GARY Speed has promised "100 per cent" commitment to Bolton Wanderers after ruling himself out of contention for the Wales manager's job.

The bloodied Reebok ace says he has no intention of taking on any role with the Welsh national team that would hamper his plans to extend his record-breaking Premiership run.

"I wouldn't do anything to harm or jeopardise my career here," Speed said in a personal pledge to Sam Allardyce and the fans who have taken him to their hearts since his £750,000 summer switch from Newcastle.

Speed had been among the favourites to succeed Mark Hughes, who quit last week to concentrate on his new management role at Blackburn. Highly respected after 14 years and 85 international appearances - a record 44 as captain - he received widespread support from players, Hughes himself and another of the front-runners, Brian Flynn, who has suggested he would offer him a role if he was to get the job.

But, after announcing his retirement from international football following the 3-2 defeat by Poland that effectively ended Wales' hopes of qualifying for the next World Cup, the super-fit 35-year-old put an end to the speculation when he admitted bluntly: "They want the best man for the job and I don't think that's me at the moment".

He added: "If you have aspirations to be a coach or a manager, which I have, managing your country would be the top honour. But, at the same time, you only get one crack at it and you'd want to give it your best crack.

"Could I do that while still playing at Bolton? I don't think so.

"I wouldn't apply but I would talk to them if they called me, but the first person I would talk to would be Sam. Realistically, I'd listen to anything they (the Football Association of Wales) had to say but I don't think it would be possible for me to do that job and carry on playing here ... and I want to play for as long as I can.

"If I am asked my advice on anything, I'm experienced enough in international football and I am prepared to talk to the FAW but there is no rush. What's important is that they get the right man for the job. There's been a lot of talk, especially in Wales, of people wanting him and not wanting him and that's all rubbish. Welsh football is more important than any individual.

"They should get the best man for the job and everybody should get behind him and give him support."

Speed even cast doubts on his willingness to work alongside a more senior man in a part-time capacity.

"I don't think I could. I've got to give my 100 per cent attention to Bolton Wanderers and I don't think I could give it my best shot if I combined the two. But until the FAW ring me that's not something I'm thinking of."

Speed, captain for the day in the absence of Jay Jay Okocha, missed a total of 13 minutes of the 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday after needing stitches in a scalp wound following his shuddering clash of heads with Ivan Campo that put the Spaniard in hospital with severe facial cuts and a suspected fractured cheekbone.

He had four spells off the field and went through six shirts and four pairs of shorts as referee Neale Barry rigidly enforced the FA rule that bars any player staying on the field if he has a drop of blood on his kit - an inflexibility that infuriated Allardyce.

"Unfortunately Ivan came off worst," Speed said. "I had three or four stitches but it just wouldn't stop bleeding. Every time I went back on the pitch I headed the ball in the exact same spot and it started bleeding again.

"Every time I started sweating, there'd be a bit of blood there again so I had to go off again and get changed. Obviously it disrupted us with Ivan going off and me having to keep going off and coming back on but I don't know exactly how disruptive because I was in the changing room getting stitches. We did well to hang in there with only 10 men and luckily, when we went back to full strength, we got the goal.

"After drawing three and losing one of the four games before this one, we were in relegation form. So it was important we got the three points."