New Head of Goalkeeping for FA Wales discusses his career to date and ambitions for the programme.
Professional footballers might start to think about their post-playing career in their late twenties or early thirties. Getting their coaching badges is a popular vocation from many at the top of the game, with the aim of setting themselves up for opportunities in management after retiring.
But Alex Ramsay, who in December became the Head of National Goalkeeping at the Welsh FA, started his coaching journey much earlier.
During his time at Welsh side The New Saints’ academy as a player, Ramsay started to coach from the age of 15 and completed his two UEFA B license badges at the age of 18. Despite being a goalkeeper, in his early years he predominantly worked as an outfield coach, which he believes has benefitted him in the long run and has helped him stand out from the crowd.
“When I was younger, growing up, I always saw myself as an outfield coach. I obviously had a vested interest in goalkeeper coaching, just because I played in goal. I did my two B license badges really, really early. I was lucky enough to have a supportive family and a brother who works at a really good level, who pushed me. As my coaching career being to progress at the start I tried to mould my career on what his potentially may look like”, explained Ramsay, speaking exclusively to Goalkeeper.com.
“I always saw myself as an outfield coach, but when the opportunity came up to go and work for Swansea as a goalkeeper coach, it was something I felt I couldn’t turn down. Having the ability to deliver both goalkeeper and outfield sessions has given me a USP throughout my career to date and one that I’ve managed to utilise in my current and previous roles. I'm a confident coach on the grass in which ever session that may be delivering to goalkeepers, first and foremost, confident delivering to a group of outfield players,” he added.
As Ramsay explained, he began his professional goalkeeper coaching career working at Swansea with the younger age groups, including the Under 16s, 18s, and 23s. Working for a category one academy in the Premier League was an opportunity that Ramsay snapped up, but it did have an impact on his playing career when he was only 23. After two-and-a-half years at Swansea, he decided to continue playing, alongside his coaching career.
“I think it was too early to give up playing at 23 but in that moment in time, however, having the opportunity to work within a category one academy in the Premier League at under 21 and under 18 level was an experience I’ll be forever grateful for. When I made the decision to leave Swansea to move back home and continue my playing career within the Welsh Premier League alongside a full time coaching role at Shrewsbury Town, it gave me a perfect balance.
Ramsay then spent four-and-a-half years at Shrewsbury Town, working as a lead development phase coach for both the youth and professional teams. During this period from 2017 to 2021, he also spent time at Caernarfon and Bala Town in a playing capacity.
It was at Shrewsbury that Ramsay took on a full outfield coaching responsibility. “Working as a Lead U18 Coach gave me a chance to improve not only my improve my on pitch delivery, but also my management and communication qualities.”, he explained.
“I think there's a lot of integration with the goalkeeper coaches and the wider technical staff. Often goalkeeper coaches find themselves delivering set play sessions or meetings and unit based practices. Having the ability to speak in front of a group and be confident in front of a group, not just to a small goalkeeping group, is a strength of mine and is something I’d certainly encourage all young goalkeeper coaches to expose themselves to.”
His career then took another turn, working at an agency called GRiT Sports Management as the Head of Football Operations for two years before being offered a full time position as Goalkeeping Scouting Manager at Brighton & Hove Albion in 2023.
Ramsay was given the opportunity to lead the goalkeeper scouting department at a club with a track-record of identifying unknown talent perhaps better than anyone else in the Premier League.
“Before I went in, I was a little bit apprehensive, because I hadn't worked in a club recruitment role before. I was going into probably one of the world's best recruiting clubs at that moment in time which I was excited for but I’d be lying if I wasn’t nervous.
His job was made easier by first-team goalkeeper coach, Jack Stern, who Ramsay has a lot of admiration for. Working with a well-respected figure like Stern helped Ramsay gain an understanding of the process of identifying talent for a Premier League club.
“In my previous clubs, I've been lucky enough to work with some outstanding coaches, but having had the opportunity to see how Jack works, both on and off the pitch, the culture he creates within the goalkeeping department, there’s no surprise in my eyes why he’s working at the very top.
“My time at Brighton gave me a clear understanding of how to recruit a goalkeeper and what an elite stricture and club process looks like. It also gave me a chance to see what a top Premier League club goalkeeper department looks like, from first team down to the academy.”
Having gained an off-field perspective at Premier League level on creating goalkeeping infrastructure, Ramsay impressed in his role at Brighton, learning from Stern and other coaches in the goalkeeper department. This gave him the platform and credentials to be named as the Head of National Goalkeeping at the Wales FA in December 2024.
He is still in the early days of this position but is excited by the prospect of developing a clear vision for Welsh goalkeeping from the youth teams to the senior squad.
“My role will see me oversee the goalkeeping coaching programme within the National Youth Teams. In addition to my coaching role, I’ll be restructuring the goalkeeper coach education programme and to create and implement a recruitment structure. I’ve got a real hunger and desire to give our goalkeeper programme an identity across world football. I believe, with my experiences across all areas, as well as working with the excellent staff already in place at the FAW, we can strive for excellence.
“One of my main objectives is to get alignment throughout the goalkeeper programme. If I can ensure there’s consistency within all three areas, working within a structured framework, I’ve got no doubt that we can not only produce goalkeepers for the men’s and women’s National Teams, but also improve the standard of Welsh goalkeeper coaches” said Ramsay.
“From a playing perspective, if the goalkeepers go up with Marge [Senior Team Goalkeeper Coach Martyn Margetson] we want them to be fully prepared in order to preform at senior level. I’m really looking forward to working with Marge. He’s a coach who’s got outstanding experience and someone I can learn a lot for. We’re both working towards the same goal, producing elite Welsh goalkeepers.”
There will be an important transitional focus in the Welshman’s role, given the national side’s three senior goalkeepers are experienced professionals but over the age of thirty and are not regulars within their parent clubs.
“A big part of my role will be ensuring that that transition from the National Youth teams to the senior teams is a smooth as possible. Of course, for any goalkeeper, competing at national team level is going to be challenging, but if we can have a clear identity, terminology and work within a game model, I’m confident that the goalkeepers that does make the step up, will be well positioned to be successful.
A wider trend in goalkeeper coaching currently is coaches with no Premier League playing experience working in the English top-flight or for national teams. This includes Jack Robinson, who operates as the head of goalkeeping for US Soccer after several years assisting John Achterberg at Liverpool, and Javi Garcia, who works as Aston Villa’s goalkeeping coach.
Clearly, it’s not a prerequisite for clubs and national teams when recruiting goalkeeper coaches and people in strategy-heavy roles like Ramsay’s at the Welsh FA. So, why is this, and is Premier League experience needed to be an effective, elite level goalkeeper coach?
“Are there some benefits of playing at the elite level? 100 per cent, because they've been there, they've done it, and they've experienced things that I wouldn't have experienced.
“My short answer is no. I've seen it first hand as someone having not played at that level and earned my education through a different route that you can be successful and have an impact to a programme or a players development.”
Ramsay joins the Welsh FA at the start of a new era for Welsh football. After reaching the semi-finals at Euro 2016 and qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, they failed to qualify for Euro 2024, with star man Gareth Bale now retired.
Craig Bellamy was appointed as the new men’s head coach in July 2024 – a part of the overall coaching restructuring of the national team that included the goalkeeping department. Martyn Margetson, who was Gareth Southgate’s goalkeeper coach for England throughout the 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2024 major tournaments was appointed as Wales’ senior goalkeeper coach in August 2024, and he has already shown an “invested interest in all of the national youth team goalkeepers”. Margetson’s extensive experience will also be useful for Ramsay to develop as a coach.
“I think it would be really naive of me not to draw from his experiences. Martyn is someone that I'll have a really close relationship with. I’ve had a number of positive conversations with him already which have gone really well. As I’ve mentioned, we’re both striving for the same goals. An important part of my job is to give him as much information as possible from the coaching perspective. Providing progression reports on our Youth National Team Goalkeepers will give us both the opportunity to be clear with how each goalkeeper in progressing through the national teams. The more consistency and alignment that we have between us as two human beings, as friends, and as professionals, is going to really benefit those goalkeepers.
With Ramsay’s commitment to developing a clear identity that evolves into a unique “Welsh goalkeeping game model,” it is an exciting time for future shot-stoppers to play for the Red Dragons.
