'Ramsey the light amid Cardiff's relegation gloom'

Wales captain Aaron Ramsey is the third man to manage Cardiff City this season When only a win would do, this draw felt like the point of no return for Cardiff City. This was not how Aaron Ramsey would have dreamt his first game in charge of his boyhood club, teetering on the brink of relegation from the Championship. Yet this was still a moment to savour for the Wales captain, who Bluebirds fans call one of their own. The sight of Ramsey strolling along the touchline during the match against Oxford United will have felt surreal for many of those watching from the stands at Cardiff City Stadium, some of whom would have been at Ninian Park when a 16-year-old Ramsey played his first game for the club on another sun-dappled April afternoon in 2007. Ramsey had left Cardiff as a boy and come back a man. Between his 2008 move to Arsenal and celebrated return to the Welsh capital two years ago, he had won FA Cups, starred in the Premier League and played a leading role in a golden era for Wales. As Cardiff's caretaker manager applauded the supporters before kick-off on Monday, it was almost like a second homecoming. The warmth of the atmosphere inside Cardiff City Stadium was at odds with the mood outside beforehand, where fans gathered to protest against the club's owner Vincent Tan and the board. Given the team's perilous position in the Championship table and the chronic antipathy from supporters towards the club's hierarchy, the match against Oxford had all the makings of an afternoon of pure toxicity. But in Ramsey, Cardiff - for years ravaged by division and discord - had a rare unifying force. To put the 34-year-old in charge for the final three games of the season was undoubtedly a roll of the dice; a desperate measure from a board that has perpetually fumbled from one crisis to another. At the same time, however, it felt like neither party had much to lose. For Ramsey, still registered as a player and with no coaching experience, there was a chance to enhance his hero status by inspiring an improbable escape act. And despite the high stakes, it was relatively risk-free for his reputation because too much damage had already been done to lay any of the blame for relegation on him. As for Tan, chairman Mehmet Dalman and chief executive Ken Choo, things could not get much worse. The final stages of previous manager Omer Riza's reign had deepened the wounds that have hurt this club in recent years, particularly its ever-worsening disconnect with its supporters. So as glib as it sounds, the guiding principle for Ramsey's appointment was simply: Why not? Cardiff could only improve on the dismal end to Riza's tenure, and that is precisely what they did under Ramsey. With only a day to prepare for the Oxford game, he had assembled a new coaching team and instilled in his side an intensity and purpose that had been lacking under his predecessor. A conversation with Wales manager Craig Bellamy helped. Former team-mates for club and country, the two men view football the same way, and Bellamy's influence was clear not only in the way Ramsey had set up his team but in the way he talked about the game afterwards. "I spoke to Bellers (Craig Bellamy) quite a bit. He's helped me out quite a lot in that 24, 48 hours," Ramsey said. "We didn't have a lot of time to work on tactical things, so I didn't want to overload the players with too much information. "We had a day to do that. We had to take in a bit from meetings, but it was more about trying to get your principles across and habits." In such a short space of time, some familiarity can be useful. Ramsey needed to lean on people he could trust as well as those he rated. He brought in his great friend and former Wales team-mate Chris Gunter alongside Cardiff club captain Joe Ralls – like Ramsey, currently out injured – and Wales' Ryland Morgans as his assistant coaches. As kick-off approached, it was Gunter who Ramsey turned to for a hug and some words of encouragement. Having come through the youth ranks at Cardiff, Ramsey and Gunter had been inseparable as Wales room-mates and north London neighbours with the former's move to Arsenal coming just a few months after the latter's transfer to Tottenham Hotspur. Now they were reunited in the dugout, responsible for the team they supported as boys. Cardiff City fans protested against the club's owner Vincent Tan and board for the second time this season While Gunter and Ralls took the players through their pre-match training drills, some of the chatter in the stands turned to weighty issues as fans waited for Ramsey to appear. What would he wear? Would he be in a club tracksuit like Gunter and Ralls? Or go full suit and tie? He might even be tempted with the long puffer coat once favoured by his former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. The answer was a black long sleeve polo shirt and black slacks with dark leather trainers; the kind of casual look Pep Guardiola is partial to at Manchester City. With sleeves rolled up and hands in his pockets, Ramsey had the same air of calm confidence he has carried throughout his playing career. But he showed his more animated side too, loudly encouraging his players and geeing up the crowd. Ramsey was delighted with what he saw from his players, who controlled the game and deservedly led through Yousef Salech's second-half header, only for Oxford to equalise with their only shot on target – an unstoppable long-range strike by Cameron Brannagan. A draw was not enough. With results elsewhere going against Cardiff, they are now second from bottom of the table and three points adrift of safety with only two games left. If Ramsey was to pull them out of the fire from here, his legendary status would be cemented. Even if Cardiff are relegated – as many fans seem to have accepted as inevitable – nobody will blame Ramsey. He inherited an unenviable situation and has precious little time to turn it around, encouraging as the early signs might be. Once his caretaker tenure is done, the 86-cap Wales midfielder wants to continue playing and, with his Bluebirds contract expiring this summer, his long-term future remains unclear. Should Ramsey return to the touchline with his beloved club beyond this season, there may yet be a way back for Cardiff.