Robert Page aims to emulate Jimmy Murphy and lead Wales to World Cup

Robert Page aims to be the author of a fresh chapter in Welsh football history by emulating Jimmy Murphy’s journey from Rhondda to World Cup manager.

Murphy, who was Matt Busby’s long-time assistant at Manchester United, remains the only man to have guided Wales to the 1958 World Cup.

He steered United through the immediate disaster of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster as Busby lay in hospital for several weeks, having missed the trip himself in order to take charge of Wales’ World Cup play-off against Israel in Cardiff.

Over six decades on, the parallels between Page and Murphy are inescapable.

Two men from the same mining community who used the values of comradeship and solidarity forged in the Rhondda Valley to establish successful careers in football.

Murphy won his World Cup play-off and led Wales to the quarter-finals of the tournament in Sweden that summer; now 64 years on Page has a similar date with destiny against Ukraine in Cardiff on Sunday.

“I’m very proud of my upbringing and my heritage, absolutely,” said Page, who grew up in Tylorstown less than four miles from Murphy’s childhood home in Pentre.

“Those first 16 years growing up in the Valleys was really important for me.

“It had been renowned over the years as being a mining community. I used to listen to some stories.

“You can imagine the environment that those men, boys and some kids worked in back in the early days.

“They had strong values and strong beliefs, but also a camaraderie and team spirit that I see in our changing room.”

They (the miners) had strong values and strong beliefs, but also a camaraderie and team spirit that I see in our changing room- Robert Page on his Rhondda heritage

Page left the Rhondda to embark on a playing career that took him