Assistant coach Eric Ramsay leaves Wales role after six months
By Phil Blanche, PA Sport
Eric Ramsay has stepped down from his role as Wales assistant coach due to family reasons and work commitments at Manchester United.
Ramsay only joined the Wales coaching staff in March, with boss Rob Page welcoming the appointment by saying: “Eric is arguably one of the best young coaches in football at this moment in time.”
But the 31-year-old, who hails from mid-Wales and worked at Swansea, Shrewsbury and Chelsea before being appointed as a set-piece coach at United in 2021, lasted just six months in the role in what has been a difficult Euro 2024 qualifying campaign for the Dragons.
Jack Lester has joined up with the @Cymru team for the September camp as Assistant Coach.
Diolch Eric Ramsay for your contributions to the team in the role.
#TogetherStronger— FA WALES (@FAWales) September 4, 2023
“The FAW can confirm that Eric Ramsay has stepped down as assistant coach due to personal reasons,” read a statement from the Football Association of Wales.
“Family commitments and his current role as first team coach at Manchester United mean that Ramsay will be unable to continue his work with Cymru.
“Rob Page and the FAW would like to thank Eric for his work with the team and wish him well for the future.”
Ramsay said: “This has been an extremely difficult decision to make but it is the right one for myself and my family after the recent birth of our second child and taking into consideration the intensity of my role at Manchester United.
“Having discussed everything with my family, Rob and the association, we came to the conclusion that it was best to depart my role before the upcoming internationals so that the group can fully concentrate on the fixtures.
“I’m extremely thankful to everyone at FA Wales; the experiences throughout the last six months have been amongst the proudest moments of my career to date.
“It was a real pleasure to work with this group of players and I wish everyone nothing but success going forward.”
Sheffield United first-team coach Jack Lester has replaced Ramsey and joined the Wales camp ahead of their two September games.
Wales host South Korea in a Cardiff friendly on Thursday before travelling to Latvia for a crunch Euro 2024 qualifier next Monday.
Page’s side have an uphill task to qualify automatically for the European Championship finals in Germany next summer after taking only four points from as many games.
Wales are currently fourth in Group D ahead of meeting bottom team Latvia in Riga.
