Eric Ramsay had a gig that most soccer coaches can only dream of as a first-team assistant for English Premier League giants Manchester United.
So, why leave one of the world's most prestigious clubs?
At his introductory press conference as the new head coach of Minnesota United FC, the 32-year-old explained why now is the time to try his hand in Major League Soccer.
"I just felt from day one that the combination of the club, the league and the general context in America was as good an opportunity as I think any first-time head coach is going to get," Ramsay, the youngest manager in MLS, said Wednesday.
"... And I think from a head coach's perspective you want that very stable environment to work in," the Wales native added. "I want to work with a team, I want to work with the players, I want to do what I'm good at, what I've done up until this point with that added leadership element. So, I look at this particular club as absolutely perfect in that sense."
Solid foundation
That a strong infrastructure is already in place at Minnesota was one of the biggest factors Ramsay said stood out as he evaluated the opportunity.
Under the guidance of interim head coach Cameron Knowles, the Loons are one of the league's hottest teams to start the 2024 season (2W-0-1D, 7 points). In Argentine maestro Emanuel Reynoso and Finnish striker Teemu Pukki, Ramsay has some of the league's best attacking players at his disposal, along with an intriguing mix of young talent and proven veterans.
"I've been able to get really familiar with the players that we've got here. I've been able to watch the games," Ramsay, who was hired in late February, explained. "I'm fortunate that I'm stepping into a situation where the picture is fairly rosy. Obviously, Cameron and the staff and everyone else who's been around the team have done a really good job up until this point.
"So I'm walking into something that feels solid. And I'm not doing it on a completely blank slate. I said to them yesterday: I know [the players] far better than they know me because I've had the luxury of being sat at home, watching the games, watching games from last year, watching the individuals on the scouting platforms that we have, getting a feel for the league. So I appreciate on paper it probably looks like a situation that isn't ideal for me to start in, but I don't really feel that way."
Forward momentum
In addition, Ramsay said the growth of MLS as a whole factored into his decision.
With the league's quality rising with each passing season and the 2026 World Cup set to be hosted across the United States, Mexico and Canada, Ramsay said he feels a pronounced upward trajectory around the sport.
"I look at the MLS in general – I think it's cliché to say in England that it is moving in the right direction, that it's getting better," Ramsay said. "But ever since I've started researching the league in much more detail, and I've been doing so for two months or so now, I can't look past that statement. It is definitely moving forward, it has grown significantly. The level is really, really good."
Having only run one training session before Wednesday's presser, there's still room to evaluate MNUFC's strengths and weaknesses. But early signs are nonetheless positive for Minnesota's second-ever full-time head coach.
"I don't think you really know the players until you start working with them, until you see them on the pitch trying to carry out some of the stuff that you've worked on in the week," said Ramsay, who was hired by new chief soccer office Khaled El-Ahmad.
"So I will reserve a little bit of judgment until I've had a few games to work with them and analyze and give feedback. But I would say it's a really, I can feel it in the first two days, really energetic group, really hungry group, really coachable group. Very talented group across lots of areas."
High standard
More broadly, Ramsay said he feels aligned with Minnesota's vision. While the Loons have become a perennially competitive side since their difficult MLS beginnings, they're yet to truly ascend into the tier of the league's elite contenders.
Making deep Audi MLS Cup Playoffs runs and contending for silverware is the goal – one Ramsay believes is attainable as the club pushes forward into a post-Adrian Heath era.
"We want to build upon what the club has done in previous years," Ramsay said. "So we want to qualify for the postseason and we want to be very competitive in the postseason. I probably wouldn't say much more than that. But I wouldn't have come, I wouldn't have taken the decision that I've taken, moved my family to the other side of the world, uproot, left the club I was at for a project that wasn't full of ambitious people and didn't have resources at its disposal to meet those ambitions.
"And I think every conversation I've had so far has skewed toward going beyond what's been done previously."
