Aaron Ramsey vs Jack Wilshere: Ex-Arsenal stars set for showdown after shock double twist | OneFootball

Final-day meeting between former long-time Gunners team-mates could yet have huge stakes

In charge: Ex-Arsenal team-mates Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere are now coaching Cardiff and Norwich respectively

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Wilshere has been handed the reins at Carrow Road after the Canaries parted company with head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup on Tuesday.

The Dane was axed after a run of three defeats in a row ended Norwich’s slim hopes of making the Championship play-offs.

They currently sit 14th in the table, 13 points adrift of the top six, and Wilshere has been placed in charge for the final two games of the campaign after assistant head coach Glen Riddersholm also left.

The role is Wilshere’s first as a manager in senior football after joining Norwich in October last year as a first-team coach.

Before that, the 33-year-old had worked as Arsenal’s Under-18s head coach since the summer of 2022 and, in his first season, guided them to the FA Youth Cup final.

Wilshere made the move to Norwich as he wanted to progress his coaching career and work in a first-team environment.

Norwich’s sporting director Ben Knapper knows Wilshere from their time together at Arsenal. Knapper spent 13 years with the Gunners before leaving in 2023, with his final role at the Emirates Stadium that of loans manager.

Speaking following the departure of Thorup, Knapper said: “Whilst we made this appointment with a long-term focus and in line with our wider club strategy and direction, unfortunately recent results and performances have deemed it necessary for us make a change.

“I’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Johannes and Glen. They are both fantastic people who worked tirelessly to help improve and move our football club forward.

“We all wish the two of them the best in the next stage of their respective careers.”

Gunners stalwarts: Ramsey and Wilshere played together for Arsenal for a decade under Arsene Wenger, winning the FA Cup three times

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Wilshere’s first game in charge will be away against Michael Carrick’s play-off chasing Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday, before Norwich then host relegation-threatened Cardiff on the final day of the season on May 3.

The game against Cardiff will see Wilshere come up against his old Arsenal team-mate Aaron Ramsey, who was placed in interim charge of the Welsh club on Saturday in a surprise move following the sacking of Omer Riza.

Ramsey took charge of his first game on Monday as he bids to keep his boyhood club in the second tier and they were held to a draw at home by Oxford.

Ramsey’s Cardiff could end up needing a result against Wilshere’s Norwich on the final day to stay up, though they could be relegated before then if they do not beat West Brom - who sacked manager Tony Mowbray on Monday - on Saturday and other results don’t go their way.