Sunderland star's injury heartbreak, inspirational promotion, 'bittersweet' decision and future

There's one word that Keira Ramshaw comes back to when reflecting on the last few weeks: Bittersweet.

Sunderland sit top of the Championship and unbeaten through eight games, the clearest indication that the club Ramshaw loves, has always loved and will always love, is on the right path. And yet still just 29, it was a team she was meant to be at the heart of.

After the last campaign was blighted by injury, Ramshaw was back on the pitch in pre-season and looking forward to playing her part in the rebuild.

Then the pain began. Her head coach Mel Reay is not one for cliché but in this case she made an exception because it was so clearly true: Ramshaw would have run through brick walls for the Sunderland badge, had she been able. But so severe was the discomfort, it quite quickly became clear that she didn't have a choice.

Ramshaw explains that having never really struggled with injury before, she always assumed she would just play until the coaches politely told her it was time. Her best guess was that by this point she'd be around 35.

“I’ve always been one of those players who gets a broken nose and just ends up playing the next week anyway," Ramshaw tells The Echo.

"I didn’t have a long-term injury until I was 28, that was when the first ankle injury occurred and I needed full reconstructive surgery, bones removing… after all that I was getting back into it during pre season, feeling good. Then the pain started and I realised with the swelling as well, something wasn’t quite right. They found a different type of injury in the scan, even worse than the first one. I didn’t really have a choice, it was either have an operation that would end my career or have injections but that would end my career anyway because they would soften the cartilage. Either way, there was no real choice and that was hard. But everyone has been so supportive, both at the club and my friends and family."

Ramshaw's history is Sunderland's history. Making her debut at 16, she was at the heart of the club's dizzying rise to the Super League. Her favourite goal, a volley at Millwall to seal promotion to the top tier. Suddenly they were taking on the very best, live on TV, and winning. Her favourite game? Maybe beating Liverpool 2-1, maybe thumping Chelsea 4-0. Best player she came up against? Probably Lucy Bronze. Decent answers to be able to give. That Sunderland side have woven their way into the very fabric of the history of the women's game, their legacy the Euros win and everything that has followed.

Ramshaw's path, though, was different but no less significant. She was there not just through the rise but also the fall and everything thereafter, an enforced double relegation that put the club's very future in doubt.

Ramshaw had to choose between a career in football and her club. Against logic she chose the latter and now, her own legacy is clear. Over the last fortnight two academy players have signed new deals, which will see them become fully professional in the years ahead. It may well be that no talented Sunderland fan is faced with Ramshaw's dilemma again.

You can hear more from Keira on the last edition of the Roar podcast, available on all streaming platforms and in the video at the top of this article

"It’s a tough time for me right now but at the same time, it’s exciting to see how the team is doing," she explains.

"I’ve seen the club go full circle. We’ve gone from parents being Chairman and treasurer, to being paid and in the Super League, to being demoted to the National League and then promoted again. I’ve done a full circle and I’ve seen many highs and lows, but one thing I can look back on is that when we got demoted, I stayed and hoped and prayed that we could get the club back to where it belongs - now we’re sat top of the Championship.

"I think it was never in question for me to stay after the demotion," she adds. "I got offers on the table from other clubs and a lot of phone calls, and some of the girls couldn’t understand why I was staying because we were no longer going to be getting paid. I then went and got a job in a nursery full time so I could continue playing for Sunderland. I was training in the evening and hoping beyond hope that we could get back to where we belonged.

"I think I contributed really well in the National League with goals and assists and the girls who stepped up from the development team were absolutely phenomenal. Many of them are still involved today, which just goes to prove that the quality has always been there.

"To get promoted to the Championship was a dream come true because it felt like we were starting to get what we deserved. We’re getting there, I still think we’ve got a long way to go but I also think we’re in a perfectly good place with amazing backing, fantastic coaches and a brilliant general manager. It hurts to have to retire because of injury, but to know that the club is in such a good place is almost like a sigh of relief. I can retire at a good time, rather than at a time when the club are in a good place. It’s bittersweet, really.

"When you look at the academy that’s in place now, the players coming through have got everything they need. We're fully integrated into the club now. The facilities, fantastic coaches, gym, physios and doctors, strength and conditioning… the world is their oyster. They can take the opportunity and grab it in both hands.

"You see players like Katy [Watson] and Grace [Ede] getting professional contracts, they used to be coming to get selfies with me back in the day. Now they are going to be full-time footballers. That means I can look back and say, ‘we’ve done something, we’ve made an impact.’ The club is in a very, very good place."

Head coach Reay has been through so much of that journey with Ramshaw and has stressed the importance of keeping her involved wherever possible. Sunderland are moving into a new era and both Reay and Ramshaw want to ensure that the quality on the pitch is matched by the resilience which marks the club's history. The early signs are encouraging.

"Mel doesn’t give in, and that’s what the Sunderland approach is all about," Ramshaw says. "She’s a phenomenal woman and an amazing manager.

"Mel has been through that as well, getting on minibuses, four people sharing rooms, doing bag packs… it’s important that the players know the background and how much was put on the line for them and how the club nearly folded years and years ago. If we can instil the Sunderland family feel and approach.. I’ll always be there to support everyone and to keep telling those stories and hoping that they can take something from the past and make it.

"They’ve got it all in their hands now and it’s however they want to use it, and that is a fantastic feeling. Some of the players can’t understand that we had to do bag packs, that we had to train in different places and that we used to get kit handed down from the men’s team. When you put it into perspective, it’s important I think they know the journey we’ve been on to get here."

Ramshaw is passing the baton earlier than planned, but with more memories than that 16-year-old from Millfield could ever have imagined. And for her and her club, the journey is only just beginning.