Robert Page: No regrets over Wales squad call before Wembley

The 26-strong squad for the Euros was named on Sunday evening, the day before the Exiles took on Morecambe for a place in League One.

Goalkeeper King and Sheehan missed the cut and then suffered Wembley woe when beaten in controversial circumstances by the Shrimps.

The national squad was announced in batches on a live stream in batches with the Football Association of Wales joining forces with Cadw with footage filmed at castles across the country.

Page revealed that he had already told the County duo the bad news and backed the decision to go ahead with the announcement after Swansea's play-off final but before Newport's crunch clash.

31.05.21 - Morecambe v Newport County, SkyBet League 2 Play Off Final - Dejected Josh Sheehan of Newport County at full time.

"The way in which we delivered the squad was special, I thought that was brilliant," said the manager.

"It was organised with the castles and to do that takes a lot of planning, so we couldn't leave it until the last minute to see who was going to be in the play-off final.

"I spoke with both players personally on Saturday evening and they really appreciated the phone call as opposed to just seeing the squad announced.

"I spoke with Michael Flynn [County manager] on Sunday morning and there were no issues whatsoever.

"With regards to the announcement, I back it and thought it was a great thing to do and I spoke with the players and manager and there were no issues."

Wales' Josh Sheehan (left) and Mexico's Hector Herrera battle for the ball during the international friendly at the Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff. Picture date: Saturday March 27, 2021.

Page gave Sheehan his first cap against the USA at the Liberty Stadium last November and brought the playmaker off the bench for a second time in the win against Mexico.

The 26-year-old played 53 times for County this season but misses out on the tournament after Wales plumped for Cardiff City youngster Ruben Colwill, who has played just 191 minutes of senior football.

"He is a talented player and I've known Josh since he was with the Under-21s," said Page.

"We know that he is a gifted footballer so it will be interesting to see what the summer holds for him and what happens."

That is alluding to the fact that Sheehan's time at County is set to come to an end.

The midfielder's contract has expired and he is likely to move to a higher level in the coming weeks, a swift that should give him a better shot at adding to his caps.

"You want any of your players in your international squad to be playing at the highest possible level. We will have to wait and see what happens."

The Wales squad tuned in to watch County's clash with Morecambe with the manager expressing his sympathy for the Exiles' late penalty anguish.

"I was really, really disappointed for them. We all watched the game on Monday and it was a bitter pill for them to swallow with the manner that they lost the game, because I didn't feel it was a penalty," he said.