' CHRIS COLEMAN AGREES NEW WALES EXTENDED CONTRACT "

By Chris Wathan
Wales boss Chris Coleman agrees new contract to lead national team into Euro 2016 qualifying
7th Sep 2013



Following defeat in Macedonia, Coleman revealed he has agreed a new deal with the FAW to extend his contract beyond next summer


Chris Coleman has agreed a new contract with the FAW

Chris Coleman will be given more time to turn Wales’ fortunes around after revealing he has agreed a new contract to stay on as national boss.

Wales’ long-abandoned World Cup qualifying hopes were finally given up upon on Friday when they went down 2-1 in Macedonia – the fifth defeat from seven games in the group.

But Coleman, whose current contract expires next summer, claims he has been told he will be handed the chance to lead the national team into their Euro 2016 campaign which kicks off in a year’s time.

Wales have won just three times in 11 games under Coleman, the latest loss coming in Skopje when Aleksandar Trajkovski’s 80th minute goal undid hopes of a deserved draw.

Having targeted a winning end to the group to boost rankings ahead of the Euros qualifying draw, it heaps pressure for points in the remaining three games – starting against Serbia on Tuesday.

Defeat would cast severe doubt on the stated aim of finishing third in the group, regardless of the fact they entered it as lowest seeds.

Furthermore, Wales are also in need of wins to avoid the danger of finishing bottom of the group after Friday’s result saw Macedonia overtake them in the standings.

But after talks with Football Association of Wales chief executive Jonathan Ford, Coleman claimed only formalities remain on extending the contract he signed in January 2012.



“It’s been agreed basically,” said the former defender. “We just wanted to get these two games out of the way.

“That was the most important thing this week. There was enough distraction going on with Gareth Bale so we didn’t need anything else. But, yes, the contract has basically been agreed.

“It’s agreed but these ten days were all about the games and the points – and it’s disappointing to come away with nothing.

“We now have another game to look forward to (against Serbia) but once that’s done we can sit down.

“But we’ve agreed everything and it’s about putting pen to paper.”

Coleman does have the backing of his players, some of whom felt they let their manager down at the Philip II Arena on Friday after seeing a good start to the game go to waste.

But he did incur the anger of some supporters after the embarrassment of being unable to travel with the squad to Skopje after losing his passport, the team forced to go through final preparations on the eve of the match without their manager.

And he then left himself open for criticism by leaving Gareth Bale on the bench as Wales chased the game at the death, later explaining that the Real Madrid star was never fit enough to be considered and his presence as substitute was an attempt at keeping Macedonia guessing over his possible involvement.

Wales had impressed for a large period in the game with some encouraging passing football played, something that only added to the frustration when Macedonia won it late on.

And Coleman insisted he was ready to concentrate on the positives from the performance, citing what he thought was an “outstanding” display from his team, with special praise for Aaron Ramsey undeniably warranted.

Aaron Ramsey scores a first-half penalty to bring things level
“I was happy with the lads,” said Coleman following the defeat, the hosts having taken a lead through Ivan Trickovski against the run of play before Ramsey levelled from the spot before the break. “They played very well, some great football. It’s disappointing to go 1-0 down as a consequence of a set-play, but we came here to win the game and that’s what we tried to do. We played some outstanding football but sometimes you don’t get what you deserve and I thought that was the case here.

“We have to get to the next stage of killing teams off and we’re close to it. We’re playing some great stuff but at the minute we are nearly taking the points but just falling a bit short.

“Teams change, players change and trying to get continuity is never easy.

“But I do believe we are close, we have good players – if we can get them all ready and available.

“It’s never easy, we never have that, but I still think the guys here have done a great job for us. They haven’t got the result but no-one will point fingers over that performance.

“You are not going to come anywhere and dominate for 90 minutes. Opposition sides will have their chance, their moments.

“But I know there’s a lot of positives in this group of players, like Rambo (Ramsey) who is bossing games and is in the best form I’ve seen him in and long may it continue. He’s been absolutely outstanding.

“But we’ve lost at the end of the game which is disappointing and we know have to go again against Serbia and try and get something out of it.

“There are a lot of positives surrounding us – one or two negatives but forget that, I don’t care about that. I can see where we are going. I can see the potential when everyone is ready. We are on the right road.”

Coleman again spoke of his frustration of being without players through injury and suspension, something that will not ease on Tuesday as Jonathan Williams looks set to join Joe Allen, Sam Ricketts and Neil Taylor on the absent list after damaging an ankle on Friday and leaving the ground in a protective boot.

Hal Robson-Kanu is available again after serving a one-match ban while James Collins looks in line for a recall.

ffs

I can only see the home crowds getting less and less.

Absolutely gutting. Can't force myself to go to any internationals now after this

booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, YOUR SHIT AND YOU KNOW YOU ARE

I dunno. That interview smacks of his agent telling him - quick get it out there, make it hard for the FAW to do a u-turn. Coleman is putting his career before matters on the field here I think.

The FAW clearly have almost offered something. But it seems obvious that nothing has been signed.

If Wales win the next two games, we will get third place. Cookie's job will be safe. But if we fail to be Serbia midweek, the FAW have to re-consider.

I have nothing at all against Chris Coleman as a man. I just think Wales can do a lot better.

He has been saying this for ages. Lets hope it's not true..


Saying that didn't tosh sign a new deal and get sacked not to long after.

i hate the way he chews on his gum , and giving excuse after excuse, the worlds most expensive player on the bench. thats ok. keeps real madrid happy

i hate the way he chews on his gum , and giving excuse after excuse, the worlds most expensive player on the bench. thats ok. keeps real madrid happy

I can understand him not wanting to risking Bale but putting him on the bench is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of.

i hate the way he chews on his gum , and giving excuse after excuse, the worlds most expensive player on the bench. thats ok. keeps real madrid happy

I hate the way Gareth Bale smashed in a f*cking wordlie and he takes the credit for it. We beat Scotland due to individual brilliance!

The FAW is well overdue a reform. Definitely need some fresh blood from top to bottom.

Complete and utter wanker f*cking useless manager

And WOS can quote me u got my permission

The Welsh FA Board (all 969 of them with and average age of 106) have got themselves a yes man and they are going to hold onto him for all their worth.

He makes no waves and he makes no hard decisions. These attributes are what they want and, in their eyes, are more important than the fact that he couldn't manage a solid turd.

That's got to be the worst decision the FAW have made since appointing that idiot in the first place, get rid of the dinosaurs at the FAW as they don't have a clue. Coleman should resign now. I will not go and watch Wales while that cretin is the gaffer and I hope a lot more fans take the same stance as me just to show how inept the FAW are. Absolutely disgraceful.

I won't go and watch Wales whilst that useless prick is in charge. He and the FAW are a waste of arse gas.
bag of pap (Poo And Piss)

Ruud Gullit.

Ruud Gullit.

That's got to be the worst decision the FAW have made since appointing that idiot in the first place, get rid of the dinosaurs at the FAW as they don't have a clue. Coleman should resign now. I will not go and watch Wales while that cretin is the gaffer and I hope a lot more fans take the same stance as me just to show how inept the FAW are. Absolutely disgraceful.

Totally in agreement with this. ^^^^

I'll be honest I wasn't that unhappy with Coleman's appointment and I do not think he's a bad guy. He's just not an international standard manager. The appointment was not criminal. Renewing his contract would be.

The definition of insanity is if you're doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

Not read any posts on this matter.....
Cnut
Twunt
Twant
Wamk
Bollox
Gone please please gone.....

I can only see the home crowds getting less and less.

Spot on !!!!!

I'm not a fan but we all need to look at the players we have and is there any other manager than can do better 3rd was best e had hoped or so a unlikely win at home to Serbia and we won't be far off in reality our players are not good enough so they need to take some blame with the manager.

wtf? This really is such a strange decision.

The days of us filling the Millennium are long gone and I'm afraid that while Coleman is in charge, we will struggle to get crowds above 10000 anywhere. Admittedly, his options are limited in who he can pick, but all welsh managers have had that problem. To me its obvious the players don't rate him anymore than most of us do...

Please get rid now so that we have can get someone in now for the Euro 2016 qualifiers who might just give us a chance.

I'm not a fan but we all need to look at the players we have and is there any other manager than can do better 3rd was best e had hoped or so a unlikely win at home to Serbia and we won't be far off in reality our players are not good enough so they need to take some blame with the manager.

We have a team full of premier league players and the worlds most expensive player yet this idiot cannot even manage his own passport let alone manage an international football team.

i hate the way he chews on his gum , and giving excuse after excuse, the worlds most expensive player on the bench. thats ok. keeps real madrid happy

I can understand him not wanting to risking Bale but putting him on the bench is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of.

I actually get Coleman's thinking. We are a very small nation and like every other campaign we seem to have a very good starting XI but get caught out all of the time by suspensions, injuries and players caught between club & country commitments.

It's Coleman's job to prevent stupid suspensions and to some extent the injuries (although some will be beyond his control). What he can't control is club indifference to International call-ups. Therefore he is trying to build relationships with the big clubs and his concern for Gareth Bale's welfare during this International break will presumably go down very well at the Bernabéu.

You can argue that a place on the bench should have gone to another player, but the odds are that player wouldn't have been used in any case and by getting Bale involved in the match day squad he has given the player a boost in familiar surroundings to counter the frustrating drawn out transfer saga between Tottenham and R Madrid.

I agree it has been another mixed qualifying campaign that's for sure but I would give Coleman the Euro qualifying campaign before calling for his head.

I can only see the home crowds getting less and less.

Can you blame them? No point even coming to support them since they have nothing to play for and the support clearly does nothing when they constantly keep performing like utter shit.

There's no excuse at all, we were doing wonders under Speed now we've crumbled back into the mess we were before he took over.

Should of kicked him into touch terrible manager.