Put up or shut up

The 73-times capped Wales star is firmly behind manager John Toshack and aimed a blast at exiled players Robbie Savage and Ben Thatcher after both criticised the boss' no-nonsense approach. Toshack has taken some flak after his second major fall-out with a squad member and an ongoing squabble with former manager Mark Hughes, but Nicholas has backed the man in charge.

"John Toshack is manager and it is up to all of the players and fans to get behind him 100 percent," Nicholas said.

"If these players cannot accept that or don't want to play for Wales, then they should keep their mouths shut. "Toshack has a hard enough job without these guys chucking their twopenn'orth in all of the time.

"I am fully behind John and the players should be as well. If they don't like it then they shouldn't play for Wales, there are loads of people who would do anything to play for their country."

Nicholas was Wales captain the last time the Dragons won at Northern Ireland's Windsor Park, a 1-0 Home Nations victory in 1983, and he warned the current crop of players to expect a warm welcome.

"It is a smashing little ground with a great atmosphere," he said. "We always had a decent record there but it won't be easy this time, especially as they will be on a high after beating England last month.

"But Wales have to remember that the England result wouldn't happen nine times out of ten and there is not a lot between these sides.

"The players all know a lot about each other, the sides are very similar and it will be a very British type of match and that might suit them.

"But no matter what the result is, this is still a massive learning curve for the Welsh team.

"There have been a lot of changes and it is a young team and the most important thing is that they can build up a bit of confidence that will give them a chance of making the next European Championships."