Mark Hughes and a Welsh Revolution

Across 1905, a wave of mass political and social unrest swept across Russia, in what would later be described by Vladimir Lenin as, the 'great dress rehearsal' for the Russian revolution of 1917. For Lenin without the events of 1905, 'the victory of the October revolution in 1917 would have been impossible.'

Despite having visited Red Square earlier in the trip, when they stepped out into the Lokomotiv stadium in November 2003 for their Euro 2004 play off against Russia it is doubtful the events of 1905 would have been on the mind of the Wales teams. Ultra competitors such as Ryan Giggs and Mark Hughes would never see their place in history as merely a dress rehearsal. Nevertheless, the Dragons’ dream of a place at a major tournament did falter that night in Moscow. As with events in 1905, 12 years later in 2015 the revolution would reach its completion as they qualified for Euro 2016 in France. Fittingly that following summer they would have their revenge as they ran riot in a 3-0 victory over Russia in their march to the semi finals whilst marching under the Lenin-esque banner of ‘together stronger’. While Wales were not able to carry through on their promise in 2003, this period can be seen as an important turning point on the way to the utopia that was to follow.

On 17th December 1999, Mark Hughes was appointed Wales manager. Prior to this, in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2000, Wales finished way off the pace in 4th place behind Italy, Denmark and Switzerland. This followed another 4th place spot in qualifying for the World Cup in 1998. John Hartson described the period under Bobby Gould, Wales manager from 1995-1999, as having ‘dragged Welsh international football to its knees…we became far worse, a laughing stock.’ Robbie Savage has outlined that, ‘the FAW (Football Association of Wales) liked Gouldy because he was prepared to do the job on a small budget.’ This sense of keeping costs and ambition to a minimum is a recurrent theme for this time. Craig Bellamy noted that ‘everything seemed to be done on a shoestring with Wales. There was a lot of penny pinching,’ describing the hotel for his first trip away with Wales as a ‘shocker.’ While at this game, Bellamy remembers Gary Speed going ‘ballistic’ and describing Wales as ‘a pub team…a disorganised rabble.’ Gould appeared to fit the FAW vision . Bobby Gould made his managerial name at Wimbledon in the 1980s, a team with little financial resources notorious for aggression, strong team spirit and basic facilities. Gould as such was prepared to run Wales as, in Hartson’s words an ‘international crazy gang.’ The ‘pub team’ nature of Wales was not something Gould would challenge or attempt to change. Ryan Giggs recalls a ‘lack of intensity…it never felt like the arrangements made for the Welsh team were as professional as they should have been.’ Giggs remembers that ‘we always seemed to fly from Stanstead…I can only assume it was cheaper.’ On one occasion ‘we tried to check in, only to discover we had exceeded our baggage allowance.’ Many of these issues are reminiscent of those raised by Roy Keane regarding the Ireland camp in the same period. Keane walked out of the Irish squad on the eve of the 2002 World Cup frustrated at the attitude that, ‘we're the Irish team, it's a laugh and a joke. We shouldn't expect too much."

After losing 4-0 to Italy in June of 1999, Gould resigned live on Television, explaining this was ‘in the best interests of Welsh football…I didn’t feel I was the right person’. Bellamy does have some praise for Gould in that he was, ‘trying to bring new young players in,’ but as Hartson puts it, ‘Wales were treading water.’ Wales did however have a core of experienced players who did demand better and an exciting generation of young players developing. After a six month wait, when Mark Hughes was appointed manager in December, he was able to tap into this and as Robbie Savage puts it, ‘transform[ed] everything.’ Hughes, like Roy Keane had the experience of playing for a highly professionalised Manchester United team under Alex Ferguson and a good relationship with the more demanding senior players such as Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs. Savage states, ‘we went from a pub team to an international team, because he demanded the best hotels, the best food and private chartered planes…The Welsh FA have always been concerned with money, but Sparky had his own ideas…he fought some battles and won them.’ As an ex player with status, Hughes had the high expectations and the gravitas needed to fight these battles. For Hartson, he ‘turned Wales around, gave us back our professionalism.’ Hughes also brought in Eric Harrison from the coaching staff at Manchester United as his number two, another who as Giggs puts it, ‘had learnt his trade at the best club in the country, under the best manager and knew how to organise things. He wouldn’t settle for second best.’ Giggs noticed, ‘Wales began preparing the Man United way. Straight away he introduced daily itineraries, which were pushed under the door each day and told us exactly what we would be doing, and he had us wearing blazers instead of track suits…that sort of thing may seem insignificant, but it’s about thoroughness, taking care of every detail…the professionalism Sparky (Hughes) expected from everyone helped them to make the big step up.’

In June 1999, the same month as Gould’s resignation, the Millennium stadium opened for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. From March 2000 this would also be the home of the Welsh national football team. For the first game against Finland, with tickets priced at £5, there was an attendance of 65,614 which would be bettered in May that year when 71,495 watched Wales against Brazil. Savage describes the excitement of ‘launch[ing] an era in which playing in front of 72,000 fans at a sell out Millennium Stadium was the norm…it was a special time to be a red dragon.’ In Phil Steads, ‘the story of Welsh football’, he describes , ‘a feel good factor’, developing around Welsh football at this time. It’s hard to overestimate the impact of this for the players. Suddenly they were playing in front of packed crowds at a modern new stadium, supported by a manager who treated them as professionals and demanded the best for them. As John Hartson puts it, ‘we felt we were on the verge of something exciting, something to be proud of.’

Nevertheless, despite Savage’s sense that, ‘we could feel the difference…it took a while for Sparky’s revolution to translate into results on the pitch.’ Qualifying for World Cup 2002 did not go well, Wales finished 5th in their group, behind Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Norway.. Giggs describes the ‘tantalising taste of what we are missing,’ when they performed commendably in high profile home friendlies against Argentina (1-1 draw) and Germany (1-0 win) in the first half of 2002. Subsequently. going into a tough qualifying group for Euro 2004, Giggs ‘really thought that could be the start of something good.’ Bellamy was equally confident, ‘we felt we had the players and the belief to make it to Portugal in 2004…we were serious now.’ After the success of those friendlies, Simon Thomas, the chief rugby writer of the South Wales Echo, was moved to write ‘what’s really at stake is the future of Welsh Rugby and it’s very status as our national sport…waiting in the wings to assume the mantle is Welsh soccer.’

For that opening game away to Finland, with Bellamy carrying an injury and requiring treatment, Hughes took the decision to charter him a flight out, ‘I only came off the bench for 15 minutes , the fact that I was there at all was the final proof that the days of farce and amateurism under Bobby Gould were over.’ Wales would leave Helsinki with a hard fought 2-0 win ready for their second fixture, a mouth-watering clash with the Italy of Buffon, Cannavaro, Nesta, Del Piero and Pirlo at the Millennium stadium. Prior to the game, Hughes promised ‘we’ll convert Wales to football,’ as the 70,000 tickets sold out in days and were reaching ten times the value on the black market. The Manic Street Preachers provided pre-match entertainment alongside an emotional appearance from former Welsh international John Charles. Savage describes an ‘explosion of noise and colour’, on a night, which in Harston’s words was ‘as emotional as any I have ever known.’ Wales would emerge from the tie 2-1 winners. For Bellamy, who scored the winning goal, ‘that was one of the best nights of my career…because we deserved it.’ Wales lined up in a 4-5-1 formation which Hartson described as ‘near perfect…when we attacked it was 4-3-3 and when we defended 4-5-1…Sparky told me, just get yourself on the half way line and we will have ten men behind the ball, then they’ll have to break us down. When we attacked we threw men forward; Davis, Bellamy, Giggs, Savage and Pembridge supporting me.’ The Western Mail described the events as ‘A Night of Ecstasy’ and one of Wales’s greatest sporting moments. Wales rounded off 2002 with a 2-0 victory away to Azerbaijan and had climbed 52 places in the FIFA rankings. Hughes was named Wales’s sports personality of the year. Returning to qualification action in March 2003, they again made light work of Azerbaijan with a 4-0 home victory. Going into that summer, Wales were top of their group with a hundred percent record. They would not win again for the rest of the campaign.

Wales lost 1-0 in Belgrade to Serbia in August of 2003 in what Giggs calls, ‘a scrappy, tight game.’ Next up was the San Siro where Italy cruised to a 4-0 victory to shatter any sense of momentum. The focus had quickly shifted away from winning the group and towards qualifying for the playoffs. Wales could only draw at home to Finland and suffered another loss, this time 3-2 to Serbia. Nevertheless, Wales finished in second place in the group, a point ahead of Serbia to reach the playoffs and Moscow beckoned.

Savage recalls that ‘there was no expense spared. We flew by private jet to Moscow…we did the usual things…walked around Red Square, bought Russian hats-but we were not there as tourists.’ Wales escaped from Russia with a credible 0-0 draw before losing 1-0 in Cardiff and did not qualify for the Euros. For Savage this was, ‘possibly the worst I’ve ever felt after a game.’ Bellamy missed both games with injury but watching it at home, found it ‘heart wrenching’ seeing his Euro 2004 dreams flounder. For Giggs, ‘we ran out of energy and fresh legs to bring in when it mattered…we seemed jaded.’ Savage feels they ‘underperformed after a perfect four from four start.’ Hartson stated, while ‘I love the man [Hughes]…but perhaps tactically he could have done a few things differently…been more offensive.’ Giggs concurs, ‘with hindsight, we were probably a bit too cautious.’

Hughes would leave Wales to manage Blackburn Rovers in 2004 and Welsh progress somewhat stalled in the subsequent campaigns. Nevertheless, their day would come and this day contained many of the fruits of the seeds sown by Hughes in his own revolution. Hughes’s captain, Gary Speed, a man who as Sam Allardyce described, ‘his life was about standards. He had a high standard for everything he did,’ would go onto manage Wales from 2010-2011 and be widely credited for the revival that culminated in qualifications for Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and the World Cup 2022. Speed was a vital part of the turnaround under Hughes and a key enforcer of the change in mentality, Bellamy states, ‘he would never accept Wales losing games. We had players from all the leagues and some were just happy to be there, whereas if he turned up he was going to give everything he had. So there were no excuses. He always felt we should be doing better than we were…he was doing it for the benefit of everyone.’ Chris Coleman, assisted by Kit Symons, who both played under Hughes, would guide Wales to Euro 2016 and the semi-final that followed. Ryan Giggs managed Wales to qualification for Euro 2020 and another Hughes alumni, Robert Page would take them to the last 16 of that tournament as well as to their first World Cup in over 60 years in 2022. Again assisted by Symons.

Working alongside the boost of the opening of the Millennium Stadium, Hughes restored pride and professionalism to Welsh football and navigated the treacherous process to taking preparation more seriously. In doing so he empowered a generation of players to be strident in demanding and maintaining these standards. It is pertinent for future success that Hughes managed to change the culture around the national team in a way that Roy Keane never could with Ireland. It is perhaps not too outlandish to paraphrase Lenin in suggesting that, without 2003 there could have been no 2015.