Foreword Author acknowledgements Introduction 1 Bowen nowhere 2 As straightforward and uncomplicated as his own name 3 The quiet revolution 4 Belt up, you baby! 5 See Budapest and Dai 6 Passport to success? 7 The team to beat 8 A day at the Racecourse 9 100 years and coasting 10 40-Second Street 11 Arsenal line up Smith 12 Ninian opinion 13 One team qualified and one team didn't Notes Bibliography
Trailing Clouds of Glory - Welsh football's forgotten heroes of
1976 is an attempt to shine some light on a little-known slice
of Welsh football history from the mid 1970s. It details the
two-year period during which Wales went from ending up with the
wooden spoon in the Home International tournament for four years in
a row to being 1976 European quarter-finalists, within an ace of
reaching the semi-finals of the continent's top international
competition. Many remain oblivious to the feat of manager Mike
Smith's squad, and with the passing of time their achievement
becomes more distant and forgotten. For a country that has achieved
so little on the field of play, why is this particular group not
more celebrated? Nick Burnell attempts to put that right, having
researched the topic meticulously in press archives and player and
coach biographies, as well as personally interviewing many of the
key figures on the team and coaching staff. The book includes
background on the period before qualification started in 1974, a
blow-by-blow account of all the matches involved (detailed by
contemporary newspaper write-ups and the author's own interviews
with key figures in the campaign) and examination of the fallout
from its controversial ending. It also incorporates a 'Where are
they now?' angle, giving further details on the players involved.
The book runs more or less chronologically, focusing primarily on
the eight core qualifying games, but is also conceived as a
respectful overview of the 1970s in Welsh football generally, and a
somewhat irreverent look at what was happening around the sport.
This is a glimpse back into a less complicated era, before the
onset of 24-hour saturation coverage and millionaire journeymen
players, when footballers looked to the future by doing their
coaching badges or searching for local pubs that needed new
landlords. It's a reminder of the players and people in and around
the scene who restored pride in the Welsh football jersey and gave
the football public of Wales a reason to believe. Squad members:
Terry Yorath John Toshack Leighton James Leighton Phillips John
'Josh' Mahoney Arfon Griffiths Brian Flynn Alan Curtis Carl Harris
Dave Roberts Dave Smallman Dai Davies Derek Showers Gary Sprake Gil
Reece Joey Jones John Phillips John Roberts Les Cartwright Malcolm
(Mal) Page Mike England Phil Roberts Rod Thomas -- Publisher: Y
Lolfa
In December 1958, my late uncle took me to my first game at the
Vetch Field, Swansea. The opponents were Sheffield Wednesday, and
the match was won 4-0 by the Swans. Six months earlier the Welsh
football team, having qualified, albeit by default, because of a
complicated situation regarding the participation of Israel,
participated in the 1958 World Cup finals, played in Sweden. Wales
eventually lost in the quarter finals to a goal by some unknown
Brazilian, a 17-year-old youngster called Pele. I, and most of the
general public, I suspect, were unaware of this tournament, as
indeed were the railway porters and ticket collectors at Swansea
railway station who greeted Mel Charles and some of the other
players on their return from Stockholm, thinking they were
returning from a holiday! These were the days before the
wall-to-wall coverage of football on SKY Sports. When Wales
qualified for the 2016 UEFA Euro tournament, reaching its
semi-final, the press and television largely reported that this was
the first time Wales had qualified for any major tournament since
1958. They had been agonisingly close several times, only to fall
at the final hurdle, missing crucial penalties or losing out on
goal difference or in play-offs. However, in 1976 Wales enjoyed
some real success when they topped their qualifying Euro group and
earned a two-legged play-off with host nation Yugoslavia for a
place in the finals, having seen off Austria, Hungary and
Luxembourg, and winning five qualifying matches in succession. The
team, managed by Englishman Mike Smith has not, according to the
author of this book, received the recognition it deserves, and the
purpose of this book is to acknowledge the considerable achievement
of this talented squad, who finally bowed out of the tournament
after a niggly second-leg draw at Cardiff, having lost the first
leg in Zagreb. At Cardiff, Wales missed a penalty, hit the post,
and had two goals disallowed, and succumbed to a dubious penalty
kick awarded by a somewhat controversial East German referee. Had
VAR (the video assistant referee) been in operation at that time,
the result might well have been very different. This book is
meticulously researched and is very well-written. It takes us back
to an era when the Football Association of Wales was not the
efficient organisation it is today. This was also the era when
League managers held more sway, and would constantly refuse to
release players to play for their country. The introduction of the
'international break' has largely ended that practice. This was the
period when the English FA refused to play our national anthem at
Wembley, when hooliganism was rife, when our playing stadia were
grim and attendances low, and when rugby reigned supreme in Wales.
However, the contribution made by Mike Smith in laying the
foundations of the current international set-up cannot be
underestimated and was described by Dai Davies, the Welsh
goalkeeper, as 'revolutionary'. Under the guidance of this graduate
PE teacher, the Welsh team that performed so well in 1974-76 in
reaching the latter stages of a major tournament included a number
of players who remain household names - players such as John
Toshack, Terry Yorath, John Mahoney and the mercurial Leighton
James. The achievement was even more remarkable when considered
that England failed to qualify. As an innovator and excellent
man-manager, Smith moulded his motley squad into a formidable team,
which included for the first time a number of so-called
Anglos, who had been drafted in because of a rule change
allowing English-born players with a Welsh parent to be eligible to
represent Wales. This gave the squad greater depth with the
addition of personnel such as Ian Evans and Dave Roberts. The
narrative also gives us a flavour of other events during this
period so as to place all matches in their historical context. This
aspect deals with such issues as broadcasting, fashion, politics
and pop music, which adds an interesting and valuable dimension to
the book. With Wales having qualified for the 2020 Euro tournament
as runners-up in a group which included familiar opponents from
1976 such as Croatia (from the former Yugoslavia) and Hungary,
there is a little feeling of deja vu. This was no mean
achievement which surely owes much to the foundations so carefully
laid by Mike Smith. He and the 1976 team are all deserving of this
volume which all Welsh football fans will enjoy, whilst looking
forward to the exciting challenge of our next Euro finals in June
2020. -- Richard E. Huws @ www.gwales.com
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