The 49-year-old’s departure comes after unimpressive friendly results proved the final nail in the coffin for the former Watford centre-half following the Dragons’ failure to qualify for Euro 2024.
Page was appointed as Wales manager on an interim basis in November 2020 after taking over the reigns from Ryan Giggs and was later given the role on a permanent basis in September 2022.
During his time in charge, Page who gained 41 caps for his country as a player, had initially been praised for his role in guiding the team to the UEFA EURO 2020 finals, whilst also oversaw his nation to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Cymru’s first appearance in the tournament since 1958.
Also, in his time in charge, Cymru also secured promotion to League A in the UEFA Nations League.
Prior to taking on the role of Men’s National Team Manager, Page was the under-21 head coach since 2017 and oversaw the development of several players into the senior team environment, including Dan James, Harry Wilson and Joe Rodon amongst many others.
Following an underwhelming performance at the 2022 World Cup, Page faced heavy criticism. An embarrassing home defeat by Armenia during Euro 2024 qualifying just one of a selection of moments questioned by Wales’ hierarchy and support alike.
Grumblings to whether he was the right man to lead his country into a new transitional era have though never gone away. Wales responded with a memorable victory over Croatia, but their hopes of reaching a third successive European Championship ended in agonising fashion as they were beaten on penalties in the play-off final against Poland back in March.
It would be the manner of the friendly defeat to Slovakia and the embarrassment from the draw with lowly Gibraltar, however, that would ultimately cost Page his job.
Dave Adams, the FAW’s chief football officer, said: “I would like to thank Rob for his work with the association over the last seven years, firstly as the Under-21s head coach and then onto the role of Cymru head coach.
“Rob’s work has delivered success reaching the Round of 16 at Euro 2020 and qualification to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and during his period we also integrated 18 pathway players into the senior squad.
“As we move forward this experience will support our objective to consistently qualify our Men’s National Team to major tournaments.”
FAW chief executive Noel Mooney added: “On behalf of myself and the entire FAW, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to Rob for his commitment and dedication to his roles for the national teams.
“Under Rob Page’s leadership, our Cymru men’s team has achieved significant milestones and victories which have created many incredible memories for our nation, most notably our first World Cup in 64 years.
“We remain focused on our FAW value of ‘Excellence’ and look forward to the opportunities for our national teams and Welsh Football.”
(Lead image: John Smith / FAW)
Discover more from Swansea Bay News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
