I think Wales will be a deserted country next summer. I will be going to France, there is no doubt about that. It feels as if we have finally got the monkey off our back.
We have kept Gareth Bale fit, which is a big bonus. We have not had many players like him play for Wales. We have had great scorers like Ian Rush but he needed goals created for him. Gareth can finish if he gets chances but he also creates some for himself. Then there is Aaron Ramsey – Wales have not had a midfield player like Ramsey, ever. We might have had the likes of Ryan Giggs but he never played in this sort of side.
But people forget there are also other players. You have got somebody like Chris Gunter, who has more than 60 caps. Ashley Williams is as important as Bale and Ramsey. He keeps that back three together. In this campaign Wales have kept six clean sheets and that is an unbelievable record.
Although certain people take the plaudits for winning us the game and scoring the goals, you have got to keep clean sheets to win games and that is what we have done with Wayne Hennessey in goal. For him to come in and put in performances – he made a great save against Cyprus in the dying minutes and the shot took a deflection, too – he has done extremely well considering he is not playing regularly for Crystal Palace.
I cannot see any generation of Wales players beating this team. It is the best squad we have had. The togetherness of the lads, the team spirit, is as good as I have seen in a Welsh team.
There were plenty of occasions in the time that I was involved that we could have qualified for a major tournament. For one reason or another it did not happen, but you have got to understand that our squad then was not quite good enough, and this team are. You have got to tip your hat to them. It is no good saying that our team was better than this team because we were not. We might have won important games, big games against the likes of Germany, but we never qualified.
This is a great achievement by a great bunch of players. Chris Coleman has done a fantastic job. At half time against Andorra at the beginning of the campaign, you would have said Chris might be lucky to be in a job by Christmas. But that is football, that is how quickly it can change around.
Everybody realises that if we go to Euro 2016 as a team, maybe we can do something. It is the first time I have seen a Welsh side where the opposition have got a game plan against us. We have never had that. You can feel that sometimes there is a fear factor from the opposition.
You can also tell there’s a buzz among fans – just look at the turnout away from home against Cyprus. You might see the same against Bosnia – there is a change in attitude among the supporters. A lot of football supporters want any sports team in Wales to do well, not just rugby. At times through the decades football has actually overtaken rugby in Wales. We’ve got to realise it is a rugby nation, but in the union leagues around Wales the gates are pretty poor.
You will be struggling to get 10,000 to watch an Ospreys game unless it is a big game, whereas Swansea City are getting 20,000 as a football team. Cardiff City, in the Championship now, are still getting 15,000 fans. The Cardiff Blues get 8,000. The national side is also supported a lot better than the clubs.
I have heard a little rumour that one or two supporters have actually booked hotels in every place there is a game in France for next year’s Euros because they are not sure where Wales will be playing. It is obviously something new to them as much as it is to the players, and the managing staff as well.
The turning point for Wales was when Bobby Gould took over in 1995. Decent training kits for the lads, decent hotels for the lads and decent travel arrangements for the lads. When Mark Hughes took over after him, he upped it. I thought some standards under John Toshack stood still, although we brought the young lads through. And then when Gary Speed took over I think he realised that standards had dropped off the field. He added preparation and put the right people in place, and Coleman has carried that on. He has not let that standard drop and he is trying to improve it. We are a proper international country now, not – as we used to call it – Rag-ass Rovers.
At one stage we were a million miles away from where England or Scotland – especially England – were off the pitch, and I still think we need to improve. But I would like to think that after qualifying for Euro 2016 things will change off the field. The Welsh FA have got to up their game now because when you qualify everybody expects.
Kevin Ratcliffe played for Wales 59 times from 1981-93, and captained them on 33 occasions
