Will I play for Wales again now Tosh has gone? Watch this space...

By Robbie Savage

Published 22:59 09/09/10

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If you've come to this column to see me gloating at John Toshack's demise, you're going to be disappointed.

I didn't dance a jig when he resigned yesterday because if the boss goes, it means Wales are still failing. And that has got to stop.

I don't think Toshack is a bad man but I think he was a disappointing Wales manager. He didn't deliver the results he asked him to judge him on. He dismantled Mark Hughes' winning team too soon. He brought in some great kids, but it's the likes of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey's clubs who deserve the credit for their development, not him.

And his biggest failing? When it was plain two or three years ago that it was all going wrong, he didn't resign soon enough.

I may be a bit biased but I think he was wrong to drop me from the Wales squad while I was captain of Blackburn. I reckon he would have still done it if I'd been captain of Manchester United and Real Madrid. He just didn't like me. And the feeling was entirely mutual.

But it was me who stupidly threw his toys out of the pram and retired from international football when he left me out. I should have stayed and fought to get back into the team.

Since Toshack resigned I've been inundated with texts and Tweets urging me to come out of international retirement. I've got an ego but I'm not arrogant or presumptuous enough to do that.

What I will say, though, is if whoever takes over wants me to do any sort of job for them - coaching, playing, driving the bus - then I will be there.

I said this resignation came two or three years too late for Wales and maybe it's come two or three years too late for me. Or maybe not.

I'm still the captain of a great club, Derby County. I was player of the year last season. I'm playing well this time out.

I'm not a headless chicken anymore, running around the pitch and getting involved in mischief. I sit in front of the back four and clear things up. I help the kids at the club out, on the field and off it. I like to think that I'm a good team-mate and a good guy to have in the dressing room.

Two years ago I was out of form and out on my arse. I've had one incredible comeback, and maybe I can have another. Maybe so can a few more of the lads, like Simon Davies and Jason Koumas, who also knocked it on the head under Toshack.

But that is entirely up to whoever takes over now and no matter what happens with me, I am willing them to succeed and I think they can.

The truth of the matter is that we have the potential to have a very good team. We've got some great kids, but recent years have shown that they will have no chance to prosper if you don't inspire them in the dressing room and help them along out on the field.

That kind of help is at hand when you look at some of the candidates Wales could turn to now.

Who could fail to be uplifted if John Hartson, a man who has faced down cancer, was giving the team talk? Who couldn't be impressed by Chris Coleman, one of the brightest men and biggest characters in the game? Who wouldn't shut up and listen if Ryan Giggs was talking?

Any one of those guys - maybe in combination with each other or the brilliant Brian Flynn - could get the dragon breathing fire again just in time for our massive games against England.

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ROBBIE'S STORY OF THE WEEK

The missus and I fancied having a conservatory put on the back of ours house. But I'm afraid the plan has broken down.

Sarah objected to the idea of having a sliding roof and was adamant that we needed a flat glass one. Which would have worked out brilliantly in the rainy North-West as we head towards winter.

We'd have been the first family to have a conservatory with a swimming pool above it fitted at the same time.

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