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Current Staff Aaron Ramsey

Here is a video if you are interested in Italian/American culture, pizza and the World Cup.

 
Yellowarmy said:
My point is that, Murphy being the prime example, players are very often more effective under different managers. I watched Dembele away at Peterborough against us when they beat us 5 nil, despite Ivan toneys hat trick, Dembele was the best player on the pitch. Even my wife, who dosent follow football pointed him out. Lets wait and see how he goes under Ramsay as he is clearly a talented footballer.
Click to expand...
Pedant alert. 4-0.
 
It felt like way more than a 4-0 at the time
 

Aaron Ramsey interview: I am addicted to coaching​

Exclusive: Arsenal’s Cup final hero on Mikel Arteta’s advice, his horrible leg break and managing Oxford United

Aaron Ramsey being interviewed by Telegraph Sport

Aaron Ramsey is determined to succeed as a coach and has learned some lessons from Arsene Wenger Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph

Jason Burt - Chief Football Correspondent
Published 06 August 2026 6:02am BST

If Aaron Ramsey ever writes an autobiography then its title should be Driven. It is a word the former Arsenal midfielder uses often during this interview, his first since being appointed head coach of League One Oxford United.
Ramsey was driven to be a footballer. He was driven to recover from the horrific double leg-break that meant he might never walk again, let alone play football. He was driven to prove the doubters wrong.
Now he is driven to be a manager, having prepared for it for years after being inspired by his former team-mate Mikel Arteta. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I was ready for it,” he says.
The 35-year-old was also driven this summer to run his first marathon, soon after retiring as a player. Not just run one but run it in less than three hours. So when he missed out by 30 seconds in the London Marathon, he decided to run another a month later in Stockholm. His time? 2hr 59min 20sec.

37ccb429c92a173ead3375932762f98c6c362980.jpg


08e06036b893e75453084244a38fd187118e66d7.jpg


Ramsey volunteers the information about his marathon exploits as we discuss a football career that will forever be partly defined by what happened on February 27, 2010, playing for Arsenal away to Stoke City in the Premier League.
Ramsey was on top of the world. Aged 19 he was one of Europe’s most coveted midfielders, joining Arsenal ahead of Manchester United from his hometown club Cardiff City. He had quick feet, athleticism and an eye for a pass and a goal that marked him out as a world-class talent. But he was caught violently in a tackle by Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross, which broke his tibia and fibula. The pain was so bad that Ramsey dislocated his jaw as he screamed out.

Aaron Ramsey's broken leg


The reaction of Ramsey’s team-mates said it all after the Ryan Shawcross tackle that changed the course of his career Credit: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
“Still got the metal [rod] in there and [in] hot and cold temperatures it flares up now and again. But yeah, still in there. It’s part of me,” Ramsey says, rubbing his right leg, wanting to move the discussion on. “And got a couple of marathons under my belt as well, London and Stockholm,” he says.
“I wanted to break the three-hour mark and managed to do that. It took me two attempts but I got it done. It was something that was important to me, having four or five months not doing a lot after [retiring from] football. To focus on something again and have something to strive for was important. It was a nice buzz, different, but nice.
“I was lucky. As a player, one of my strengths was that my outputs were pretty high. I was quite naive at the time, thinking ‘oh, three hours, I’ll do that’. But I managed to get it done.”

Aaron Ramsey being interviewed by Telegraph Sport


Ramsey suspects the muscular injuries that dogged him in the rest of his career were a result of the 2010 leg break Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph
That metal rod will stay in Ramsey’s body for the rest of his life, even if he admits it causes him discomfort. “We’ll see how my knee holds up over the next few years with the rod sort of sticking into it a bit,” he says.
“At the time I didn’t know whether I would walk again, never mind come back and play football. It was a long, tedious process for me to overcome that. But it’s another example of me being a driven person that I was going to come back from it, if not stronger as well. So, I was proud of that and the career I then had.
“I’ve had many challenges as a player over the years and that definitely helped build the character I am today. Overcoming those tough times will stand me in good stead for being a manager.”

Aaron Ramsey club career​

At this point it must also be remembered that Ramsey did recover and went on to have a brilliant playing career, scoring the winning goals in two FA Cup finals for Arsenal (2014 and 2017), playing Champions League football, being a key part of Wales’s thrilling run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, and joining Italian giants Juventus in 2019.

“I’m really proud of my playing career. I would like to have won a lot more things for Arsenal but to have [those] sort of highlights in the finals, they were special,” Ramsey says.
“To overcome things, obviously the leg break, and still get to the top of the game, I’m immensely proud of that. Frustrated as well because off the back of that, I picked up a lot of injuries. Maybe because things are sort of out of sync in my body and there’s a consequence,” Ramsey says. “I am proud of what I achieved as a player – my ambition now is to do that, if not better it [as a manager].”
I tell him that the amateur psychologist in me is wondering whether, having been through what he went through, it makes him all the more determined to succeed in management?
“Definitely. I want to do everything as a manager, so of course step by step. But I’m an ambitious person,” he says. “Whatever I do, I want to succeed and do the best I possibly can. I like to push myself. That’s always been part of me. I’ve always wanted to show what I am capable of doing. Even throughout my days in the academy [at Cardiff], I was always an age group or two above, competing against bigger, stronger, quicker boys at that age. It’s part of my make-up and I embrace the challenge.”

Aaron Ramsey being interviewed by Telegraph Sport


Ramsey had a sense of unfinished business at the end of his playing career Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph
The challenge at Oxford will not be insignificant. Relegated from the Championship, the club belatedly sacked Matt Bloomfield in mid-June, targeting Ramsey, who had cut his teeth during a brief interim spell in charge of Cardiff last year after he had returned as a player.
He recalls a conversation with Arteta, when they played together at Arsenal. “Speaking to Arteta, in the final years of his career, and him doing his [coaching] badges and saying ‘I wish I’d done them a lot earlier because I see the game a lot differently now’,” Ramsey says. He took that advice on board and started his own coaching journey, quickly finding it “addictive”.
“Addiction, I think it was a different sort of addiction, but one that definitely captured me, and I had a really nice satisfaction from it,” Ramsey explains.
“When I got started, it was that buzz of giving. Seeing that come to life, developing in games. That’s a different sort of high than you get from playing.”

Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey playing for Arsenal


Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey line up in Arsenal’s midfield against Bayern Munich in the 2012-13 Champions League Credit: Getty Images/Glyn Kirk
Ramsey was well schooled at Arsenal under Arsène Wenger and it is interesting that he has followed Arteta, Cesc Fàbregas and Jack Wilshere as an intelligent, progressive midfielder going into management. It is also interesting to hear him talk about what he took from Wenger.
“Arsène always used to just want you to go out there and express yourself and be that little kid inside you: why did you start playing football? Why did you fall in love with football?” Ramsey explains.
“He wanted you to go out and enjoy it, be on the ball, create opportunities, score goals and that was evident in the way Arsenal played. And I want my teams to express themselves.”

Given his affiliation he must have been delighted that, last season, Arsenal finally won the Premier League again.

“Absolutely. I was over the moon they won it,” Ramsey says. “It’s taken a bit of time but with Mikel and what he has brought in, that structure, that belief. It’s been brilliant, and he’s been brilliant. Arsenal as a football club deserve a lot of credit. This has been a process but it’s paid off. They’re in a position now to be very competitive for the foreseeable future. Hopefully they can really kick on and it can drive them to more success.”
Now it is about Ramsey implementing his own style.
“I see the game as being on the front foot, aggressive, dominating games, in and out of possession,” he says. “There’s a lot of detail that goes into that for you to be able to enable that to come to life. I definitely didn’t start playing football to be in a ‘low block’ [defend deep]. So it’s not going to be my coaching style.”
At Oxford he has been thrown in at the deep end with the news that the club is under a transfer embargo, having failed to comply with the English Football League’s financial rules which has led to concern from fans. “It’s definitely been an introduction to management life but I have been pretty calm about the whole situation,” Ramsey says.
“One of the main reasons I took this job was the players that are already here and the qualities I saw in them, and the things I thought I could do to improve this team.”
He says he was also “quite firm” that being prevented from signing players meant Oxford would also not sell this summer, especially assets such as winger Stanley Mills. “Letting them go would make no sense,” Ramsey says.
Despite the adversity, he believes Oxford will challenge. “I’m confident in the way I go about things,” Ramsey explains. “I back myself in these situations, and, obviously coming through at such a young age as a player, I’ve always been quite motivated to show my work, even at that young age.”
Ramsey only announced his retirement as a player in April, after 20 years at the top, playing more than 600 games for club and country and finishing with Mexican club UNAM where his contract was terminated by mutual consent last October after a difficult period including the disappearance of his beloved dog, Halo, in Mexico City.

Aaron Ramsey with his dog Halo


Ramsey with his dog Halo, who went missing in Mexico City Credit: @Aaronramsey/Instagram
“I had a really amazing few months there although it didn’t end the way I wanted, with my dog,” Ramsey says. “We don’t always get that fairy tale [ending]. My career in general though was a fairy tale. I got to play in some of the biggest games, played at the top of the game for many years: Champions League, Euro semi-final with Wales. So I have been very lucky and blessed to have experienced some of the heights.”
Now life begins as a manager, with Oxford facing Leyton Orient away in the first round of the Carabao Cup on Saturday before the League One campaign kicks off the following weekend at home to MK Dons. Ramsey knows there will be a target on his back, given his profile, and he also knows that the turnover of managers at this level is frightening. But he is not fazed.
“You have to back yourself and I certainly do,” Ramsey says. “It’s completely different now. I am a manager and an inexperienced one. I started off as a player in the Championship with Cardiff and that gives you a grounding. But this is what I want.
“I want to be true to myself and I want that to come through in my team. I want to show courage. I’m a very driven character.”
 
Carpy said:

Aaron Ramsey interview: I am addicted to coaching​

Exclusive: Arsenal’s Cup final hero on Mikel Arteta’s advice, his horrible leg break and managing Oxford United

Aaron Ramsey being interviewed by Telegraph Sport

Aaron Ramsey is determined to succeed as a coach and has learned some lessons from Arsene Wenger Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph

Jason Burt - Chief Football Correspondent
Published 06 August 2026 6:02am BST

If Aaron Ramsey ever writes an autobiography then its title should be Driven. It is a word the former Arsenal midfielder uses often during this interview, his first since being appointed head coach of League One Oxford United.
Ramsey was driven to be a footballer. He was driven to recover from the horrific double leg-break that meant he might never walk again, let alone play football. He was driven to prove the doubters wrong.
Now he is driven to be a manager, having prepared for it for years after being inspired by his former team-mate Mikel Arteta. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I was ready for it,” he says.
The 35-year-old was also driven this summer to run his first marathon, soon after retiring as a player. Not just run one but run it in less than three hours. So when he missed out by 30 seconds in the London Marathon, he decided to run another a month later in Stockholm. His time? 2hr 59min 20sec.

37ccb429c92a173ead3375932762f98c6c362980.jpg


08e06036b893e75453084244a38fd187118e66d7.jpg


Ramsey volunteers the information about his marathon exploits as we discuss a football career that will forever be partly defined by what happened on February 27, 2010, playing for Arsenal away to Stoke City in the Premier League.
Ramsey was on top of the world. Aged 19 he was one of Europe’s most coveted midfielders, joining Arsenal ahead of Manchester United from his hometown club Cardiff City. He had quick feet, athleticism and an eye for a pass and a goal that marked him out as a world-class talent. But he was caught violently in a tackle by Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross, which broke his tibia and fibula. The pain was so bad that Ramsey dislocated his jaw as he screamed out.

Aaron Ramsey's broken leg's broken leg


The reaction of Ramsey’s team-mates said it all after the Ryan Shawcross tackle that changed the course of his career Credit: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
“Still got the metal [rod] in there and [in] hot and cold temperatures it flares up now and again. But yeah, still in there. It’s part of me,” Ramsey says, rubbing his right leg, wanting to move the discussion on. “And got a couple of marathons under my belt as well, London and Stockholm,” he says.
“I wanted to break the three-hour mark and managed to do that. It took me two attempts but I got it done. It was something that was important to me, having four or five months not doing a lot after [retiring from] football. To focus on something again and have something to strive for was important. It was a nice buzz, different, but nice.
“I was lucky. As a player, one of my strengths was that my outputs were pretty high. I was quite naive at the time, thinking ‘oh, three hours, I’ll do that’. But I managed to get it done.”

Aaron Ramsey being interviewed by Telegraph Sport


Ramsey suspects the muscular injuries that dogged him in the rest of his career were a result of the 2010 leg break Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph
That metal rod will stay in Ramsey’s body for the rest of his life, even if he admits it causes him discomfort. “We’ll see how my knee holds up over the next few years with the rod sort of sticking into it a bit,” he says.
“At the time I didn’t know whether I would walk again, never mind come back and play football. It was a long, tedious process for me to overcome that. But it’s another example of me being a driven person that I was going to come back from it, if not stronger as well. So, I was proud of that and the career I then had.
“I’ve had many challenges as a player over the years and that definitely helped build the character I am today. Overcoming those tough times will stand me in good stead for being a manager.”

Aaron Ramsey club career​

At this point it must also be remembered that Ramsey did recover and went on to have a brilliant playing career, scoring the winning goals in two FA Cup finals for Arsenal (2014 and 2017), playing Champions League football, being a key part of Wales’s thrilling run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, and joining Italian giants Juventus in 2019.

“I’m really proud of my playing career. I would like to have won a lot more things for Arsenal but to have [those] sort of highlights in the finals, they were special,” Ramsey says.
“To overcome things, obviously the leg break, and still get to the top of the game, I’m immensely proud of that. Frustrated as well because off the back of that, I picked up a lot of injuries. Maybe because things are sort of out of sync in my body and there’s a consequence,” Ramsey says. “I am proud of what I achieved as a player – my ambition now is to do that, if not better it [as a manager].”
I tell him that the amateur psychologist in me is wondering whether, having been through what he went through, it makes him all the more determined to succeed in management?
“Definitely. I want to do everything as a manager, so of course step by step. But I’m an ambitious person,” he says. “Whatever I do, I want to succeed and do the best I possibly can. I like to push myself. That’s always been part of me. I’ve always wanted to show what I am capable of doing. Even throughout my days in the academy [at Cardiff], I was always an age group or two above, competing against bigger, stronger, quicker boys at that age. It’s part of my make-up and I embrace the challenge.”

Aaron Ramsey being interviewed by Telegraph Sport


Ramsey had a sense of unfinished business at the end of his playing career Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph
The challenge at Oxford will not be insignificant. Relegated from the Championship, the club belatedly sacked Matt Bloomfield in mid-June, targeting Ramsey, who had cut his teeth during a brief interim spell in charge of Cardiff last year after he had returned as a player.
He recalls a conversation with Arteta, when they played together at Arsenal. “Speaking to Arteta, in the final years of his career, and him doing his [coaching] badges and saying ‘I wish I’d done them a lot earlier because I see the game a lot differently now’,” Ramsey says. He took that advice on board and started his own coaching journey, quickly finding it “addictive”.
“Addiction, I think it was a different sort of addiction, but one that definitely captured me, and I had a really nice satisfaction from it,” Ramsey explains.
“When I got started, it was that buzz of giving. Seeing that come to life, developing in games. That’s a different sort of high than you get from playing.”

Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey playing for Arsenal


Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey line up in Arsenal’s midfield against Bayern Munich in the 2012-13 Champions League Credit: Getty Images/Glyn Kirk
Ramsey was well schooled at Arsenal under Arsène Wenger and it is interesting that he has followed Arteta, Cesc Fàbregas and Jack Wilshere as an intelligent, progressive midfielder going into management. It is also interesting to hear him talk about what he took from Wenger.
“Arsène always used to just want you to go out there and express yourself and be that little kid inside you: why did you start playing football? Why did you fall in love with football?” Ramsey explains.
“He wanted you to go out and enjoy it, be on the ball, create opportunities, score goals and that was evident in the way Arsenal played. And I want my teams to express themselves.”

Given his affiliation he must have been delighted that, last season, Arsenal finally won the Premier League again.

“Absolutely. I was over the moon they won it,” Ramsey says. “It’s taken a bit of time but with Mikel and what he has brought in, that structure, that belief. It’s been brilliant, and he’s been brilliant. Arsenal as a football club deserve a lot of credit. This has been a process but it’s paid off. They’re in a position now to be very competitive for the foreseeable future. Hopefully they can really kick on and it can drive them to more success.”
Now it is about Ramsey implementing his own style.
“I see the game as being on the front foot, aggressive, dominating games, in and out of possession,” he says. “There’s a lot of detail that goes into that for you to be able to enable that to come to life. I definitely didn’t start playing football to be in a ‘low block’ [defend deep]. So it’s not going to be my coaching style.”
At Oxford he has been thrown in at the deep end with the news that the club is under a transfer embargo, having failed to comply with the English Football League’s financial rules which has led to concern from fans. “It’s definitely been an introduction to management life but I have been pretty calm about the whole situation,” Ramsey says.
“One of the main reasons I took this job was the players that are already here and the qualities I saw in them, and the things I thought I could do to improve this team.”
He says he was also “quite firm” that being prevented from signing players meant Oxford would also not sell this summer, especially assets such as winger Stanley Mills. “Letting them go would make no sense,” Ramsey says.
Despite the adversity, he believes Oxford will challenge. “I’m confident in the way I go about things,” Ramsey explains. “I back myself in these situations, and, obviously coming through at such a young age as a player, I’ve always been quite motivated to show my work, even at that young age.”
Ramsey only announced his retirement as a player in April, after 20 years at the top, playing more than 600 games for club and country and finishing with Mexican club UNAM where his contract was terminated by mutual consent last October after a difficult period including the disappearance of his beloved dog, Halo, in Mexico City.

Aaron Ramsey with his dog Halo


Ramsey with his dog Halo, who went missing in Mexico City Credit: @Aaronramsey/Instagram
“I had a really amazing few months there although it didn’t end the way I wanted, with my dog,” Ramsey says. “We don’t always get that fairy tale [ending]. My career in general though was a fairy tale. I got to play in some of the biggest games, played at the top of the game for many years: Champions League, Euro semi-final with Wales. So I have been very lucky and blessed to have experienced some of the heights.”
Now life begins as a manager, with Oxford facing Leyton Orient away in the first round of the Carabao Cup on Saturday before the League One campaign kicks off the following weekend at home to MK Dons. Ramsey knows there will be a target on his back, given his profile, and he also knows that the turnover of managers at this level is frightening. But he is not fazed.
“You have to back yourself and I certainly do,” Ramsey says. “It’s completely different now. I am a manager and an inexperienced one. I started off as a player in the Championship with Cardiff and that gives you a grounding. But this is what I want.
“I want to be true to myself and I want that to come through in my team. I want to show courage. I’m a very driven character.”
Click to expand...
Anybody else getting tired just looking at those Marathon stats?
 
I have to admit that I was very sceptical over his appointment. I thought that Erick, or someone, was starstruck. Top player, no management experience - please not another Wayne Rooney.
However so far I am impressed. He was dealt an awful hand by the Club, but has conducted himself well - articulate, intelligent, looks to have integrity and wants to play decent football.
Time will tell but I am prepared to be patient. It won't all be plain sailing but it could be more fun than the last couple of years.
 
Raymond O'Leary said:
I have to admit that I was very sceptical over his appointment. I thought that Erick, or someone, was starstruck. Top player, no management experience - please not another Wayne Rooney.
However so far I am impressed. He was dealt an awful hand by the Club, but has conducted himself well - articulate, intelligent, looks to have integrity and wants to play decent football.
Time will tell but I am prepared to be patient. It won't all be plain sailing but it could be more fun than the last couple of years.
Click to expand...
Could be our Mark Robins ?
Builds a team for the future and builds his reputation with us. The danger is that he will outgrow us quicker than our development needs.
 
JOHN BOY said:
Didn't he day Mills and BDK trained today.
Click to expand...
The interview was recorded yesterday. He said they hadn't trained the last couple of days. Given that Wednesday nobody trained, he would have either meant Monday and Tuesday, or Tuesday and Thursday, depending what time of day the interview was recorded.
 
Jaboysmith said:

Another very good interview to add to his growing list
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm a stupid romantic but this has got me fired up. We need to be giving them our all. One thing I know is that the team on the pitch will give everything in terms of work rate and heart. Looking forward to seeing the team, welcoming Aaron and maybe giving Rosie a little wink (I said, wink before you make your own jokes up at the back). COYY.
 
The only negative I can say, is what AR is describing that he wants from his team and how we’re going to play wasn’t in evidence last Sat. Let’s hope that was just a warm up and we really play the way he wants on Saturday.

Intense exciting football is what he’s describes and giving everything, we were a million miles from that a few days ago.

I really hope we show what we can do on Sat.
 
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