West Bromwich Albion announced Eric Ramsay as the club’s new Head Coach on Sunday evening.
The 34-year-old has signed a two-and-a-half year deal at The Hawthorns.
Here are ten things you might find interesting about our new boss.
Eric was born in Shrewsbury, around just 40 miles away from West Bromwich, on August 2, 1991. He grew up in North Wales in a small market town called Llanfyllin and played football locally before joining The New Saints’ youth academy. After leaving TNS, the most successful club in the Welsh football structure, he went on to play a handful of games for Welshpool Town in the Welsh Premier League before shifting his focus to university and coaching.
Ramsay attended Loughborough University and graduated in 2013 with a first-class honours degree in Sport Science with Management. While there, he represented the University’s futsal team and also captained the Welsh national futsal side, featuring for the Red Dragons in the UEFA Futsal European Championship qualifiers against Greece, Bulgaria and Armenia out in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
The new boss went on to become Swansea City’s Lead Professional Development Phase Coach after completing his degree and spent nearly four years with the Welsh club. In 2017, he left the Swans to join Shrewsbury Town as their Academy Manager.
After two years with the Shrews, he moved on to Premier League giants Chelsea and worked with their Under-23s group. He achieved something incredible while at the Blues in 2019, becoming the youngest ever Brit to obtain a UEFA Pro License – the highest football coaching qualification in Europe, which is essential for managing top-tier professional clubs and specifically centres on elite leadership, management, advanced coaching skills and having the ability to handle tactical analysis, media questioning and high-pressure elite environments.
Eric was on the move once more in 2021, leaving London for Manchester and taking on a role at United as a Player Development Coach under then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He quickly became an integral part of the club’s coaching team and also worked under Ralf Rangnick and Erik Ten Hag. Manchester United won the Carabao Cup and reached an Emirates FA Cup final during his time there.
Ramsay is capable of speaking a number of different languages and helped Brazilian midfielder Casemiro settle into life at Manchester United. The former Real Madrid man spoke very little English at the time of signing for the Red Devils, but Albion’s new Head Coach was able to communicate effectively with him in Spanish. He is also fluent in French.
Eric was appointed Head Coach of MLS outfit Minnesota United in February 2024, shortly after the start of the regular season. In doing so, he became the youngest permanent Head Coach in MLS history. He won his first game in charge, with Minnesota defeating LAFC 2-0 at home.
The 34-year-old led Minnesota to back-to-back Conference play-off semi-finals in 2024 and 2025. The Loons ended the 2024 year in sixth place in the Western Conference table, before going on to end the 2025 campaign in fourth position - their highest ever finish.
His Minnesota side recorded an impressive 4-1 home win over Inter Miami in May 2025. That Inter Miami team included legends of the game Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets. In doing so, Ramsay’s Loons became the first team to inflict a league defeat on a Miami side featuring Messi last season, before they went on to win the MLS Cup.
Ramsay joins the Baggies having managed 81 matches for Minnesota. He won 38, drew 16 and lost 27, using 50 players and picking up a points-per-match average of 1.60. The 34-year-old’s side also demonstrated their dominance from set-pieces, bagging a league-high 22 strikes from dead ball situations – the highest in the MLS across the 2025 regular season.
