TRAILING CLOUDS OF GLORY

In just two years, the Wales soccer team went from wooden spoon holders in the British Championships for four years in a row to 1976 European Championship quarter-finalists, within an ace of reaching the semi-finals of the continent’s top international competition... How on earth did manager Mike Smith’s men achieve this amazing turnaround?

The book includes background on the period before qualification started in 1974; a blow-by-blow account of all the matches involved, drawn from contemporary newspaper reports, TV footage and the author’s own interviews with key figures from the team and coaching staff; player profiles; examination of the fallout from the Wales campaign’s controversial ending; and a ‘Where are they now?’ section looking at what has happened to the players involved. Though Wales’ 2016 and 1958 teams are rightly fêted, the feat of the 1976 squad is largely forgotten, and theirs is one of the most unsung feats in British soccer..

This is an overdue celebration of a group of people who restored pride in the Welsh soccer jersey and gave the soccer public of Wales a reason to believe. An important contribution to British social and cultural history and a book which will fascinate soccer fans.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Author acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 Bowen nowhere; 2 As straightforward and uncomplicated as his own name; 3 The quiet revolution; 4 Belt up, you baby!; 5 See Budapest and Dai; 6 Passport to success?; 7 The team to beat; 8 A day at the Racecourse; 9 100 years and coasting; 10 40-Second Street; 11 Arsenal line up Smith; 12 Ninian opinion; 13 One team qualified and one team didn’t; Notes; Bibliography