Former Coventry boss Chris Coleman has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the Wales job.
Coleman confirms he has officially applied for Wales job
Former Fulham and Coventry boss Chris Coleman has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the Wales job.
The 40-year-old has been out of the game since being sacked by the Sky Blues last summer but has now applied to succeed John Toshack as Wales boss following his departure after the 1-0 defeat in Montenegro.
The former Wales international joins current caretaker Brian Flynn and John Hartson as confirmed candidates for the post, with the deadline for applications the first week of November.
The six-man Football Association of Wales panel will then confirm the new manager before Christmas, allowing the successful applicant time to prepare for the Nations Cup opener in Ireland on 8th February and then the Euro 2012 clash at home to England in March.
Finishing touches
Speaking of his application, Coleman said: "I've put the finishing touches to my CV and sent it off.
"So I have officially applied. You're talking about managing your country and I think that any football person is going to want that. I certainly do."
Caretaker boss Flynn took charge for the last two Euro qualifiers - the 1-0 home defeat to Bulgaria and 4-1 reverse in Switzerland.
Coleman saw positives in the defeats and believes Wales will improve once they get their best players back into the squad on a consistent basis.
"The last two results were not the results that we were looking for," he said.
Positives
"We played some lovely football, there were some positives.
"But I just thought - and this is not a reflection on Brian Flynn as he was only there for two games or John before him because he had a lot of players missing - we looked like we were not hard to beat.
"It's never easy to go into a job like that and a team like that, that's lacking in confidence, lacking in quality because a lot of players are missing.
"So it was always going to be difficult for Brian. First and foremost we've got to start getting our best players back into the squad and not just for one or two games.
"We've got the England games next and I'm sure there'll be a strong squad for that. We've got to start getting our best players in the squad on a consistent basis."
