‘I ain’t Welsh!’ Former Wales player lays into ‘joke’ set up
Former Wales international Andy Johnson has revealed what it was like to play for Wales in the late ’90s, early noughties – and it’s not exactly complimentary.
The ex-footballer who played for Norwich City, Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion amongst others, told the Undr The Cosh podcast how he never considered himself Welsh, was never going to learn the anthem and how he viewed playing for Wales as ‘a holiday’ and an excuse to go out drinking with his international teammates.
The 50-year-old who was born in Bristol and qualified to play for Wales through his maternal grandmother who was born in Maesteg, said he never considered himself Welsh but joked that his ‘nan used to walk the dog over there apparently’.
The player, who won 15 caps for Wales between 1998 and 2004, revealed the shambolic state of the Wales set up under manager Bobby Gould, who gave Johnson his first cap.
“Gouldy was a great guy, but f*cking useless,” he said.”He thought he was cunning. This one night we had the whole floor of this hotel. Gouldy sat on a chair at one end of the corridor so he could see if anybody tried to sneak out, but we were all on the ground floor so jumped out the windows and had a great night out.”
Johnson revealed how during his time with Wales drinking and partying was most definitely more important than the football.
“We would travel down on Saturday and then have Saturday night out. We’d have an alldayer on the Sunday, then play golf on the Monday. We didn’t train until Thursday. We were pissed the whole time. It was unbelievable.”
During the chat with Undr The Cosh hosts Chris Brown and Jon Parkin he told the infamous story of how Bobby Gould made the Wales squad train at Usk open prison.
“When I first joined we trained in an open prison in Usk and the inmates were the ball boys. I remember Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) saying to me what the f*ck are we doing here?”
When asked by the podcast hosts if he had learned the Welsh national anthem, he replied: “F*cking hell no, but I knew how to get into the private room at the Fantasy Lounge lap dancing club in Cardiff.
“I wasn’t like Vinnie (Jones) when he came in and tried to learn the anthem. I can barely speak without a Bristolian accent, so I was never going to learn the Welsh anthem.”
Johnson said his brother received death threats because of him playing for Wales.
“He was was embarrassed and got loads of grief. There’s a real hatred between Bristol, Swansea and Cardiff. My bother’s name is David, so I used to call him Dafydd every time I saw him to wind him up.”
While the former midfielder said he had a ‘great time’ playing for Wales, he did bemoan some of the teams they ended up drawing in qualufiers.
“I had a wicked time but we always drew the sh*tholes like Belarus,” he said. “I read a book in Belarus, thats how bad it was. I’ve only read four books in my life and three of them I was made to do in school.”
While he had plenty of good things to say for teammates such as John Hartson, Dean Saunders and Chrs Coleman – ‘real great lads, great characters’ – he revealed he decided to end his international career after Wales lost a heartbreaking two-legged playoff to Russia for a place at Euro 2004 in Portugal.
Although on the podcast he does get his facts mixed up. He says Wales drew 1-1 out in Russia. It was in fact 0-0. And he reckons he was dropped for the second leg, when he actually started the second leg, but was substituted for Rob Earnshaw in the 54th minute of second half.”
We can only surmise that all that beer he drank on international duty must have rotted his braincells.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
It doesn’t surprise me that this bloke can’t remember which games he played in, because – according to the records – I was present at at least five of them, and I can’t remember him either.
Good grief he comes across dreadfully. There are plenty of English born players who’ve gone on to very proudly represent other UK nations, or Ireland, and been very much taken to heart by the fans.
This bloke, however, seems a right clown, and not a funny one.
Yep, none more so than the great Ashley Williams. Brilliant CB and top Bloke.
Fair enough. He was a joke player, Gould a joke manager, and the FAW at the time a joke organisation.
What an absolute moron. There is a reason why Wales didn’t qualify for a tournaments when we had the likes of him in our squad. And don’t worry Andy Johnson we never thought you were Welsh or a good footballer anyway. And I echo others when they say there have been many great English-born players that have played their hearts out for Wales.
Long before the days of Together Stronger which gave Welsh football a sense of unity and pride, and then we started qualifying for major tournaments. Its the same in rugby, whipping boys in the 90s to Grand Slammers in the 2000s & 2010s. Sadly I fear Welsh sport is going on a downhill spiral.
Yep, this is what happens when you sacrifice your sport on an alter to those who don’t care for it to begin with. The WRU have ruined our Rugby team! And I fear the FAW is on the same trajectory!
A****ole!
I can’t recall hím as a player,but a great raconteur.Perhaps the posters here should learn to take themselves a bit less seriously.
A man just admitted using a different nation for his own personal gain, the complete opposite of what an honourable international should be. The fact you can’t see how sick this is tells me everything i need to know about you. This country unfortunately has Plastic Taffs everywhere.
Wow-I remember watching Wales once and then went out on St Mary s Street later.
This lad was hovering at the front to get into a premises without queuing.
The door staff did not recognise him and would not let him queue jump as they didn’t recognise him as a ‘celeb’
I recognised him. Says it all really with regard to how much of a player he was 🥱