Ramage still loves Magpies despite being shown door

Sep 30 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

Few at St James’s Park tonight will match the passion that Peter Ramage retains for Newcastle United. Mark Douglas reports

PETER Ramage is returning to a very different Newcastle United from the one he bade a tearful farewell to.

Ramage, a United fan since the age of four, took “the hardest decision of his life” 18 months ago, convinced Kevin Keegan was lining up star replacements to restore the club to its former glories.

He is back on familiar territory tonight, still shocked that Newcastle and QPR are meeting in the Championship but feeling older and wiser for ending a 14-year-old association that defined his life.

Virtually his entire family with be in the stands tonight – an errant aunt has chosen the worst possible time to go on holiday – and after a spell out of the QPR team, he is desperate to return to the starting line-up for a game with huge emotional resonance.

“This is a massive game for me personally but I sort of wish it wasn’t happening in the Championship for both clubs’ sake,” he said.

“It was a massive surprise and not a nice one to see Newcastle go down. I didn’t see it coming and I don’t think anyone else connected with the club did either.

“As far as I was concerned I was leaving a club that was going to be challenging for European football that season, so to see them in the Championship with the players I worked with day in, day out – it’s beyond belief.

“I went to a few games last season and sat in the stands with the supporters – the London games. I was at Fulham for the 2-1 defeat and Spurs at the end of the season, and it was difficult to watch.

“I still love the club and I knew all of the players so there was hurt for the fans and the lads I knew at the club too. I can’t imagine how it felt for them to get relegated – especially because they were so close to staying up.”

Ramage left St James’s Park after being told by Keegan towards the end of the 2007-08 campaign that first-team chances would not be coming his way.