Savage: I'd return to Wales fold if Toshack left

Robbie Savage has admitted he would reconsider his international retirement if John Toshack left the Wales job.

But the Blackburn midfielder, 30, predicted there will be more walk-outs if the former Real Madrid manager remains in charge.

Savage announced he was retiring from international football yesterday after he was told by Toshack he would not be in the squad for Wales’ World Cup qualifiers against Austria next month.

However, asked in an interview on the BBC Radio Wales programme, Midweek Sports, if he would consider returning to the Wales team if Toshack departed, he said: “Yes.”

Savage then compared his fall-out with Toshack to Roy Keane’s exit from the Republic of Ireland team at the 2002 World Cup, revealing that the players are unhappy with the new Wales manager’s methods.

After insisting his exclusion from the Wales squad was down to a personality clash, he described the preparations for last month’s friendly against Hungary, Toshack’s first game in charge, as a “shambles”.

He added: “We had fried bananas to start the meals which no-one’s ever heard of. There were no carbohydrates. The training methods were a shambles.

“I spoke out and it was a bit like the Roy Keane situation, I was just speaking up for the lads.

“We were all sneaking out to the petrol station to buy chocolate because we were starving.”

Savage expects more players to leave the Wales set-up in frustration at Toshack’s management.

He added: “He’s living in the dark ages with his food and his training methods. I think were will be a few more to go very soon.”