Eric Ramsay has more than one job to do at West Bromwich Albion.
After two years at Minnesota United, the Welshman last week took over as head coach of the underperforming English club at midseason. His primary objective is to improve West Brom’s results on the field and avoid dreaded relegation from the country’s second-tier league to its third.
Ramsay is also doing so behalf of MLS. No pressure, coach.
Minnesota United head coach Eric Ramsay watches game action in the first half of a MLS game against the Los Angeles Galaxy at Allianz Field in St. Paul on Saturday, Mar. 22, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The North American league has lacked a track record of coaches having success in moves to Europe; the latest example ended in stunning whiplash.
Wilfred Nancy had earned deep respect in his four years with the Columbus Crew, winning the 2023 MLS Cup and reaching two other finals. The 48-year-old Frenchman, who won MLS coach of the year in 2024, was hired at Celtic in early December, but was sacked by the Scotland’s top club in early January. He had lost six times across eight matches.
In 2016, Bob Bradley became the first American coach in the English Premier League with Swansea City, but the former MLS and U.S. men’s national team coach’s stint in the EPL lasted only 11 games.
In 2022, Jesse Marsch took over at Leeds United after stints in MLS, Austria and Germany. The Racine, Wis., native lasted less than one calendar year before being fired midseason. Leeds finished the season relegated from the Premier League to the Championship, where Ramsay currently resides with West Brom.
During his introductory press conference last week, Ramsay was asked by a local reporter about the “completely different” task at West Brom compared to what he faced in Minnesota and MLS.
“It’s completely understandable,” Ramsay said about the question. “But I know what MLS has meant for me or my coaching journey.
Then Ramsay ticked through some of his coaching experiences, including at his hometown club, Shrewsbury Town, which is mere miles from West Brom’s home stadium, The Hawthorns. He also mentioned stints as an assistant coach at Manchester United, with Chelsea’s Under-23 team and at two of Swansea’s youth squads. He has also been an assistant for the Wales national team.
“I know very well the demands from a playing perspective, and I feel like the experience around the Championship that I’ve complemented with two years (at Minnesota) in a very demanding setting as a head coach,” Ramsay said. “It could not have prepared me better for this. And I’ve said repeatedly that I wouldn’t be sat in this chair if I didn’t feel like I’d done everything to make sure that I was prepared, that I would have taken that risk in that sense.
“So I feel very comfortable with the depth of experience I’ve gotten. I think if it was analyzed very carefully, you’d see that amounts to a really good grounding for this league.”
A previous question posed Ramsay last week centered on underestimating “the toughness” of MLS.
“It’s a top 10 league” in the world, Ramsay replied. “It’s growing very quickly. The level is high. You see that with the outs from the league, you see it with the ins. (Players leaving and entering MLS in the transfer market.) It’s changing very rapidly. It’s uniquely demanding league.”
Ramsay, who was the youngest coach in MLS at age 34, cited the multicultural demands in the Loons locker room, with more than 20 different nationalities on last year’s roster, the travel demands across four time zones in the U.S. and Canada and a spectrum of different climates to play in.
When Ramsay took over West Brom, the club had 31 points in 26 matches and sat in 18th place. That was 10 points from the top six clubs, which advance to a playoff, while also being seven points clear from the bottom three teams, which are relegated to the lower tier, League One.
On Friday, Ramsay lost his West Brom debut, 3-2 at home to second-place Middlesbrough. His team was down 2-0, including an own goal, but battled back to make it 2-2 before Middlesbrough scored the winner in the 90th minute.
With other results, that loss sank West Brom to 19th and only four points above the relegation zone. On Tuesday, West Brom hosts Norwich — a club in tone of the regulation spots.
Soccer fans in the U.S. will be following that match and checking in for West Brom’s remaining 19 games into early May, to see if Ramsay can become a success story for MLS.
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