After 64 years of waiting, Wales will this year be back competing in the FIFA World Cup, and that success has largely come down to their current manager, Rob Page.
The 48-year-old coach was handed the job on a caretaker basis in November 2020 after Ryan Giggs was suspended from his role as manager of the Dragons, yet since this decision, Wales have enjoyed an incredible rise on the international stage that might not have happened under the Manchester United legend.
Another incredible run in the Euros saw Page take Wales to the Round of 16 after a fantastic 2-0 win against Turkey and a solid draw against Switzerland. And whilst Wales crashed out of the tournament with a 4-0 loss to Denmark, Cymru fans were still pleased with their nation’s achievements in the competition.
Yet more was to come from Page. But first, let’s look at who the current Wales manager actually is, and what his story in the sport is that would eventually lead him to take this small footballing nation to their first World Cup in over six decades.
From Championship superstar to Wales coach
Like many coaches in the game today, Page was a player in his earlier days, with the current Wales manager previously quite the star in the Championship for the likes of Watford, Sheffield United and Coventry City, with the former defender making 550 appearances in total across numerous English Football League sides.
With Page also making 41 senior caps for Wales, it seemed likely that the Llwynypia-born star would one day go into coaching, and this is exactly what happened just shortly after his retirement from the game in 2011, with the centre-back’s first job being with Port Vale in 2014.
An interesting note of Page’s managerial career and his rise within the British game is that his two sole roles with English clubs didn’t exactly go to plan. Indeed, the Welshman spent close to 100 matches as manager of Port Vale, only to win 35 games in total with the Stoke-based side.
A similar story followed with Northampton Town, where Page only last 34 matches in charge before being sacked for winning just ten fixtures and being eliminated from the FA Cup by non-league side Stourbridge FC. All seemed lost for the Welsh coach in the game, until he was appointed Wales’ U-21s manager in 2017, which is where the magic happened.
Qualifying for Qatar and making history from nothing
Two years after taking the Wales U-21s job, Page was promoted to Giggs’ assistant in 2019, with the coach eventually replacing the Welsh icon following his suspension from the job in 2020. And it is from here that the 48-year-old started to shine on the touchline.
Page led Wales both to the delayed Euros as well as through the entire UEFA World Cup qualification phase, where the Dragons would make it to the play-offs as Gareth Bale’s world-class free-kick ensured a 1-0 win against Ukraine to book Cymru’s place at the World Cup in Qatar.
Qualification to Qatar lifted the spirit of the entire nation and finally landed Page the permanent Wales managerial job ahead of the competition this November. With England to come in the World Cup, there will be expectations to deliver against the old enemy on the biggest stage of all.
Indeed, confidence is high for Wales ahead of the competition in the Middle East, and with the USA and Iran in poor form heading into the World Cup, there’s a good chance that Page could lead the Dragons out of their group and into the knockout stage of the competition, a feat that would again be historic.
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