage
http://tinyurl.com/329b5j
http://tinyurl.com/3d3pen

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