Shots & Giggles: Paul Dummett's the new Titus Bramble '“ stop making him scapegoat

Titus Bramble is the name that springs to mind with the mentioning of the word “scapegoat” – after his move away from St James’s Park he publicly claimed that the fans on the terraces were looking to solely blame him for poor team displays and results.

“I thought they were looking for a scapegoat, and that was me,” Bramble said.

Maybe he actually had a point way back in 2007, though of course he always had that five minute calamitous period. But was he really that dreadful?

Perhaps us fans do point the finger at an individual far too often. Mike Williamson seemed to suffer from the same criticism.

We all knew that Willo certainly wasn’t a world beater, far from it, but I think we’d all agree that 90% of the time he was a pretty reliable centre-half who did the basics of winning his headers and clearing the ball away from danger, albeit by lumping it either into row Z or back into the arms of the opposition goalkeeper but nonetheless it was cleared.

Yet again, was Williamson really that bad?

Now it seems like local lad Paul Dummett has became the new target for jeers and groans from the sidelines.

Let’s get a few things straight first of all, you could easily scroll through my timeline from the last few year and find out that I’m not Dummett’s biggest fan. I was even blocked by the Welshman on social media after I criticised one of his performances last season. (don’t worry though, he’s seen the light and has now resolved this carry on).

Of course, once again he isn’t a world beater, and yes he can be a little frustrating to watch but do we really need to moan every time a ball is mis-controlled?

There was one point on Saturday when Newcastle were in cruise control, not being threaten by any means and Dummett attempted a cutting pass forward to Yoan Gouffran – the ball was played short and was intercepted by a Cardiff player and the groans and tuts echoed around SJP.

W were two-nil up, give the lad a break!

Dropping down to the Championship is probably a blessing in disguise for the left-back, he’ll gain confidence each week as the wins stack up and that can only beneficial for the club. He is still young and will continue to learn and progress if given the time.

The team are winning and currently look unstoppable and we are top of the Championship. Time to focus on the positives.