Aaron Ramsey reveals Cardiff City dressing room ‘spirit’ amid battle against relegation ahead of West Brom clash

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Cardiff City club captain Aaron Ramsey has been installed as caretaker manager until the end of the season and has shed light on the Bluebirds’ camp during their fight against relegation.

Cardiff City have endured weeks of managerial turmoil, which has compounded their current 23rd place standing in the Championship table with two games to go.

The Bluebirds hierarchy boldly removed Omer Riza from his position last week amidst their Championship relegation battle, and appointed injured club captain Aaron Ramsey as caretaker boss until the end of the season.

Ramsey’s predecessor Riza made alarming comments before his departure, saying he was even “happy to lose his job”, but Ramsey has brought a calmer temperament to the Bluebirds dugout and oversaw their 1-1 draw to Oxford United in his first game in charge.

Up next are West Brom, who’ve recently parted company with Tony Mowbray, and the Bluebirds boss has offered insight into how the Cardiff dressing room’s spirits are faring ahead of Saturday’s six-pointer.

• READ MORE: Tony Mowbray publicly slammed his players before West Brom sacking

Aaron Ramsey reveals Cardiff City dressing room spirit ahead of West Brom clash

Mowbray-less West Brom now have nothing to play for in the Championship table after their loss to Derby County ended any play-off hopes.

Cardiff, however, are fighting for their second tier status as they sit three points adrift of safety. It’s a six-pointer, but with the hosts ironically in need of all six points, rather than three.

Victory against West Brom means their season goes down to the final day, a draw will see them nervously looking over their shoulder in the relegation mini-league, and a defeat will almost certainly see the Bluebirds demoted to League One given their minus 23 goal difference.

With it all to play for on Saturday afternoon, caretaker boss Ramsey has lifted the lid on how the mood in the Bluebirds dressing room is, amid their “difficult” spell attempting to stave off third tier demotion.

“The spirit has been brilliant.” Ramsey admitted in his pre-West Brom press conference.

“They’ve been first class. Everyone has come in and been given a new lease of life and energy. I think you can feel a real buzz around the place. That’ll be important, the energy from us and the crowd, it’s going to be massive again on Saturday.

“It is a difficult position we’re in, there’s no shying away from that. There’s a lot of things that can happen between now and the end of the season. For me now, it’s just about getting a result on Saturday,

“The players get it, they know, we’re all together in this. They’ve seen it with the fans at the weekend, we’re all on board. We all want the same outcome so we have to be together to make that possible.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
21	DerbyDerby	44	12	10	22	47	56	-9	46
22	LutonLuton	44	12	10	22	41	64	-23	46
23	CardiffCardiff	44	9	16	19	46	69	-23	43
24	PlymouthPlymouth	44	10	13	21	48	85	-37	43

Ramsey added: “For me, the atmosphere and togetherness was evident on Monday (vs Oxford). It was a proper game where everyone felt a part of it. Hopefully we can have that again this weekend.

“Our full focus is to give us a chance on the final day. For us to do that, we’ll have to win on Saturday.”

The Baggies will pose a difficult task for Ramsey’s side, but the green shoots have been there in Cardiff’s recent performance against Oxford United, that could be well against James Morrison’s West Brom.

• READ MORE: Cardiff City legend hits out at ‘weird decision’ to appoint Aaron Ramsey as boss

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The West Brom has been predicted to be difficult for Cardiff, who come into the clash on the back of their 1-1 draw against Oxford United, which saw a vast improvement on their 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United.

Cardiff have shown small signs of improvement from Riza’s last game in charge at Bramall Lane and Ramsey’s first in interim charge on Monday against Gary Rowett’s side.

Evidently, there is a gulf in quality between the Blades and Oxford, but the Bluebirds enjoyed far greater possession, expected goals and touches in the opposition box which highlights their increased attacking threat since Ramsey took charge.

The Bluebirds have a mammoth task to dodge the dreaded drop, which could send them into a financial abyss, and need no less than three points against the Baggies to take their battle against relegation into the Championship’s final day.