On the morning of Poland’s match with Austria in the grand surrounds of the Olympiastadion Berlin, where supporters applied face paint to one another on the final descent to the ground before the rain moved in, it must have been impossible for those inside the Football Association of Wales to escape the sense of what might have been. Wales, of course, would have been in Poland’s shoes had things panned out differently in a typically tense penalty shootout in Cardiff in March.
Saying that, they had their minds on other things, announcing the termination of Rob Page’s contract, which had two years to run. The timing is a little strange but such had been the grim mood among supporters his position was slowly growing untenable. Wales’s failure to reach the finals did not help but it was hardly his biggest crime. That was surely the embarrassing 4-2 Euro qualifying defeat at home to Armenia, which Page himself described as haunting, or perhaps the recent stalemate against a Gibraltar team that had not kept a clean sheet since November 2022. In that time Wales have been to a World Cup and back. It was hardly overwhelming evidence of things moving in the right direction. Page had the challenge of re-energising a team – an entire nation – in this eerie post-Gareth Bale era. It always threatened to be a thankless task, and so it proved.
Page introduced a new generation of players to international football, most notably Jordan James, who was relegated to League One with Birmingham City last season. James impressed and Harry Wilson, Neco Williams, Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts were among a core who grew in stature for their country. Ben Davies, captain in the absence of Aaron Ramsey, is arguably their most reliable performer. Daniel James and Ethan Ampadu have had moments – the latter has racked up a half-century of caps aged 23 – and Brennan Johnson has teased his ability in a Wales shirt but it would be wrong to argue Page has stifled talent or wasted a group of elite players. Perhaps this is just it now?
The funny thing is had Wojciech Szczesny not saved James’s penalty, Page would probably still be in the job. Page, though, has been in an uncomfortable spot for some time, caught in a never-ending cycle of crisis, interminably under pressure owing to simple missteps. After a fine performance earned victory against Croatia last October, doubts were parked, concerns on the back burner. Until a draw in Armenia the following month. The FAW has effectively been reviewing his position from camp to camp since the team exited the World Cup with a whimper.
In some ways qualifying for their first World Cup in 64 years meant Page was always likely to be a victim of his own success. Page, the former defender who was a popular figure with players having worked with many of them in his previous role as Under-21 manager, led Wales to the last 16 at Euro 2020, where they were destroyed by Denmark, and then to their first World Cup since 1958, where similar pain followed. Bale retired, so did Joe Allen and Chris Gunter.
Should failing to reach this summer’s Euros or, indeed, the next World Cup be determined failure? Roberts’s words before Wales visited Latvia last September spring to mind. “I think we would be naive to think that we’re going to qualify for every single tournament going forward and win loads of games,” he said. “We are still a small nation in the grand scheme of things. So we have to keep our feet on the ground and realise where we’ve come from.”
Page’s sacking is not a huge surprise given the growing chimes of discontent in recent weeks. Unfortunately for Page, regardless of team selection, and it was an experimental starting lineup totalling 44 caps, it is hard to sugarcoat failing to beat a Gibraltar team comprising part-time players who had conceded 50 goals in their previous 13 games and not scored in 20 months. Heading into the game, Gibraltar were 203rd in the Fifa world rankings, lower than Liechtenstein, the Bahamas and Somalia. The supporters had undoubtedly turned, many long before then.
They sarcastically chanted about Wales being in transition, a catchphrase that caught up with him. They may not have been in transition, but they were undeniably trapped in a floundering state, wedged between two eras. Still, it was a sad sight to listen to Page, an emotional character, a proud Rhondda boy, effectively concede defeat after a 4-0 – albeit friendly – shellacking by Slovakia this month, their opponents’ final warm-up game before the tournament. “They want me out,” Page said, watery-eyed, in a post-match interview in Trnava. Then came the end, an unforgettable reign of historic highs and unedifying lows.
