Toshack stands up for Keegan

Wales boss lifts the lid on foreign invasion of British game

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 5th September 2008

John Toshack Wales press

Toshack: Has worked in Spain

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Wales boss John Toshack feels foreign owners have altered the basics of English football culture.

In the wake of Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley's resignations from Newcastle and West Ham respectively, Toshack believes the conditions they were forced to work under are a sign of the times.

Gone are the days when the manager has the final say in transfer policy, with the ever-increasing power of owners infiltrating into the dressing room.

Toshack concedes things were never like this during his 1970s playing days, but admits he has experienced similar circumstances during his days managing on the continent with clubs like Real Madrid and Real Sociedad.

"I don't know whether Kevin will be back in the Premier League," he said.

Accepted

"But it seems to me that the only person who signs players is [should be] the manager who has to work with them at 10.30am every morning.

"I was brought up on that as a manager. It was generally accepted that managers decided who the players should be, and he signed them.

"Then I started working abroad at a Basque club, Real Sociedad, who could not sign players anyway.

"But then when I worked with other clubs, unfortunately, players were signed that I knew little about.

"At Real Madrid I think I had two choices from every six signed! The president would come to me and ask my opinion, listen, and then tell me that the players had already been signed.

"That happened more than once. In Europe that is very much the style, other people sign players and coaches coach."

Toshack added: "The British manager is unique now. All over Europe it is different. Now the game is changing in the Premier League, with a lot of foreign people and money coming in.

Honest

"So in the British game it is happening more and more. The two who have quit this week, Kevin and Alan Curbishley, played at around the time I did and were brought up in a certain way.

"Managers now end up with players they didn't sign, and if they don't do well the team fails and the manager gets the sack. While the people who did the signings keep their jobs.

"But this has been happening in Europe a long, long time. I know Kevin very well and he is honest and wears his heart on his sleeve.

"They used to let the manager do the job. But now we see people with money coming in and you wonder with some of the players signed in recent weeks whether the manager knew anything about them.

"Kevin and Curbishley have had enough. I felt this would happen, and I believe

it will happen even more now to English managers."