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