Eric Ramsay has one of the most impressive resumes in the MLS despite being in the first year of his managerial career.
Last February, Ramsay took over a floundering Minnesota United side who had finished 11th in the Eastern Conference, failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Less than 12 months later, Ramsay has Minnesota in the Eastern Conference semifinals and full of belief ahead of this weekend’s clash with five-time MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy.
That revitalization should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Ramsay’s impressive young career, seemingly always destined for a major role in top flight management.
Born in Shrewsbury, England Ramsay played his youth football for the League One club’s academy but his playing career never took off.
The highlight of a disappointing foray into the professional football world saw Ramsay captain the Welsh national futsal team.
And while that would be the extent of his playing journey, the leadership displayed in that somewhat bizarre gig was a real sign of things to come.
After attending Loughborough University in the Midlands, Ramsay started working his way up the coaching ladder becoming the youngest British coach to achieve UEFA Pro Licence status.
Nearly four years in the Swansea City academy while the Welsh club enjoyed an extended stint in the Premier League helped Ramsay make his name in the background and his ascendancy only continued from there.
Next, he became academy manager at Shrewsbury Town before coaching Chelsea’s U23s for two years.
Success seemed to follow Ramsay wherever he went and in 2021, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer chose to bring the then-29 year old to Manchester United as a player development coach for the first team.
Highly thought of within the club, Ramsay retained his role even as Solskjaer departed, replaced by Ralph Rangnick and then Erik ten Hag.
Lauded for his ability to help players adapt to life in England thanks to a strong grasp of Spanish and French, Ramsay was also entrusted with helping players understand detailed tactical roles.
Despite growing in power and respect with every stop, Ramsay is still one of the younger top-level coaches in the game, working with superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani before he had even reached his 30th birthday.
It’s a constant topic of conversation around Ramsay’s career, but to the 32 year old, it’s not an important detail.
“It’s a far bigger thing for other people than it is for me,” Ramsay said in July. “It’s become very normal to me.
“I went to Swansea and I was the Under-21s coach when I was 22. I worked at first-team level at Shrewsbury when I was 26. Then Chelsea and Man United. It became a non-thing for me. I’ve genuinely only experienced it one way: if players feel like you can help them, it’s fine. If they don’t, then age is irrelevant.
“Without being cringe about it, I think of my relationship with the players as being more of a big brother type.
“You want them to respect you on the basis of what you’re talking to them about and the way you can steer them. The respect isn’t coming from age or seniority or depth of experience, it’s coming from the ability to connect with them. More often than not, it’s a strength rather than a weakness.”
While it might be normal for Ramsay at this point, the numbers make for enjoyable reading. The Welsh coach is two years younger than former Norwich and current Minnesota striker Teemu Pukki.
📽️ Watch this trailer on #mufc's new first team coach Eric Ramsay, who looks at bringing possession out from the back under pressure while also training players' ability to win the ball back as quickly as possible, as per @academy_cv 👇 #mujournal pic.twitter.com/QJixW5f02j
— United Journal (@theutdjournal) July 12, 2021
Asked about the age difference, Pukki laughed off any doubt associated to Ramsay’s youthfulness.
“I’ve never had that before,’ Pukki admitted. ‘I think it’s quite funny but it doesn’t feel like that when you speak to him or when you’re around him. It feels like he’s older than he is.
“He’s experienced a lot in football. He’s been at Manchester United and it’s a different world there than it is here. It’s his first job as a manager, but from the first day he came in all the players straightaway knew his background and respected that.”
Looking at his track record it can’t be a major surprise but thus far Ramsay has been everything Minnesota could have dreamed of when they beat out significant EFL interest to make the exciting hire.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Despite starting the season well, Minnesota collapsed in the summer, winning once in 11 MLS games, losing eight of those. With postseason dreams slipping away, Ramsay and his team came back in emphatic fashion to end the season.
Over the course of the final eight MLS fixtures, Minnesota won six and drew one scoring 16 times and conceding just five.
Finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference, Minnesota required penalties to decide both of their first round games against Real Salt Lake.
It was far from convincing, but twice they held their nerve to win the shootout and set up Sunday’s semifinal meeting with LA Galaxy.
Regardless of what happens this season, the future is bright for Minnesota with Ramsay at the helm. And he feels the future is bright for the MLS and U.S. soccer as a whole.
“I think the broader context of soccer, football, in America in general, I think I couldn’t be joining at a better time,” the coach told The Athletic recently.
“With the competitions that are being held here in the coming years (including the Copa America, 2025 Club World Cup and 2026 World Cup). I think I’m really lucky, for the stars to be aligned and to be given this opportunity.”