Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey seeks FA Cup flourish to honour grandmother
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Version 0 of 1. Aaron Ramsey smiles at one of the many affectionate memories that he has of his maternal grandmother. “She would always complain that the matches were not on normal TV,” the Arsenal midfielder says. “So I got her Sky to watch a few of them.” Ramsey misses Eileen – or Nanny Leany, as he calls her. She passed away last month, aged 84, and it still feels raw. “She was an incredible woman, who meant an awful lot to me,” Ramsey says. “She lost her husband early in her life and she had to raise seven kids on her own. “In those days, it was an incredibly difficult thing to do but she managed to do that. She was always happy, making jokes, and she had that sort of outlook on life. She always believed in me and gave me reassurance. It has just been a difficult time.” Ramsey dedicated the crucial goal that he scored in Wales’s Euro 2016 qualifying victory over Israel to her and his winner for Arsenal at Burnley last Saturday. He wrote on Twitter after the Israel game on 28 March that he knew she had been looking down on him and he describes himself as having been “on an emotional rollercoaster of late”. Ramsey is approaching the end of his eighth full season in the professional game and it is remarkable to think that he is only 24. The one-time Cardiff City prodigy speaks with greater confidence and personality in interviews these days but he lays his feelings bare over the bereavement. It has brought perspective, as these things do – on matters such as the setbacks of what has been a testing season on a personal level. Ramsey has missed a total of 12 weeks because of three separate hamstring twangs. The driving form of his breakthrough season last time out, when he finished with 16 goals for Arsenal, has not always been there on a consistent basis, despite nine goals and – particularly in recent weeks – plenty of flickers. What is clear is that Ramsey intends to honour Eileen’s memory and the opportunity to do so looms large over the coming weeks. There is the FA Cup to retain – Arsenal face Reading in the semi-final at Wembley on Saturday – and a Premier League campaign to finish with a bang; ideally, coming in higher than fourth, so as to avoid the perennial Champions League play-off. Even the title is not mathematically out of reach, although it would take a belly flop of Devon Loch proportions from Chelsea to grant Arsenal their shot. “It will be difficult but it’s still possible,” Ramsey says. Then, on 12 June, there is Wales’s home qualifying tie against Belgium, when Ramsey’s country hope to take another step towards their first major finals since 1958. They are level at the top of Group B with Belgium and Ramsey cannot hide his pride at the resurgence, which he says began with the appointment as manager of the late Gary Speed and has been continued by Chris Coleman. Wales are up to 22nd in the world rankings – their highest ever placing. “A few of the English lads at Arsenal joke that we will never make it but I hope that we can do that and we may have a game against them at the Euros,” Ramsey says. “We are catching them up in the world rankings. The progression has been amazing and you can see the confidence in the group. We will be trying to do it for our fans and our families.” Ramsey’s immediate focus is on rekindling the feeling from arguably the greatest moment of his career. He has the images from last season’s FA Cup final against Hull City freeze-framed in his mind – the agonies of the two early concessions to the triumphant fightback, which he crowned with the extra-time winner. He will never forget the smiles and the colour of the open‑top bus parade around Islington. After his goal and the frenzied celebrations, Ramsey lay on the Wembley turf for a moment; arms outstretched, eyes closed. “It all caught up on me then,” he says. “I needed a couple of seconds just to get my breath back and realise what I’d actually done. It was overwhelming. As a kid, I was always pretending to score the goal in the FA Cup final and I managed to live my dream. “The open-top bus parade was amazing to see and that was quite overwhelming, as well. To see how many people had come out and to realise how much this means for them … to have finally won something for ourselves and for them.” When Ramsey reflects upon the victory, he mentions the feeling of “relief” straight away. The semi-final penalty shootout win over Wigan Athletic had been akin to an ordeal, the tension suffocating, and the final was not much different. After nine years without a trophy, and against unfancied opposition, Arsenal simply had to win. The consequences of failure had felt apocalyptic. “That sort of pressure has gone because we won something last season so there is no more of this ‘nine years’,” Ramsey says. “We go into the game against Reading as big favourites and we have to be switched on and start well, which we have been doing lately. We have to focus on ourselves and, if we manage ourselves correctly, we will go through.” Ramsey is asked about his injuries. With him, it is difficult to ignore them – even last season he missed more than three months with a thigh problem. “These things happen and they seem to happen to us more than any other club,” Ramsey says. “Hopefully, we can try and stop this from happening with me and the other players. “I don’t think I have come back too early after my hamstring injuries this season. I have played games and then they have gone again. I don’t know if they were able to take the load that I was trucking up in games. Maybe that was one of the issues why they did go.” Ramsey, though, wants to look forward and he is upbeat. Arsenal are in a groove; the team have come to feel more balanced and stable, the players are pushing each other and their run of 16 wins from 18 matches in all competitions speaks for itself. “We started off really well last season and maybe just faded away towards the end; we lost against the bigger teams,” Ramsey says. “This season, we have done a bit better against them. We didn’t start too well – it was a bit interrupted – but we have been really good and consistent in the second half of the season. In terms of the title, I feel we are getting closer. I feel we are very close.” |