Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, the Bluebirds’ star player, was on the bench. Robbie Fowler hadn’t even boarded the coach.
But when the deflation subsided, the eighth-tier minnows spotted an opportunity. Playing in midfield for the Championship side was a 17-year-old making his first professional start.
“Aaron Ramsey was the one we picked as the one we could get at,” recalled Danny Smith, who had scored a dramatic winner in the previous round against Port Vale.
“We thought, ‘He’s 17, he’s playing in the centre of the park on a muddy pitch at Chasetown, he’s being linked to all these top clubs but he’s not going to know what’s hit him’.”
The problem - for Chasetown, at least - was that nobody could hit him. Ramsey scored one, made one, and played with an assurance that made a mockery of his tender years. “We couldn’t get anywhere near him,” laughed Smith. “He absolutely ran the show.”
Like Smith, I left the Scholars Ground that icy January evening in no doubt that Ramsey was destined for the top. His touch and technique was a class apart.
Fifteen years on, those qualities are undiminished. After a decade at Arsenal, 82 caps for Wales and stints at Juventus, Rangers and Nice, Ramsey remains an accomplished mezzala.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 06, 2023-Ausgabe von The Football League Paper.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 06, 2023-Ausgabe von The Football League Paper.
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