Wales manager Chris Coleman admitted he had to step out of the shadow of former boss Gary Speed in order to make a success of the national team.
His side qualified for their first major tournament since 1958 by booking a place at Euro 2016 in France, but he said the story would have been different had he not made the decision to be his own man.
Coleman has previously spoken of how a 6-1 loss in Serbia proved a turning point for him and expanded on how the realisation dawned on him he had to make changes both for himself and the team and move away from the regime of the much-loved Speed, who died in November 2011.
"It was that moment when we lost heavily out in Serbia - it wasn't the player's fault it was my fault because I wasn't doing what I believed I should be doing but what someone else should be doing," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme.
"There was a lot of talk about me having to carry on things from Gary Speed so when I got the job I tried to carry on what Gary had been doing, which was wrong of me as I needed to do in what I believed in terms of style of play, training camps.
"You have to be your own man and you have to stand and fall by that and I was failing, but failing not being myself and that is an even worse feeling.
"It was a double-whammy for me at the time and it was a harsh lesson.
"The reason they (the players) weren't following me was because, if you don't believe in yourself, how can you expect a group of professional footballers to believe in you?
"My wife said I need to 'man up' and do what I needed to do - 'If you're going to fail, fail doing it as you believe it should be done'.
"After that we started climbing slowly and in the last two years it has gone really well."
Source: PA
