Mark Hughes was put in temporary charge of Wales yesterday after Terry Venables, his former manager at Barcelona, priced himself out of the job which fell vacant in June when Bobby Gould resigned.
The 35-year-old Hughes, who has 12 months to run on his playing contract with Southampton, will be in charge for the European Championship matches away to Belarus next month and at home to Switzerland in October as the Football Association of Wales looked to the Dell rather than Tel.
Hughes, along with the former Everton and Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall, took temporary charge of Wales for the match against Denmark four days after Gould's departure. Last month the pair were interviewed for the position along with Venables, the Chester City manager Kevin Ratcliffe and the former Blackburn manager Roy Hodgson.
Hodgson ruled himself out this week when he joined the Swiss club Grasshopper Zurich, but Venables, whose mother was born in South Wales, had long been the favoured candidate, both for his international experience with England and because the FAW was looking for a high-profile figure.
However Venables' contractual demands proved too much for the impoverished FAW. He wanted £200,000 a year, nearly four times Gould's salary.
"In our discussions with Terry he indicated that he wanted the job and we took him at his word," said David Collins, the FAW's secretary general. "Unfortunately, his terms were not acceptable to the councillors. The package would have been too expensive."
The appointment of Hughes gives the FAW time to consider its next move. A hiatus follows the international against Switzerland with Wales not involved in another competitive international until the World Cup qualifiers next summer.
The general feeling is that having been unable to afford Venables, the FAW has put Hughes in charge of a lost cause to give itself the time to approach other established figures in England, such as Joe Kinnear. Meanwhile John Toshack remains out of reach at Real Madrid, at least for the time being.
Brian Little was yesterday named as the new manager of West Brom - his fifth managerial job in the Midlands. Little, previously boss at Wolves, Leicester, Aston Villa and Stoke, has succeeded Denis Smith, who was fired by the Division One club last month.
West Brom chairman Tony Hale said: "Little has built up a remarkable track record of success at a number of clubs and we're delighted to be taking him on board."
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