Is this the season where Wales finally reclaims their place on the footballing map?
Swansea are a revolution, securing Premier League football for a second consecutive season and comfortably winning the Capital One Cup at Wembley, disposing the Champions of Europe and Liverpool on the way. Cardiff are in pole position to become the second Welsh team in the top flight and reached the Carling Cup final last season, beaten in a penalty shoot-out against Liverpool.
In the Blue Square Bet Premier, Newport and Wrexham are competing for promotion to the Football League and Wrexham winning the FA Trophy in a thrilling match against Grimsby.
And, with Chris Coleman at the helm, the Welsh national side look strong and were unlucky not to qualify from their World Cup qualification group. Maybe Euro 2016 will be the chance that Wales have waited for.
This is a stark contrast to just a decade ago, when Swansea faced relegation from the football league, only to be saved by a last minute goal versus Hull in the final game of the season. Swansea subsequently were sold to managing director, Mike Lewis for a mere £1.
If you had said that the Swans would be flying high in the Premier League 5 years ago, it would have been greeted with laughter. A big part of the Swans success is their managerial choices. Since the days of Roberto Martinez, Swansea have instilled a flowing, attractive style of play, not dissimilar to Barcelona and have relied on bargain buys. Michu has been exceptional since his £2 million move from Rayo Vallecano.
The national side are capable of playing some really good football, all since the late Gary Speed took the helm. There has been a great sense of optimism at Wales’s games; belief that they can reach the World Cup is high after a solid double over Scotland and Gareth Bale on top form.
Bale has been mesmerising this season, producing consistently fabulous displays for both Spurs and Wales, earning him high acclaim and links with Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. Another fantastic turnaround from the sloppy left back, linked with a £3 million move to Birmingham only 3 years ago.
Although Wales may not be the biggest country nor does everybody know where it is but, very soon, I feel Wales will be in as strong a position as we were in 1958, the year we got to the World Cup quarter finals, only to be beaten by the first international goal for a 17 year old Pele.
We continue to produce world stars; Bale, Giggs and Bellamy have made a huge impact on worldwide football in the name of Wales, and with stars like Jonathan ‘Joniesta’ Williams, Dan Alfei and Lee Lucas emerging, Wales will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.
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In 2003 Swansea played Hull on the same day that Exeter played Southend to see who would go down – both won but Swansea survived.
Your quite right and it has been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out.