Cardiff City legend Robert Earnshaw has branded the club’s decision to sack Omer Riza and replace him with midfielder Aaron Ramsey as ‘weird’.
The Bluebirds host Oxford United this afternoon in a must-win fixture after extending their winless run to five games on Good Friday. Sat in the relegation zone, they lost 2-0 to Sheffield United to slip further into trouble, dropping to 23rd in the Championship table.
That defeat spelled the end of Omer Riza’s short rein in charge. The 45-year-old replaced Erol Bulut in September – initially on an interim basis – but was unable to halt the slide towards League One.
With the decision made so close to the end of the season, Cardiff opted to put current player and Welsh international Ramsey at the helm for the remaining three games.
Earnshaw Puzzled By Decision
Ramsey rejoined his boyhood club in 2023 but a series of injuries have hampered his minutes. Although currently sidelined, he will now have a chance to make an impact from the dugout.
According to former striker Earnshaw, who represented the Welsh-based outfit over 200 times across two spells, the 34-year-old may have been somewhat thrown under the bus. Speaking to BBC Radio Wales, he said:
“It’s a bit of a weird decision.
“From my point of view, Rambo (Ramsey), Chris Gunter (who will assist Ramsey), those are brilliant guys, those two have got bright futures, I think they’re brilliant guys.
“But I just thought, from the club, it was very unfair to put Rambo, as a player right now, injured, in charge and say to him ‘get us out of trouble’.
“I just thought it was a very unfair type of pressure. Aaron’s going to get asked ‘will you take the team for the last three games?’. Aaron’s not going to say ‘no’, of course he’s not.
“If you’re going to give it to him, give it to him in the summer. I don’t think it’s fair on the fans.”
However, Earnshaw did admit that there is no pressure on Ramsey:
“It’s a shot at nothing. There’s no pressure on Aaron, if he does this, it’ll be amazing.”
Writer’s View
It’s likely that Cardiff had no intention of sacking Riza before the end of the season but it was a decision which was almost taken out of their hands. The former Leyton Orient boss had initiated a string of bizarre interviews over the past couple of weeks and appeared to be losing the dressing room. Putting a popular figure such as Ramsey in charge may spark a sudden upturn, although there is no pressure. They are just one point from safety, so it’s certainly achievable.
