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Ramsden was originally brought to the club on a free
transfer in January 2006 from Grimsby Town on a free
transfer on the final day of the transfer window as Dale
struggled to replace Wayne Evans. Several options in the
form of Jamie Clarke, Warren Goodhind and Gary Brown had
been tried but it remained a problem area for Dale.
His debut game in the infamous away game at Oxford in which
half the Dale side were making their debut as then manager
Steve Parkin had his last throw of the dice to prevent our
slide down the table towards the relegation battle beneath.
Whilst the other debutants that day soon lost their way,
it was Ramsden who proved to be the pick of the signings,
going on to establish himself at Spotland over the next four
years making perhaps as many appearances as any other player
at the club during this period.
When fans talked about Ramsden, the same words tended to
be used: solid, reliable, dependable. Even those who weren't
particularly enamoured with the former Sunderland player
wouldn't go beyond "unspectacular" in their criticism of
him. Without doubt, Ramsden was a good League Two full back.
Sorry, a good, solid, reliable, dependable League Two full
back.
Ramsden chalked up over a hundred appearances during his
time at Dale, and even though there was a couple of
occasions where he lost his place in the side, first of all
to Gary Brown, and latterly to Scott Wiseman, he worked hard
to successfully win his place back in the side.
And it wasn't just his place that he won back in the
side. He often found himself playing as a makeshift central
defender, and whilst you could see it wasn't his natural
position, he never let anyone down whilst playing there.
He left Spotland in June 2009, turning down an option in
his contract for a further twelve months at Dale to sign a
two year contract with fellow League Two side Bradford City
- move which sparked a mini war of words between the
managers of both clubs.
Comments from Dale boss Keith Hill suggested that we
couldn't compete with the terms offered by Bradford. Those
words were met with fury from Bantams boss Stuart McCall who
denied that Ramsden's deal was an increase on those he was
on at Dale followed by more verbal sparring between the two
clubs.
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