It was an appointment that never should have happened.
Even now, there's still an air of fragility to the role. Wales' caretaker boss, living the dream but also occupying a role that is not quite his. Not yet, anyway.
Somehow, Rob Page found himself thrust into the spotlight after being promoted to the biggest job in Welsh football following Ryan Giggs' arrest in November 2020. Under testing circumstances, the former under-21s manager led an experimental side to a 0-0 draw with the United States of America as the Red Wall held huge concerns over what the impact off-the-pitch proceedings could have on their Euro 2020 prospects.
READ MORE: This is the likely 23-man Wales squad Rob Page will take to Qatar
But all the while, the man who earned 41 caps for his country as a player, was on hand to steer the ship through treacherous waters. That friendly contest in many ways typified what was to come. It wasn't always going to be pretty, but Wales would adapt willingly, and, crucially, they will find a way. Page himself was never too stubborn, quite simply, because he couldn't afford to be.
Having used James Chester, Ashley Williams and Ben Davies in a back three against China, Giggs swiftly proved to be an admirer of a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Wales excelling in that formation when Kieffer Moore was drafted in to spearhead the attack midway through the successful Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. At times, that would be, as was the case with the 1-1 draw with Croatia in 2019, a 4-1-4-1, utilising a disciplined mid-block to frustrate Croatia, even if that sacrificed their own attacking chances as the lone man up top became isolated from the flat four-man midfield.
However, the build-up to the delayed tournament saw numerous shifts as the Red Dragons assessed a number of different options, with Page opting for a back-three in seven out of the nine games between taking on the job and the start of the European Championships.
Gareth Bale, Daniel James and Harry Wilson were tried in a false nine role at various stages while Tyler Roberts, David Brooks, Rubin Colwill and Mark Harris have been given chances to lead the attack as Page tinkered with his set-up to ensure Wales could be at their most productive in the final third.
But with real stardust on his hands, Page is only too willing to admit the need to work around Bale and Aaron Ramsey - who are no longer capable of putting in the mileage they used to, but are still capable of magic.
"At club level you're quite bullish in your views and how you want to create a culture that everybody's got to do the same," says Page when addressing the biggest changes during his tenure. "I've absolutely learnt one thing, if you want your best players on the pitch, you've got to be able to adapt and you've got to learn from that.
"I think that's the biggest change from when I first took over, you've got to be prepared to adapt. They've [Bale and Ramsey] never let me down. We've adapted the sessions for them personally through the week and we've had them turn up in games and they've delivered."
The build-up to Wales' Euro 2020 opener against Switzerland in Baku was dominated by talk of one key selection debate. Would Moore play? The then-Cardiff City striker was named in Page's line-up for the match in Azerbaijan and went on to score the equaliser as Wales claimed a 1-1 draw following Breel Embolo's opener.
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Joe Allen has continued to be key to Wales' midfield, even when Joe Morrell has been selected, with a defensive 4-1-4-1 being on show during various stages - a system that Giggs had used previously to decent success, such as a the 1-1 draw with Croatia in 2019. But Wales under Page always remained adaptable. The rise of Neco Williams also became impossible to ignore, and he quite simply had to be accommodated.
Wales played with a back four in three of their four Euro 2020 fixtures, with Page switching to a back three and wing-backs for the 1-0 defeat to Italy in Rome. But time and time, Page was flexible to adjust to the personnel he had at his disposal.
It was with a back three and wing-backs that Wales showed some real consistency, and following a gut-wrenching 4-0 loss to Denmark in the Euros, the Red Dragons embarked on a nine-game unbeaten run, despite playing multiple key fixtures without several key players. It was a system that allowed Connor Roberts and Neco Williams to flourish while Joe Rodon and Ben Davies were accompanied at the back by Ethan Ampadu, who had been brought through as a defensive midfielder under Giggs.
Indeed, Page has deployed a back three in Wales' last eight matches, with the most recent display utilising four at the back coming against Estonia as a significantly weakened Welsh side slumped to a 0-0 draw in Cardiff. But Wales - while at times uninspiring - were immensely difficult to beat - with Poland being the only team below Wales in the FIFA rankings to beat Page's men, and even then, it was a second string as the manager rested his key men for the play-off final.
It's a system that suits Page's Wales fairly well. In possession, Wales tend to work in a 3-4-3 formation - with their attacks coming from overloading one side of the pitch to create space on the opposite flank. Given the pace of James and Williams, dragging teams to the right before switching the point of attack to the left is a fairly simple way of getting them into space.
However, as evidenced by Harry Wilson's sweeping counter-attack goal against Belgium last year, Wales are capable of playing through defences in that overloaded side of the pitch - with Wilson arriving late following neat interplay down the right. That goal alone explains why Page remains interested in the false nine role.
The system also allows them to play through the lines effectively - freeing up their wing-backs to pick passes easily into the front-three. From there, that enables their midfielders like Ramsey or Allen to play on the front-foot.
Defensively, it allows them to defend with a compact 5-2-3 - with the front-three negating the pressure on the two-man midfield by cutting off passing lanes. The compactness of it tends to invite territorial pressure, with the constant barrage Wales faced in the dying embers of Sunday's play-off a regular occurrence that likely only serves to reduce the life expectancy of Welsh supporters. But the upside is the chances Wales tend to concede are speculative efforts or crosses from outside the box.
The ability of their defenders to scramble - as evidence by Davies' umpteen last-gasp blocks in a red jersey - is another reason this compact back-five tends to work. As Sunday showed, it can be manipulated though - with Ukraine managing to find space by pulling Wales' wing-backs up and then dragging either Davies or Ampadu away from Rodon, exposing the Tottenham centre-back with balls around the corner.
However, Page, who has been criticised for his lack of tactical nous at times during his reign, had an answer of sorts straight from the Chris Coleman playbook. Just moments later, Wales slightly altered their set-up - with Bale and Moore dropping a little more centrally, while James remained slightly further forward as the outlet for transition.
How Wales looked to box out the midfield was virtually identical to how Coleman's side negated Belgium's three-man midfield in France six years ago. That day, it was Allen and Joe Ledley sitting deep, while Bale and Ramsey dropped in to allow Hal Robson-Kanu to work the channels behind the Belgian centre-backs - resulting in Roberto Martinez hooking Yannick Carrasco at half-time.
Page has made his own tweaks, of course. Just like Coleman, defensive solidity has been prioritised, which is crucial for tournament football. That provides the framework for star quality.
And Wales continue to possess that. Individual talent went such a long way, as Bale demonstrated in the play-off semi-final win over Austria and Wayne Hennessey showed against Ukraine.
Rob Page's record as Wales manager: P23; W10; D8; L5. Win rate: 43%.
Ryan Giggs' record as Wales manager: P24; W12; D4; L8. Win rate: 50%.
Page has used a grand total of 37 players during his tenure to date, with the squad continuously evolving as certain players find form and fitness. But it the manager's willingness to adopt an international-minded approach, akin to the man he shadowed prior to Euro 2016, as opposed to one of a club side that has seen Wales benefit most.
"Perhaps you're seeing a bit more of a stamp of my team out there," said Page when asked about the differences in himself from the summer of 2022 to his first match in charge against the USA. "The principles when I first took over that were already in place, we were being successful by having those principles in attack and defence. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
"We've continued with them, but we've had to tweak the personnel at times and the formation has changed slightly. We've evolved to get the best players out there, so I think you're seeing that. That's a way I've wanted to play. So no major changes, some changes will have gone unnoticed. The environment is very good, it always has been."
With World Cup qualification secured, Page will become the first-ever manager in Welsh football history to lead his country into two major tournaments. It's a fitting reward for a man who, beyond the tactics and the tweaks that will not please all, simply understands what it is to play for this Wales team.
This crop of players who, for the best part of a decade, have turned the darkest days into the headiest of dreams. For Page, that was the foundation. The rest was just noise to be calmed.
"I’ve just kept the wheels rolling,” is how he's described his role previously. That's typical of the man who watched the World Cup draw from Sheffield rather than Doha because the job wasn't done at that point.
But that only serves to belittle the work Page has put in. He divulged parts of his team-talk from before the Austria game to the Athletic recently. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of how Page just gets it .
“My teamtalk was about friendship," he said. "I’d read an article by Joe Ledley — Joe’s a Wales legend — and it was all about the friendships he’d created with Wales. He said he’d had many clubs and made great friends, but nothing like he had within the Welsh changing room. They’d grown up together, stay in contact, and every time they could not wait to play for Wales.
“I want our supporters to understand just how much our players love coming away and playing for their country.
“To go back to the teamtalk, I told the players it really touched me. I said: ‘If we take the money away from football, take the politics away from football, we are just a group of mates having a kickabout. And that’s how it comes across’. I said: ‘Just go and show the supporters that, show them what I see every day, play with smiles on your faces’."
If anything should banish the state of flux that has followed Page around since stepping into the role, it's a first World Cup in 64 years. That's a story for another day.
However, for now, Wales' accidental manager can bask in the glory of something no other Welshman has ever done before.
