WALES manager Chris Coleman has said his Euro 2016 heroes have earned the right to be known as the ’golden generation’.

Achieving qualification to next summer’s European Championships in France is exactly what Coleman told The Brecon & Radnor Express, in June 2013, that Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey and their teammates needed to do justify the ’golden generation’ tag bestowed on the talented young players.

Wales secured their place at a first major finals since the 1958 World Cup in Bosnia on Saturday and celebrated qualification for Euro 2016 tournament with a 2-0 win over Andorra at the Cardiff City Stadium last night.

Proud manager Coleman praised his players and said: "The team were labelled the ’golden generation’ before they’d earned it. Now they’ve earned it."

Here is another chance to read Coleman’s interview with then Brecon & Radnor Express sports editor Matthew Jones in which he discussed the potential of his young side and the pressure of succeeding close friend Gary Speed.

Coleman: Youngsters need to prove ’Golden generation’ tag on pitch

WALES manager Chris Coleman claims his young Dragons are good enough to qualify for a first major tournament in over half a century and says the death of close friend and predecessor Gary Speed will stay with him forever.

Those were two of the subjects the former Wales international defender, who also enjoyed club careers at Fulham, Crystal Palace and Swansea City, talked to The Brecon & Radnor Express about when we enjoyed an audience with him last week.

The 43-year-old, who became the youngest ever Premier League manager when he took the reigns at Fulham, aged just 32, in April 2003, spent the day in Brecon and Radnorshire last Friday, June 14, talking to pupils at both Gwernyfed High School and Hay-on-Wye Primary School, before then attending Rhosgoch Football Club’s end of season awards evening that night with friend and Powys’ own former Wales Under 21 defender Gareth Davies.

Davies, who played with Coleman at Palace, is now a football development officer with the Welsh Football Trust.

Coleman talked at length to media studies students at Gwernyfed, spending half an hour answering challenging questions about his own experiences with the media as a former professional footballer, holding a question and answer session with younger pupils, prior to moving onto Hay in the afternoon - and even managing to squeeze in some time to speak to the B&R too.

Apart from admitting to starting his tenure as Wales boss in January 2012 ’under a shadow’ after the tragic death of his friend Speed the previous November, Coleman spoke candidly about his belief that Wales can break their hoodoo of not qualifying for either a World Cup or European Championships since 1958.

Coleman, who has also enjoyed stints managing abroad in both Spain with Real Sociedad and Greek side Larissa, went on to support Everton boss Roberto Martinez’s comments last week that the Football Association of Wales’ (FAW) coaching methods are fantastic and he also believes Welsh sensation Gareth Bale is good enough to play for any team on the planet.

Despite facing a monumental task to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Scotland’s 1-0 defeat of Croatia earlier this month means Wales, mathematically at least, still stand a chance of making the tournament, although Coleman believes trying to finish third and receive a more favourable draw for the 2016 European Championship qualification campaign is his side’s main aim now.

"First and foremost we’ve got four games left in the group, there’s some huge games left, and we must finish third to put us in a healthier pot for the Euros.

"Don’t forget, we came in as sixth seeds for these qualifiers, we were the bottom team. We are the Faroe Islands or San Marino in our group and we’re better teams than them, all due respect."

Wales’ young guns, including Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen and Neil Taylor, have already been hailed as the ’golden generation’ by the media, but Coleman says his talented young side have to prove it: "There’s no golden generation until they prove it on the pitch and qualify.

"We’ve got lots of good young players but we’ve not had the best team on the pitch for 18 months.

"We need our best team for five or six games and when we do that I believe we can play against anybody, I really believe that.

"Potentially yes we can do good things but there’s a few things we can improve on, we need a bit more luck with injuries and suspensions.

"If we have a kinder group we have a chance (of making a major tournament)."

Speaking about Bale, the poster boy for the generation, Coleman added: "He’s still getting better but at the moment he’s up there with most exciting attackers in football.

"He’s been great for Wales, he’s a very, very good player." Asked if he’ll still be a Tottenham Hotspur player come next season, Coleman said: "I don’t know, I don’t like to comment because if I was (Spurs manager) Andre Villas Boas and something was said about him I wouldn’t like it.

"Ability wise he can play for anyone, he’s top quality, but I think he’s happy at Tottenham and I don’t think he should move at the moment."

While the FAW was praised by former Swansea manager Martinez last week for giving him the freedom to train as a coach, at the same time that the English FA’s coaching development methods came in for criticism from others, Coleman said: "I’ve never been involved with English FA, I’ve only been involved with what we do and it’s very good. It’s flexible and open to imagination, they like their coaches to express themselves as long as they’re structured and have a clear philosophy of what they want to do.

"What I’ve seen has been fantastic and our reputation is very positive indeed."

Coleman also spoke about the almost unthinkable task of being the manager to step into the Wales national side void left by Speed, who was found dead at home in November 2011.

"You never get over something like that, it’s with you forever," said Coleman.

"As times goes on you try to deal with it better but for the first six to eight months I was under a shadow, not Gary’s but the negativity of the situation.

"I’ve known him since I was 10, I grew up with him, what happened is unthinkable, but as time goes on you try to learn to live with it as best you can."

With Mid Wales having produced ex-Welsh U21 international defender Davies, who was forced to retire prematurely due to injury, as well as former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sunderland midfielder Carl Robinson, Coleman admitted that he’d heard of striker Dane Griffiths.

The Builth Wells teenager is hoping to follow in the footsteps of the few professional footballers to emerge from Brecon and Radnorshire before him, having signed a professional contract with Premier League new boys Cardiff City in April.

"I haven’t seen him, but I know his name," said Coleman.

Asked if he had any advice for the promising 19-year-old, he added: "As with any young player, never stop, keep progressing, keep working hard and listen to good advice.

"Never think you’ve arrived because you’ve never arrived, nobody arrives, you’re always trying to work harder."