‘Not helpful’ – Spurs star response to Wales sack rumours
Ben Davies of Wales in action. Wales v Estonia in a 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier at the Cardiff City Stadium on the 8th September 2021. Credit: Lewis Mitchell
Spurs star Ben Davies said that the outside news regarding the future of Wales manager Rob Page is “not helpful.”
In the build-up to a must-win EURO 2024 qualifier with Croatia, reports emerged about Page’s future. It was claimed by The Sun that FAW CEO Noel Mooney had been looking to replace Page in June with Manchester United legend Roy Keane.
Mooney refuted claims and said that it was ‘completely fabricated’ as he distanced himself from the rumours. It was a strong topic of conversation, however, and both Page and captain Davies were quizzed on the reports.
“It hasn’t really got as far as inside camp to be honest,” said Davies.
“I think I mentioned earlier it’s outside noise it’s out of our control, it’s not something we’ve had any discussions and conversations about.
“It’s kept complete away from us so as far as we’re concerned all were focused on is the game tomorrow.”
He added: “We hope that everybody is on the same page, it is disappointing to hear but as far as we are concerned it’s not our focus.”
Davies spoke on the support he and the squad have for manager Rob Page despite the rumours.
He said “We’re very supportive of the manager, we’re a tight-knit group and I think that’s part of the reason we’ve had the success we’ve had over the years because we all stick together.
Stuff that comes from outside the camp has nothing to do with us, it’s nothing we can control and as far as we’re concerned we’re fully behind him.”
He added: “He puts things in place every single day, he creates a good environment it’s professional every day, he creates an enjoyable environment that everybody wants to come on camp.”
“You know you’ve got a manager that backs you, that sticks by you through thick and thin, that breeds loyalty and I think he deserves our support now.”
Davies also admitted that Sunday’s fixture will be hard but not one they can’t overcome.
He said: “They’re a world-class team, they’ve shown that for a long time now and it’s a lot of the same players.
“That doesn’t mean they’re unbeatable we have to show them a lot of respect for the quality that they have got, but it’s a game that we have to go in believing we can get a result and we’ve been working all week building up to that.”
Davies believes that defensive issues shown in the summer against Armenia and Turkey have been addressed.
He said: “When you concede the goals we did in the summer things needed to be addressed, we’ve done that pretty quickly in the last few camps we were very solid.
We picked up the clean sheets which is what we want to build our foundations on so yeah very happy over the last few games.”
