It’s probably not controversial to suggest that almost every fanbase, if pushed, would identify their side’s greatest ever shirt as arriving somewhere between the mid-70s, when things started to get interesting, and the late 90s, when things started to get out of hand. And it’s pretty much a given that for any Wales fan, unless they’re particularly attached to Billy Meredith’s lace-up collars, it’ll be Admiral ‘76.
The boys of ‘58 are the best of Wales, for they had the best players and they had the best story. John Charles, the greatest player in the world, injured for the quarter-final. Pelé, 17, about to take the first step on the journey to becoming Pelé. A case can be made that Wales would have won that game with a fit Charles up front, and as such a case can be made that Wales would have won the World Cup, Pelé notwithstanding. It is not, if we’re being honest, an open and shut case.
