John Hartson has told talkSPORT he wants to become the new manager of Wales.

John Toshack is set to stand down following Wales’ 1-0 defeat by Montenegro on Friday in their opening Euro 2012 qualifier.

And former Arsenal and West Ham star Hartson, who played 51 times for his country, has passionately declared his interest in taking over, despite having no previous managerial experience.

“I’d love the job. I am a proud Welshman, I’ve worked with the best, I’ve done all my badges,” Hartson told Drive Time.

“I don’t think they will be thinking of me and I’m very busy at the minute in the media talking a good game but there’s nobody that will be more committed and more Welsh than I am.

"I have played in Europe, I’ve played Champions League football, I’m record under-21 goalscorer, I scored 15 goals at the highest level for Wales. If it was offered to me then I would seriously, seriously think about it because there’s nobody that’s a bigger, prouder Welshman than myself.

“There may be one of two other candidates out there that come before me, I may have to wait my turn, maybe three or four years down the line I don’t know but if you’re asking me would I want the job, absolutely.

“It’s the job of a lifetime – you’d be a fool to turn the national manager’s job down. You look at Mark Hughes when he took the job, he was 35, the same age as me.”

Hartson, who is now fighting fit after a battle with cancer, believes former Real Madrid boss Toshack should have been sacked by the Football Association of Wales earlier.

"John should have gone before the start of this campaign," he added.

"They had an awful 2010 campaign, finishing fourth behind Finland, Russia and Germany - only Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan were below them and that’s the time they should have made the change.

"They shouldn’t make a change now one game into the new campaign, we're a total laughing stock by doing that. It was obvious it was going to be difficult and it was obvious that John wasn’t getting the best out of the players and that’s when the change should have been made.

"They give him a two-year contract, the FWA, so they need to have a good look at themselves, the ones who make the choices and who give him the new contract, because after four years in the job we went backwards."