Thursday 1 September 2016 23:51, UK
Wales and Burnley striker Sam Vokes accepts speculation will rumble on over Chris Coleman should he oversee a successful World Cup campaign.
Coleman was targeted by Premier League club Hull after steering Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, the country's best ever performance at a major tournament.
The 46-year-old said he was flattered by Hull's interest and admitted that he gave serious thought to an offer which would have significantly improved his current salary.
But the Football Association of Wales rejected Hull's approach and Coleman, who has said that the 2018 World Cup campaign will be his last in charge of the national team, promised he would never walk out on his country during a campaign.
"With everything that happened in the summer the gaffer was always going to get linked to somewhere because we did such a good job," said Vokes ahead of Monday's opening World Cup qualifier against Moldova.
"I wasn't surprised with that, but it's obviously great to still have him as the gaffer.
"I'm sure there will be more speculation if we do well, but there's nothing you can really do about it. It's just important we do our job and work hard, get the results and see what happens.
"We've spoken about the campaign coming up and what our goals are, so I'm sure it is as important for him as it is for us."
Coleman succeeded the late Gary Speed in January 2012 and had some extremely testing moments in his first campaign.
Wales were crushed 6-1 in Serbia and Coleman appeared to be on the brink of losing his job on more than one occasion.
But the FAW stuck with him and Wales ended a 58-year wait to qualify for a major tournament before making it all the way to the last four in France.
"What we've built here over the few years has been down to the manager and his staff," said Vokes.
"On the pitch we work hard on what we're doing and the opposition, and the staff do a lot of that work. Off the pitch he (Coleman) is great for the lads in what we do.
"He knows how we all work, so for us going into a World Cup campaign it's good to have that stability there. It's something we can build on from what we started in France."
