Former Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has been named manager of the Wales national team today. This comes after former boss Chris Coleman departed the Dragons for Sunderland in November.
Giggs has been instructed to lead Wales forward after their 2018 World Cup qualifying failure. Their campaign ended in a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland. Despite their failure to qualify for the 2018 tournament, Giggs inherits a good squad. They have plenty of proven, top-level stars such as Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. As well as this, they have plenty of promising young players including Liverpool’s duo of Ben Woodburn and Harry Wilson.
Ryan Giggs Takes Over as Wales Manager
This is Giggs’ first stint as a permanent first-team manager in professional football. He was interim manager at Manchester United for four matches after David Moyes was sacked, and played second-fiddle to Louis Van Gaal as assistant manager between 2014 and 2016.
During his playing career, Giggs earned 64 caps for Wales over 16 years with the national team, scoring 14 goals during that time. Despite his longevity, Giggs was heavily accused of not committing to international football, as he regularly pulled out of friendlies during his playing career for Wales. He failed to reach a single international tournament as a player but will be looking to reverse that as manager. Craig Bellamy, Osian Roberts and Mark Bowen were also reportedly interviewed for the position, but the Wales Football Association opted to hire Giggs.
Pride in Being Given the Job
In a statement, Giggs said:
“I am so proud to have been given the honour of managing the national team.
“The challenges that we have ahead of us with the Nations League and qualification for Uefa Euro 2020 excite me a great deal.
“I can’t wait to start working with the players as we prepare for those crucial games later in the year.”
Chief Executive of the Welsh FA, Jonathan Ford, had this to say about the appointment:
“We are extremely delighted to see Ryan appointed as the National Team Manager. With his vast amount of experience having played, coached and managed the biggest club in the world, we are confident of a successful future for our national team.”
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