Robbie Savage has recalled how the Welsh national team was once a laughing stock.

The 41-year-old played 39 times for the Dragons between 1995 and 2004 and admits the standard of football produced by he and his compatriots was laughable.

Ahead of Friday night's Euro2016 quarter-final between Wales and Belgium, Savage has written of the monumental changes that have taken place within the playing group which sees them on the brink of a potential unprecedented major tournament semi-final.

"There were times, in my playing career, when the environment around the Wales football squad was a shambles," the former Leicester City and Derby County star wrote in his column for the Daily Mirror.

"When you reported for international duty, it was like a stag weekend for the first two or three days.

"Sometimes, the buses would not turn up to take us to training. One session was even held in the grounds of a prison as a public relations exercise.

"On one occasion, the manager tried to take the captaincy off one player and give it to another without informing him first – and the skipper refused to hand over the armband.

"But look at Wales now — we're the only nation left standing at Euro2016 from the British Isles.

"Nobody is laughing at us any more."