Barely seven years on from last sharing the field in an Arsenal kit, two former Arsene Wenger proteges in Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere will be butting heads in the dugout on the final day of the Championship season.
The erstwhile midfield duo reunite when Wilshere’s Norwich City host Ramsey’s Cardiff City on Saturday lunchtime, having been thrust into the managerial limelight following the dismissals of Johannes Hoff Thorup and Omer Riza.
Wilshere and Ramsey may only be in interim charge of their respective clubs, but their short-term spells could act as a springboard for a long-term career in the hotseat, and their imminent showdown gave Arsenal expert Charles Watts the perfect chance to reflect on their most memorable moments in a red and white kit.
For Ramsey, nothing will top his winning goal against Hull City in the 2013-14 FA Cup final for Watts, a strike which came at the end of the Welshman’s breakthrough season at the Emirates.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt as old as reading that we’re going to see Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey going head-to-head as managers, it’s mad,” Watts told Sports Mole. “Where has the time gone?
“My fondest memory of Aaron Ramsey is that goal against Hull in the FA Cup final. It’s one of my favourite ever Arsenal goals. That day meant an awful lot to me for a lot of reasons, not just because it was the end of the trophy drought, but myself and my dad had lost my mum, the funeral was a few days earlier.
‘Ramsey goal will be remembered for the rest of my life’
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“We were both emotional wrecks anyway, we went to Wembley and just wanted to win that game so much. To be 2-0 down and to come back, I’ll remember that goal for the rest of my life. It’s one of my special moments I’ve had following Arsenal.”
Both Ramsey and Wilshere enjoyed their first tastes of senior Arsenal action in the 2008-09 season, after the former snubbed advances from Manchester United to join from Cardiff City and Wilshere came through the Gunners’ famed Hale End academy.
Wilshere was regarded as one of Arsenal’s most promising youth prospects of all time and quickly made his mark in the first team under Wenger, adopting a fearless mentality now emulated by a certain Myles Lewis-Skelly.
The ex-England international spent 10 years in the senior squad, but a spate of injuries cruelly prevented him from reaching his full potential, and he retired at just 30 years old in 2022 before embarking into a coaching career.
After overseeing Arsenal’s run to the 2022-23 FA Youth Cup final, Wilshere joined Norwich as an assistant in October, following ex-Gunners loan manager Ben Knapper – now the Canaries’ sporting director – to Carrow Road.
A 19-year-old Wilshere outshining the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi in Arsenal’s 2-1 Champions League win over Barcelona in 2011 remains one of the Gunners’ most iconic individual performances in Europe, and Watts was also keen to highlight how the former midfielder rediscovered his love for the game as a coach.
How Wilshere regained “fire” after losing “love of football”
“Jack, there’s so many,” he added. “It’s hard not to say the Barcelona game; I was fortunate enough to be there that night and to see him go up against that Barcelona team with absolutely no fear, you knew you’re watching greatness.
“It was so exciting to have a young kid like that come through the academy to perform like that against arguably the best team the world has ever seen. It was just it was really special. It’s such a shame what happened after that, because you had a player there who could have done absolutely everything, and it was taken away from him because of injuries.
“It’s such a crying shame, and I got to know Jack quite well from work. From someone who clearly had lost his way, lost the fun and the love of football, to find that because of coaching back at Arsenal where he felt so comfortable, and he’s really inspired by Mikel Arteta and the coaching staff. You could just see that fire was back in him.
“He made a bold move leaving Arsenal where he knows everyone and he’s absolutely familiar with everything to go to Norwich. And now, albeit only for a couple of games perhaps, he’s manager in the Championship. I hope it goes really well for him and who knows what what it could do for his long term job prospects.”
Wilshere’s Norwich sit 10 places and 10 points clear of Ramsey’s Cardiff in the Championship table heading into Saturday’s final-day clash; the Canaries are marooned in mid-table while the bottom-placed Bluebirds have been condemned to relegation.
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