'When we lost, we responded' - Eric Ramsay's last words as Minnesota United boss ahead of likely West Brom switch

Minnesota boss Ramsay is understood to be in advanced stages in talks to become Ryan Mason's Baggies successor as Bilkul land to net the head coach they also courted last summer.

Shropshire-born Ramsay spent time as a youth coach with Swansea and Shrewsbury before switching to Chelsea and then Manchester United. He moved from the latter across the pond to Minnesota for the beginning of the 2024 season.

He led the club to the MLS play-offs for a second successive campaign, eventually losing out to San Diego 1-0 in November. In all he reached three semi-final stages in two years. Ramsay's work defied the odds with unfancied Minnesota, with whom he worked with a modest budget and at times had some of the club's star turns sold.

Ramsay penned a post-2025 reflection to Minnesota's website just last week ahead of contact from Albion in the wake of Mason's dismissal, where he summed up the club's achievements during his second year in charge.

Here is a selection of what he wrote.

ER: "We had loved our start to life in the US as a young family, and although 2024 ended with disappointment in the semi-finals, I felt the season had finished strongly on the pitch.

"We had created something real to build upon as we went into the new pre-season. Over the course of that first year I learned that, in a league as uniquely demanding as MLS for reasons our supporters know well, consistency is incredibly hard to achieve — both within a single season and from one season to the next.

"So at the front of my mind was the idea of taking the best of 2024, developing it, and shaping it to suit a group of players with their own distinct characteristics.

"All of this had to happen while navigating a season full of varying challenges and ensuring that Minnesota would be a team capable of competing at the highest level at every stage."

He added: "Viewed through that lens of consistency, I’m extremely proud of how the year unfolded. While we weren’t able to string together long runs of victories, every time we lost, we responded. Ultimately, we went the entire season without losing back-to-back league games.

"That is an important marker of a level-headed group—players and staff—who trust the work that goes into producing a competitive performance every weekend.

 "At our best, I loved what we were. We were a real team— eleven players fully invested in what defined them—and incredibly difficult to play against. There was a clear distinctiveness to our football."

The head coach has developed a reputation as able to adapt to different formations having lost players while working within restraints at the club. He made United tough to beat and imposing to play against. This was a big factor in a third-strongest away record in the MLS in 2025.

But Minnesota could create and score goals, too. There is no more impressive example than a 4-1 home thumping of Lionel Messi's Inter Miami in May. Messi, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets started that game.

Ramsay's Minnesota lost talisman striker Tani Oluwaseyi to Villarreal on the eve of the European summer transfer window in late August.

The head coach helped develop the Nigeria-born forward, previously on the fringes with 'The Loons', to become a key man at Allianz Field and a Canada international. He left for La Liga outfit Villarreal for a fee starting at £6million and billed to rise, a club-record sale for Minnesota.

"Tani’s move to Villarreal was outstanding and a real feather in the club’s cap, and others who reached significant milestones for club and country should feel immense pride," Ramsay added. "We speak often about the link between team success and individual success and how inseparable the two really are."

"There is an equal sense of frustration about how 2025 ended. We have now made three semi-finals in two seasons and, this year more than last, found ourselves on the wrong side of very finely balanced knockout games.

"The next step for us is to reach a point where our consistency in reaching the latter stages of competitions becomes a given, and where we can take those final steps toward winning a trophy. Everyone plays a part in that. As we have discussed in the locker room, the tough losses must mean something as we move forward.

"The home match against Inter Miami and the third play-off game against Seattle were phenomenal sporting occasions — football in Minnesota at its absolute peak.

"2025 has been another year of real growth: for me as a head coach; for us as a family raising our children in such a brilliant part of the world; and for the players and staff who worked tirelessly over eleven months to improve themselves and the team."