Ramsey cannot work his magic as Cardiff City relegated to the third division for the first time in almost two decades.
Ramsey has no miracle ending as Cardiff slide into League One.
For the first time since 2002–03, when they achieved promotion through the playoffs across town at the then-Millennium Stadium, Cardiff was relegated from the Championship after switching divisions with Wrexham.
Aaron Ramsey’s face was marked with emotion as he started to process the damage, indicating that he was not unaware of the possibility of relegation. As a teenager, he used to drive a lime green Ford Fiesta to training. Growing up in the adjacent town of Caerphilly, Ramsey joined the team at the age of eight and returned for a third stint last summer with the goal of getting Cardiff back into the Premier League after they were demoted there in 2018–19.
Both sides of the table have experienced a few near-misses since then. The Cardiff fans who sang against Vincent Tan, the club’s owner, will soon be getting ready for League One travels to Stevenage and Exeter.
Given that the team is believed to have a budget in the top eight of the Championship, relegation is a serious failure. The same team is still fighting over Emiliano Sala’s compensation, saying they owe more than £100 million for the striker who was killed in a plane crash while travelling from Nantes and who they believed would save them from Premier League relegation in 2019. In September, the case will be heard in court.
“I wanted to come back and help the team on the field, that hasn’t materialised like we all imagined and all wanted,” said the 34-year-old Ramsey. Sidelined after undergoing hamstring surgery, he agreed to take over as caretaker manager with three games to play. “Game-time, minutes on the pitch, it hasn’t been great and it’s been very frustrating because this club means a lot to me. I felt like I could have an impact and have that miracle ending. It wasn’t to be and we have to own up to that.”
For a team that has only managed nine victories from 45 league games—the fewest in the Championship—and only Shrewsbury has lost fewer games this season, it was a brutal finale. Cardiff’s need to pull off back-to-back victories out of the blue in order to have a chance at survival was always going to be high. It might not have been enough even then.
Following a 0-0 draw at home against a woefully unmotivated West Bromwich Albion, who had dropped five of their last six games, relegation was confirmed; another former Premier League midfielder, James Morrison, was promoted from his position as first-team coach to oversee his first game as caretaker manager.
Cardiff showed promise but was unable to pull off a potentially priceless victory, much like on Easter Monday. Joe Ralls had four minutes of regular time left when he launched a bending shot just short of a post, and Gunter rubbed the back of his head angrily. Ramsey covered his head with his hands.