Calvin Ramsay’s rise to Liverpool: ‘A six-year-old talking a team-mate through a game is unique’
Calvin Ramsay has just joined Liverpool, but his football journey first began at Cove Youth Football Club in his home village on the outskirts of Aberdeen.
He was aged five and it became quickly apparent to Brian Johnston, his first ever coach, that this young player had something about him.
“He was a special player even then,” Johnston tells The Athletic.
After two years of being Cove’s best player, Ramsay, who played in defence and midfield at the time, was picked up by Aberdeen. He was one of three Cove players who joined the Premiership side, but the only one to be kept on.
“His balance and his skills on the ball were great,” says Johnston, who still works for Cove Youth. “He always had the ball under control and he used both feet, which was unique at that stage. He had amazing awareness of space. His dad Graham was also a decent player in the local junior teams in Aberdeen, so when I saw Calvin I thought, ‘Maybe it is in the genes’.”
Ramsay’s father was on the coaching staff at Cove too, and would record their games. He would watch them back with his son and look for areas to make improvements.
“His work ethic comes from his dad,” Johnston adds. “And even though Calvin was head and shoulders above (others in that age group), he was always working on his game and looking to improve. When he went to Aberdeen, we knew he would get much better coaching and he would go from strength to strength. And he has.
“There’s a lot of natural ability there but a lot of hard work goes into it.”
Despite standing out at Cove, Ramsay always put the team first.
“He was a much better player than any he was playing with, but he never ever just took the ball and ran with it,” Johnston says. “He would never go and be a striker. He wanted to be involved in the game rather than standing at the top end waiting for the ball.
“He always was looking to pass. He was always playing as a team. We had some players who wouldn’t pass to someone who might lose the ball, but not Calvin. He was always looking, always part of the team.
“He was so supportive of his team-mates. He knew he was better, but he didn’t make it a big thing. He helped the other players and talked them through the game. Having a six-year-old talking another six-year-old through a game is unique.”
Johnston remembers setting up one particular quite complicated training drill. He says Ramsay took to it straight away as others struggled.
“I remember shouting over another Cove coach. I said, ‘Come and see this kid’. We just stood there for a few minutes, watching him. The technique and balance, the way he was using both feet. That’s when I knew that Calvin was a player.”
After joining Aberdeen, that work ethic continued to serve him well.
The club’s academy director, Gavin Levey, can recall first meeting Ramsay when he was eight years old.
“He just loved playing games,” Levey says. “He loved unstructured sessions when it was small-sided games. He just loved just playing and he just wanted the ball all the time.”
Levey admits the journey to one of the sport’s iconic clubs has not always been smooth. There were low moments too — including when Ramsay broke a wrist and got bundled into his car to be taken to hospital.
“I spoke to his dad for half an hour yesterday when it was all official,” he says. “We talked about those ups and downs.
“His dad said that one of Calvin’s first memories of Aberdeen is coming into our old training ground, Balgownie. He said I stood up in front of them all and said, ‘If you’ve got ambition and you want to be here and want to be the best player you can be — whether that means playing lower league or in the Champions League — then try to do it’. He said it always stuck with with Calvin. His ambition was to compete at the highest level possible, and he had that belief that he could do it.
“He used to come down and watch other teams and he would always have a ball and he was always keeping it up.
“And I remember seeing him when he was an under-10. We were training on public astroturf and he was at the other end of the pitch, because he knew it would be available that night as we had booked it out. He was just doing keep-ups and then volleying off the right foot and then going again and volleying it off his left.
“He just had that real desire to practise. He was competitive. He wanted to be the best. He was very quiet as well, but he’s always had that kind of competitive edge and that little streak. He would kick you in training — and he’s probably still got a bit of that in him.”
Ramsay had a breakout year at Aberdeen last season and while Levey believes the club helped mould him into the player he is, he acknowledges the teenager has always been determined to get there, one way or the other.
“He would play matches having done a 10k run in the morning, or a 5km along Aberdeen beach,” Levey says, laughing. “He’d be going trying to beat his personal best on a Saturday morning along the beach boulevard, and then he would come to play for us.”
It is coach Steven Sweeney who is credited for having transformed then-midfielder Ramsay into a right-back at age 14. It wasn’t a position he enjoyed at first but it enabled him to play more games and with higher age groups, so Ramsay soon understood the benefits.
“There was maybe three boys that were within the older group that were probably deemed slightly ahead of him in in different areas of the pitch,” Levey reveals. “And he hated the fact that he wasn’t at where they were. And he just worked and worked and worked to get there.”
As with Cove, everyone at Aberdeen — not just the club but in the city — is buzzing for Ramsay. The same can be said for the Scotland set-up, too. The 18-year-old has not yet won a senior cap but has featured at under-16, 17 and 21 levels.
“You have to give him credit. He’s made this happen,” Scot Gemmill, Scotland’s under-21s head coach, says. “He’s got this opportunity from what he’s done with with Aberdeen and what he has done with the under-21s.
“These players go through the academies, but it’s getting the opportunity to play for the first teams that is the real crucial thing. So you have to give the managers at Aberdeen credit — Jim Goodwin, who finished the season as manager, and Stephen Glass before him. They’re the guys that have given Calvin a platform to go and put himself in this position of signing for Liverpool.
“He’s got a good mix of attacking qualities and also defensive qualities. He’s still trying to confirm his talent. Everybody thinks he’s going to be a top player, but he has to go and prove it and confirm that. He’s in a very good place to do that.
“Liverpool’s recruitment has been incredible in the last few years, if not longer, so the fact that they’ve identified Calvin is a huge feather in his cap. But he has to keep going and do more.”
https://theathletic.com/3379865/2022/06/24/calvin-ramsay-liverpool-transfer/
Calvin Ramsay’s rise to Liverpool: ‘A six-year-old talking a team-mate through a game is unique’
Calvin Ramsay has just joined Liverpool, but his football journey first began at Cove Youth Football Club in his home village on the outskirts of Aberdeen.
He was aged five and it became quickly apparent to Brian Johnston, his first ever coach, that this young player had something about him.
“He was a special player even then,” Johnston tells The Athletic.
After two years of being Cove’s best player, Ramsay, who played in defence and midfield at the time, was picked up by Aberdeen. He was one of three Cove players who joined the Premiership side, but the only one to be kept on.
“His balance and his skills on the ball were great,” says Johnston, who still works for Cove Youth. “He always had the ball under control and he used both feet, which was unique at that stage. He had amazing awareness of space. His dad Graham was also a decent player in the local junior teams in Aberdeen, so when I saw Calvin I thought, ‘Maybe it is in the genes’.”
Ramsay’s father was on the coaching staff at Cove too, and would record their games. He would watch them back with his son and look for areas to make improvements.
“His work ethic comes from his dad,” Johnston adds. “And even though Calvin was head and shoulders above (others in that age group), he was always working on his game and looking to improve. When he went to Aberdeen, we knew he would get much better coaching and he would go from strength to strength. And he has.
“There’s a lot of natural ability there but a lot of hard work goes into it.”
Despite standing out at Cove, Ramsay always put the team first.
“He was a much better player than any he was playing with, but he never ever just took the ball and ran with it,” Johnston says. “He would never go and be a striker. He wanted to be involved in the game rather than standing at the top end waiting for the ball.
“He always was looking to pass. He was always playing as a team. We had some players who wouldn’t pass to someone who might lose the ball, but not Calvin. He was always looking, always part of the team.
“He was so supportive of his team-mates. He knew he was better, but he didn’t make it a big thing. He helped the other players and talked them through the game. Having a six-year-old talking another six-year-old through a game is unique.”
Johnston remembers setting up one particular quite complicated training drill. He says Ramsay took to it straight away as others struggled.
“I remember shouting over another Cove coach. I said, ‘Come and see this kid’. We just stood there for a few minutes, watching him. The technique and balance, the way he was using both feet. That’s when I knew that Calvin was a player.”
After joining Aberdeen, that work ethic continued to serve him well.
The club’s academy director, Gavin Levey, can recall first meeting Ramsay when he was eight years old.
“He just loved playing games,” Levey says. “He loved unstructured sessions when it was small-sided games. He just loved just playing and he just wanted the ball all the time.”
Levey admits the journey to one of the sport’s iconic clubs has not always been smooth. There were low moments too — including when Ramsay broke a wrist and got bundled into his car to be taken to hospital.
“I spoke to his dad for half an hour yesterday when it was all official,” he says. “We talked about those ups and downs.
“His dad said that one of Calvin’s first memories of Aberdeen is coming into our old training ground, Balgownie. He said I stood up in front of them all and said, ‘If you’ve got ambition and you want to be here and want to be the best player you can be — whether that means playing lower league or in the Champions League — then try to do it’. He said it always stuck with with Calvin. His ambition was to compete at the highest level possible, and he had that belief that he could do it.
“He used to come down and watch other teams and he would always have a ball and he was always keeping it up.
“And I remember seeing him when he was an under-10. We were training on public astroturf and he was at the other end of the pitch, because he knew it would be available that night as we had booked it out. He was just doing keep-ups and then volleying off the right foot and then going again and volleying it off his left.
“He just had that real desire to practise. He was competitive. He wanted to be the best. He was very quiet as well, but he’s always had that kind of competitive edge and that little streak. He would kick you in training — and he’s probably still got a bit of that in him.”
Ramsay had a breakout year at Aberdeen last season and while Levey believes the club helped mould him into the player he is, he acknowledges the teenager has always been determined to get there, one way or the other.
“He would play matches having done a 10k run in the morning, or a 5km along Aberdeen beach,” Levey says, laughing. “He’d be going trying to beat his personal best on a Saturday morning along the beach boulevard, and then he would come to play for us.”
It is coach Steven Sweeney who is credited for having transformed then-midfielder Ramsay into a right-back at age 14. It wasn’t a position he enjoyed at first but it enabled him to play more games and with higher age groups, so Ramsay soon understood the benefits.
“There was maybe three boys that were within the older group that were probably deemed slightly ahead of him in in different areas of the pitch,” Levey reveals. “And he hated the fact that he wasn’t at where they were. And he just worked and worked and worked to get there.”
As with Cove, everyone at Aberdeen — not just the club but in the city — is buzzing for Ramsay. The same can be said for the Scotland set-up, too. The 18-year-old has not yet won a senior cap but has featured at under-16, 17 and 21 levels.
“You have to give him credit. He’s made this happen,” Scot Gemmill, Scotland’s under-21s head coach, says. “He’s got this opportunity from what he’s done with with Aberdeen and what he has done with the under-21s.
“These players go through the academies, but it’s getting the opportunity to play for the first teams that is the real crucial thing. So you have to give the managers at Aberdeen credit — Jim Goodwin, who finished the season as manager, and Stephen Glass before him. They’re the guys that have given Calvin a platform to go and put himself in this position of signing for Liverpool.
“He’s got a good mix of attacking qualities and also defensive qualities. He’s still trying to confirm his talent. Everybody thinks he’s going to be a top player, but he has to go and prove it and confirm that. He’s in a very good place to do that.
“Liverpool’s recruitment has been incredible in the last few years, if not longer, so the fact that they’ve identified Calvin is a huge feather in his cap. But he has to keep going and do more.”
https://theathletic.com/3379865/2022/06/24/calvin-ramsay-liverpool-transfer/
