Chris Coleman joins race for Wales job
Former Fulham boss Chris Coleman has confirmed that he has officially entered the race to become the next manager of the Wales national team.
Coleman, 40, has submitted his application to the Football Association of Wales and faces competition for the position from former Wales strikers John Hartson and Ian Rush as well as Brian Flynn, the current caretaker boss.
He told the BBC that: "I've put the finishing touches to my CV and sent it off. So I have officially applied. You're talking about managing your country and I think that any football person is going to want that. I certainly do."
The FAW is accepting applications for the post until the first week of November, after which a six-man committee will convene to decide upon the new manager, who will be named by Christmas.
Wales have been managerless since John Toshack left the post by mutual consent in September after the 1-0 UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying match against Montenegro.
Flynn was handed the reins on a temporary basis for the next two qualifiers, but could not pick up any points. Wales were beaten 1-0 at home against Bulgaria and then travelled to Switzerland, where they were on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat.
'Not results we were looking for'
Former Real Sociedad and Coventry City boss Coleman said that: "The last two results were not the results that we were looking for. We played some lovely football, there were some positives.
"But I just thought — and this is not a reflection on Brian Flynn as he was only there for two games or John before him because he had a lot of players missing — we looked like we were not hard to beat. It's never easy to go into a job like that and a team
like that, that's lacking in confidence, lacking in quality because a lot of players are missing.”
While Wales do not have a Euro 2012 qualifier until March — where they will play England in Cardiff — the FAW want to make a permanent appointment before the first match in the Nations Cup against the Republic of Ireland on 9 February.
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