JOHN TOSHACK is considering his future as Wales manager and is prepared to stand down if he is unable to resurrect hopes of qualifying for the 2012 European Championship with positive results against Bulgaria and Switzerland next month.

The Wales manager was despondent after Friday’s defeat in Montenegro, in their opening Group G fixture, and he has no desire to oversee another qualification campaign where the team are effectively going through the motions with little chance of progressing.

Wales take on Bulgaria in Cardiff on October 8th and travel to Switzerland four days later, with Toshack prepared to bring his six-year reign to an end depending on the outcome of those two fixtures.

Toshack has not yet given up on trying to reach the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine and for the moment he remains committed to that cause but he is unable to ignore the bigger picture. Wales have lost six of their last nine internationals and Toshack has started to question if he can take the current team any further and whether the time is now right for a new manager with fresh ideas to come in.

The former Real Madrid manager had hoped what is a reasonable draw for the European Championship would give Wales a genuine chance of finishing second in their group, behind England, but the 1-0 defeat in Podgorica on Friday means they already face an uphill task, with Toshack describing the Bulgaria game in Cardiff next month as “must-win”.

The list of potential candidates to succeed Toshack is likely to include Chris Coleman, who is out of work, Dean Saunders, the Wrexham manager who is also Toshack’s assistant, and Brian Flynn, who has done an impressive job in his role as the Wales Under-21 coach.

Ryan Giggs would be the most popular choice among the public, although it seems unlikely that the 36-year-old would be able to commit to the position while he is still a key part of Alex Ferguson’s plans at Manchester United.

Guardian Service