There appears to be two sides to Rob Page, the low-profile interim Wales manager, who will, today, seek to steer his country to the quarter-finals of the delayed 2020 European Championships.
On the one hand, there is the story of the personable, player-orientated coach, who has been described as a deep thinker and a quiet man in various dispatches.
Yet, there’s also an impulsive fiery streak that has reared its head throughout his career on the pitch and in the dugout. A certain strength of character is required to be appointed captain of a Championship club aged 21, with, first, Kenny Jackett and, then, the late Graham Taylor seeing leadership qualities behind the exterior.
Page also captained Wales in a 41-cap career that ran in tandem with the 550 matches he played across stints with Watford, Sheffield United, Cardiff City, Coventry City, Huddersfield Town and Chesterfield. He had one top-flight season with Watford, spending the rest of those days in the Football League.
Survival instincts are required to thrive in that world, and Page could clearly look after himself.
From an Irish perspective, he made headlines during his stint at Coventry after a spectacular training ground altercation with Michael Doyle, the Dubliner who is still making a living from playing as his 40th birthday approaches, and is regarded as one of the most hardened and hard-working pros in the business.
Doyle was a 25-year-old at Coventry when he got on the wrong side of Page one day in an incident started by a training-ground tackle by the Irishman on another player. For all that he cut an imposing figure, the Irishman was floored by a punch from Page with their former team-mate Luke Steele describing it as a ‘man whack’ in a recent podcast interview.
“Pagey absolutely whacked him square in the mouth,” Steele told the Under the Cosh podcast, offering a colourful description of the aftermath.
“He (Doyle) was all over the place, he couldn’t even really get up and fight; he was completely concussed. Pagey had a ripped arm from his (Doyle’s teeth) all up his arm. Micky Adams (the manager) called the youth team in as forensics, and they were on their hands and knees on the training pitch in lines and they had to stay out there until they found all of his teeth. Doyley got these beautiful new veneers after that.”
The pair eventually made up, but Doyle was furious that Page escaped a proper sanction from the club. “I didn’t want anyone sacked, I didn’t want the police involved or anything like that but, at the same time, I don’t think it’s right that it just gets brushed under the carpet or for the club to hope that everyone forgets about it,” he said in an interview at the time.
One former Irish team-mate of Page contacted for an opinion quipped that they were ‘Team Michael Doyle’ in explaining why they would pass up the invitation, so the legacy of the clash remains in some way. Clearly, he stayed on the right side of management, as it was Adams who gave Page his first coaching job at Port Vale.
He had moved up to coach the first team when Kerry native Gary O’Neill, now an established fixture with Shamrock Rovers, spent a year at the club. O’Neill was surprised to hear of the Coventry anecdote, as it wouldn’t tally with his experience of the man.
“As a coach, he never had to lose his temper, maybe Micky Adams was the one to put things in line if he had to,” O’Neill recalled. “Pagey was always quite diplomatic and very calm. His coaching methods would have been calm.
“He was new on that ladder at the time, but he was a players’ coach. He got involved with the players and their personal lives and would ask how their families were. He was a really nice bloke, first and foremost, but a top coach as well.”
Indeed, when O’Neill was told he was being released, Page was a source of support as he considered his options. Those are the little touches that players remember.
In the end, Page ended up taking over from Adams on the recommendation of the departed boss, who has subsequently said that the younger man had challenged him on his preference for an old-school 4-4-2 approach. Page had mixed success working under an idiosyncratic chairman and left to assume control of Northampton Town, a club where he also made headlines for the wrong reasons.
After a 5-0 defeat to Bristol Rovers in January 2017, his post-match outburst that it was ‘men against girls, not boys’ drew widespread criticism that led to an inevitable apology.
“I immediately realised that this comment was totally unacceptable. No offence was meant by it and I apologise wholeheartedly if any was caused,” he said in a club statement.
But Page was shown the door on the Monday morning, with a record of nine defeats in the previous 11 matches cited as the reason.
It was an inglorious episode and it’s quite a turnaround to lose your job in that manner at League One level and then find yourself front and centre at a major tournament four years later.
Of course, it is well-publicised difficulties of Ryan Giggs that have facilitated that chance, but it’s the impression that Page has made behind the scenes which made him a popular choice when Wales needed an emergency solution.
His childhood pal John Hartson recently offered a strong endorsement of the chosen candidate, who was appointed U-21 manager two months after his Northampton exit and then stepped up to become No 2 to Giggs in 2019.
“Rob was very determined and you knew he had a great chance of going places and standing out. He would grit his teeth and he was stubborn,” he said.
Page won four of his first six games in charge, including a Nations League success over Ireland, thus securing his retention for the finals.
He is regarded as being quite a cautious coach in some ways, but it’s also been reported that he is open to feedback from his squad and is happy to take input from Gareth Bale and his other leading lights.
For this tournament, his big tactical call was to go with target-man striker Kieffer Moore rather than employ a false nine.
Yet, it’s the interpersonal skills that tend to feature prominently in discussion of his work.
What Page had on his side when stepping up was a strong rapport with players who came through the U-21 cycle with him. Joe Rodon, Joe Morrell and David Brooks all worked under Page at that level.
O’Neill has admitted to getting a buzz from watching Wales’ exploits and is not surprised that his old coach is presiding over a united group.
“I laugh to myself a little bit, but I never saw him in that environment,” he continues, with a nod to the spotlight that comes with that position.
“But I’m not surprised that he’s doing well, because I can just imagine the bond he has with those players is very good.”
Denmark’s collective response to adversity has made them the darlings of the tournament, and with Welsh fans barred from travelling to Amsterdam, they won’t have much support for their cause this evening.
Page’s team-building qualities face the ultimate test.