GARY Speed was ruling nothing out or ruling anything in as he continued to be touted as the next manager of Wales.

Currently captain of his country, the Reebok midfielder commands enormous respect from his international team-mates and is known to have supporters at the Welsh FA.

But the former Leeds and Newcastle ace - just seven games into a two year contract with Wanderers - insists his playing career is still his top priority.

"There's nothing to rule out," Speed said in response to continuing speculation that he is being lined up to replace Mark Hughes, who steps down after next month's World Cup qualifiers to concentrate on his new job as manager of Blackburn Rovers.

"I'll just wait and see. I'm not even thinking about that kind of thing. I'm just concentrating on what's happening at Bolton and the next two games - England and Poland - that's all."

Speed, who has already gained his UEFA "B" coaching licence and is currently working towards his "A" licence, has support in the Wales dressing room. Team-mate Ryan Giggs continues to lobby for his appointment but, when the FAW met to discuss Hughes' successor on Friday, they are understood to have been divided.

Giggs said: "When Mark Hughes took over, most of the team had played with him and that did help everyone. Sparky had the immediate respect of the players and I'm sure Gary Speed would have that respect too.

"Speedo has been a great servant and he is still one of our most important players. He's captain and he looks after himself extremely professionally. It could work bringing in another young manager like Sparky."

Speed, who has played more Premiership games than any other player, is determined to honour his contract with Wanderers and has no plans yet to hang up his boots.

"If you want to go into management or coaching, there's no higher honour than managing your country," he added, "but I'm not even thinking about that at the moment.

"I've still two years left here at Bolton Wanderers and I've got enough on my hands."

Speed produced a performance that belied his 35 years when he made his 500th appearance in top flight football in Saturday's draw with Birmingham.

But he was left disappointed and frustrated that Wanderers, in complete control when they led 1-0 at half time, had to settle for just a point.

"We had an excellent first half, didn't give them a kick and it was disappointing not to come in more than 1-0 up," he said. "We gave them a bit of hope second half and, to be fair ot them, they came out and closed us down and didn't allow us to play.

"They'd had a bid of a rollicking at half time and we just didn't do what we'd been successful at in the first half and what could have won the game for us.

"We've got to learn from that and make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

"We got sucked into playing the long ball a bit too much instead of being a bit braver on the ball and getting it down and passing it a bit more. That played into Birmingham's hands because it's easier when you're defending high balls like that.

"If we'd got it down and started playing, maybe we'd have opened the game up a bit more."

Despite the disappointment of taking just a point for the third game in a row, Speed believes Wanderers can build on an opening sequence that has seen them lose just once in seven games, if their attitude is right.

"We haven't lost and we've managed to keep this little run going but you need to be winning your home games," he added. "When you don't it puts pressure on you to win away. West Brom will be a difficult game down there but we need three points from that now.

"It's okay going out against the likes of Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal and getting results, but these are the games we need to win ... we've got to get to the same standards we reached in those games. If we'd done that on Saturday, we'd have won.

"We've got to guard against being complacent and slipping down the league. We've got to be on our toes all the time."