Rambo Relieved of Wales Captaincy

Wales Manager Chris 'Cookie' Coleman has releived Aaron Ramsey of the captaincy of the Wales team with immediate effect. Swansea City's Ashley Williams steps into his stead. Ramsey has had a hard time as captain of his country with the manager that gave him the responsibility and his great mentor Gary Speed committing suicide late last year.

Ramsey, on behalf of his grief stricken squad, was outspoken about the Welsh F.A.'s selection process for the new manager. Earlier in the summer Coleman took the extraordinary step of making public his desire to call up Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross, whose challenge broke Ramsey's leg in February 2010. Without prompting, Coleman told the press that the decision rested on his 21 year old captain.

Despite the fact that Ramsey said he didn't mind Shawcross being called up, Coleman continued to inform the press of every stage of the process. (In any case, Shawcross turned the call up down).

Now Coleman has taken the armband away from Aaron, citing the pressure it invites on his young midfielder, 'I spoke with Aaron yesterday. It wasn't an easy decision and something I looked at for a while. He's 22 or 23, Aaron, and I think he's felt the pressure of it.

'We need to go in another direction anyway because what we've been doing is not working and I wanted to make some changes and that was the biggest one.

'But having spoke with him yesterday, he was incredibly mature about it and, if I'm honest, maybe a little bit relieved because there is a big pressure. I was very impressed with what he had to say and his reaction.He's looking forward to the next game and meeting up. He's still fully committed, as he has always been.

'Of course he was disappointed - being captain of the country is something that you always want to do as a player.

'But not everyone can do it. I've no doubt Aaron will be the captain again one day but Ashley will be the skipper - he's a natural leader, he's obviously a very good player with great experience," he told Wales Online.

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