Peter Iain Ramage (born 22 November 1983) is an English football coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Newcastle United U23 team.
Ramage began his career with Newcastle United as an academy player before progressing to the first team. In the summer of 2008, he moved to London side Queens Park Rangers, thus ending his twelve-year association with Newcastle United. In 2011–12, Ramage spent time on loan at Championship clubs Crystal Palace and Birmingham City before joining Crystal Palace on a permanent contract in 2012. After Palace were promoted to the Premier League, Ramage joined Championship club Barnsley on loan in September 2013. On 3 October 2014 Ramage again joined Barnsley on a three-month loan. In May 2015, Ramage was released by Crystal Palace. He spent the 2015 Indian Super League with Kerala Blasters before returning to England where he signed for Coventry City. Ramage moved to America, where he signed for Phoenix Rising and spent two years at the club. Ramage then announced his retirement from professional football and returned to England, where he moved to coaching.
Early life Born in Ashington, Northumberland, Ramage is the son of Iain Ramage, a former semi-professional rugby union player and international SRU referee, who was an assistant referee at both the 1999 and 2003 World Cup. He grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, but moved to the Newcastle area at the age of twelve and attended Valley Gardens Middle School and Whitley Bay High School.
As a youngster, Ramage was with Cramlington Juniors, the local boys' club, and then joined the Newcastle United academy, playing alongside his Valley Gardens schoolmate Steven Taylor. Growing up, he reflected on his childhood, saying: "When I started playing football he ran one of the junior teams I played for along with one of the other lads' dads. He didn't pressure me into playing rugby because he was a top player himself. But he's encouraged me, as have the rest of my family, but my dad's been the main one. I enjoy going. I love watching rugby and I love watching my dad. It's good to get away from football some time. When I was about 4 years old. It's just where I'm from. All I did was play football. My parents were strict of me to do my education and I was good at it. But I wanted to play football full time." Ramage also grew up supporting Newcastle United.
Ramage is married to his wife, Tanisha and has two children.
Club career Newcastle United Ramage played in the same youth team as Taylor, Michael Chopra and Adam Rundle under Alan Irvine, before later being coached by former Newcastle players Kenny Wharton and Peter Beardsley. He would later partner Taylor in central defence when they broke into the first team. In the reserve team he was coached by another former United player, Tommy Craig. In March 2003, Ramage won the Jackie Milburn Trophy, given each year to the rising star of north-east football. He worked his way through Newcastle's youth system and captained the Newcastle reserve side before making his breakthrough to the first team squad.
Ramage made his first team debut as a substitute in Newcastle's UEFA Cup round-of-16 match second leg against Olympiacos on 16 March 2005, winning 4–0, as the club won 7–1 on aggregate to the next round. His first league start at Old Trafford in the 2–1 defeat to Manchester United on 24 April 2005. He followed this up with several first team starts due to injuries to other defenders in the Newcastle squad. At the end of the 2004–05 season, Ramage went on to make five appearances in all competitions. On 1 June 2005, he signed a three–year contract with the club, keeping him until 2008.
At the start of the 2005–06 season, Ramage found himself out of the starting eleven for Newcastle United in the first two months to the season. He made his first appearance of the season against rivals, Sunderland on 23 October 2005 and helped the club win 3–2. After the match, manager Graeme Souness said about the player: "Now Ramage has to show he can too. It's always pleasing when a young player comes through the ranks. We now know Ramage can play anywhere across the back four. Prior to Sunderland we didn't know if he could play at left-back – now we know." Ramage helped Newcastle United keep three consecutive clean sheets between 26 October 2005 and 5 November 2005. Following this, the injury to teammate Stephen Carr allowed him to play a larger number of games for the club, as he made a good impression on both Graeme Souness and Glenn Roeder, who replaced Souness as manager in early 2006. In early–January, Ramage suffered a shoulder injury, which was considered to be serious at first, but he quickly made a full recovery. Ramage then helped Newcastle United keep four clean sheets out of the club's five matches between 4 February 2006 and 25 February 2006. However, Ramage was eventually lost his first team place by April, due to his errors and was demoted to the substitute bench for the rest of the 2005–06 season. It came after when his form began to falter, including giving away a goal, losing 2–1 against Manchester United on 13 March 2006. Reflecting on his performance, local newspaper The Northern Echo said: "A centre-back by trade but solved the Magpies right-back problem by proving to be more than your average stop gap." At the end of the 2005–06 season, he was a first team regular in appearing in twenty-nine games in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2006–07 season, Ramage was linked with a move to newly promoted Premier League side Watford, but Newcastle United manager Roeder said he wanted to keep him at the club. He made his first appearance of the season as a late substitute, coming against FK Ventspils in the first leg of the UEFA Cup second qualifying round, as Newcastle United won 1–0. After being dropped in the first two league matches of the season, Ramage made his first start, playing in the left–back position, and conceded a goal, in a 2–1 loss against Fulham on 9 September 2006. He played in both legs of the UEFA Cup first round against Levadia Tallinn, as Newcastle United won 3–1 to advance to the group stage of the tournament. Following his return, his playing time increased when he began to play in the left–back position. At times, Ramage rotated in playing in the centre–back position. As a result of these performances he allegedly caught the eye of former Scotland manager Walter Smith in November. Ramage was eligible to play for Scotland or England, but it turned out that his father was born in England, meaning that he was never eligible to play for the Tartan Army. However, in a match against Bolton Wanderers on 26 December 2006, Ramage was at fault when he scored an own goal to give the opposition team an equalising goal, as the club lost 2–1. In a follow–up match against Everton, Ramage suffered a hamstring injury and was substituted in the 37th minute, as Newcastle United lost 3–0. After being sidelined for a week with a hamstring injury, he returned to the starting line–up against Tottenham Hotspur on 13 January 2007, playing in the right–back position, and helped the club win 3–2. However, his return was short–lived when Ramage suffered a hamstring injury in a match against West Ham United on 20 January 2007 and was substituted in the 30th minute, as Newcastle United drew 2–2. After the match, he was out for three months with a hamstring injury. It wasn't until on 5 May 2007 when he returned to the first team from injury against Blackburn Rovers and came on as a 70th-minute substitute, in a 2–0 loss. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Ramage went on to make thirty–two appearances in all competitions.
Ramage only made two appearances in the 2007–08 season, both of them were substitute. However, he was hampered by injury, but also losing out to the new defensive recruits made by the then new manager Sam Allardyce. Ramage was also not to be a first choice of the next manager Kevin Keegan, who replaced Allardyce in the middle of the season. It wasn't until on 11 May 2008 when he returned from injury, coming on as later substitute, in a 3–1 loss. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Ramage went on to make three appearances in all competitions. Following this, his Newcastle contract expired at the end of the season, and despite Keegan's stated desire to retain Ramage, he was unable to guarantee first team football, therefore Ramage made the decision to move on.
Queens Park Rangers After leaving the club, Ramage subsequently signed a three-year contract with Championship side Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer on 13 May 2008.
He made his debut for the club, starting the whole game, in a 2–1 win against Barnsley in the opening game of the season. Since joining Queens Park Rangers, Ramage quickly established himself in the starting line–up, playing in the centre–back position. However, he suffered an injury that saw him miss three matches. But Ramage made his return to the starting line–up against Cardiff City on 8 November 2008 and set up a goal for Gavin Mahon to score the only goal of the game, winning 1–0. After not playing for two months, Ramage made his return to the starting line–up against Doncaster Rovers on 10 March 2009, as the club lost 2–0. This was followed up by helping Queens Park Rangers keep two clean sheets in the next two matches. At the end of the 2008–09 season, he went on to make thirty–four appearances in all competitions.
On the opening day of the 2009–10 season, Ramage scored his first professional goal, against Blackpool; as the club drew 1–1 and also won the Man of the Match Award. A week later on 25 August 2009, he set up a goal for Hogan Ephraim, who scored the opening goal of the game, in a 2–1 win against Accrington Stanley in the second round of the League Cup. Since the start of the 2009–10 season, Ramage found himself in and out of the starting eleven, as he was placed on the substitute bench. He then scored his second goal of the season, in a 2–2 draw against Preston North End on 27 March 2010. However, Ramage was sent–off on two occasions during the 2009–10 season, coming against Peterborough United on 6 February 2010 and Newcastle United on 2 May 2010. At the end of the 2009–10 season, he went on to make thirty–six appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
Having served Queens Park Rangers' first two matches of the 2010–11 season, Ramage made his first appearance of the season, coming on as a 50th-minute substitute, in a 3–0 win against Sheffield United on 14 August 2010. However, during a 2–2 draw against Middlesbrough on 11 September 2010, he suffered a knock, but played for the rest of the game. After the match, it was revealed that Ramage suffered a knee injury and was sidelined for the rest of the 2010–11 season. But he managed to recover and made his first appearance in seven months, coming on as a late substitute, in a 2–0 win against Watford on 30 April 2011, a win that saw the club promoted to the Premier League. In a follow–up match, Ramage made another appearance for Queens Park Rangers, also coming on as a substitute, in a 2–1 loss against Leeds United. At the end of the 2010–11 season, he went on to make four appearances in all competitions. Following this, Ramage signed a new one-year deal at Queens Park Rangers. Upon signing a contract, he said: "I always wanted to stay here and the gaffer made it clear the day I got injured that he'd give me a chance. It's now up to me to repay the faith he's shown in me. I feel I've got a point to prove and a lot to offer this football club. I've got to repay the gaffer. He's been good to me, now it's my turn to prove he made the right decision. Hopefully I can impress during games and give him a tough decision. I'm probably at the back of the queue but I'm mentally strong enough to try and force my way in."