"The last couple of years haven't worked out how I wanted them to, for one reason or another. 'Former footballer' still sounds weird. I'm still probably too young to be saying that. But I think for me, it just feels like the right time. The offers that I had haven't been right for me, so I just feel like rather than sitting and waiting for something better to come or not come, I can just put it to bed and concentrate on the next part of my life that doesn't involve playing football every day. I will miss it massively."

After 15 years and almost 300 games, Dummett has chosen to retire from the sport that has been a big part of his identity. This is the first time since he was six years old that he has not been cocooned in a team environment. The last six months have served as an introduction to the next stage of his life and not everything feels entirely comfy yet. "When you're sat watching and all your friends are playing, it's such a weird feeling," he says. "But there's a lot of pride, looking back. It's something I thought I'd probably never do."

It is a decision that not been reached without internal conflict. As much is clear as Dummett sits in the open plan kitchen in his home near Ponteland and explains his thinking. "I still know I can play at a good level, which is the frustrating thing, because I haven't had the offers at the level I probably feel I can play at. That's where the decision's come from for me," he says. "I know I can still run about every day. I don't feel old. When you talk about retiring, people talk about being old, and I don't feel like that, so that's the only weird thing about retiring now - I don't feel like I need to retire. The body isn't telling me that. But the mind is, because of the offers that I've had. That's overruled how my body feels."

He left Carlisle United in the summer and spent time at the PFA pre-season training camp for out-of-contract players. He received offers but none were sufficiently enticing and others, with Dummett due to become a father next year, were geographically unsuitable. "A lot of people have said, 'don't retire, play as long as you can, you're a long time retired after football', which is a fair point. Everyone has a different opinion. The opportunities I had, in my head I wasn’t 100 per cent committed to. Everything I've done, I've been 100 per cent committed to doing, and I didn't feel like it would be good for me or the club if I wasn't wanting to be there. I thought this would be the right decision, even though it's one I'm sad about taking."

He has felt a need to keep busy as he adjusts to his new reality. Many players know they will remain in football and in recent years Dummett started to work towards his coaching badges. But there is still a feeling of standing on the precipice, of being in "no man's land," he adds. "It is a strange feeling, actually. You look at it and think, 'do I want to be a coach? Do I want to be in recruitment? Do I want to be a manager? Scouting?' There's hundreds of different roles in football. When you play football and all you know is football, everyone just expects: 'ah, he's going to be a coach'. But there's loads of other things in life that people can do, or want to do."

Some things can sharpen focus on the future. Dummett underwent a medical procedure a few months ago and while he insists it was not a factor in his decision to retire, it was still something he felt "was hanging over me for the whole summer until I got it done." In 2020, he fainted in a barber shop but thought little of it. He was encouraged to keep a note of other occasions where he had experienced similar events and they began to tally up. He takes out his phone and reels them off. One one occasion, he passed out as he was preparing for a pre-match warm-up at St. James' Park.

There were tests and examinations. He saw a consultant at the Freeman Hospital and had a loop recorder fitted. He lifts up his white t-shirt to reveal a small device, just visible under the skin on his chest, that monitors heart rhythm. He was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope and underwent a cardiac ablation in Liverpool in October.

There is some reticence at the idea of discussing it publicly for the first time. He says it was more concerning for his family than for himself. "It was never life-threatening - it was just dangerous, in case you hit your head on a hard floor or (if you are) driving," he says. Dummett was told the symptoms are likely to abate with time and the surgery had been a success. "It couldn't have gone any better."

In rockier times, Dummett played 213 games for United and was a trusted starter under a succession of managers who valued his consistency and attitude. Alan Pardew had told him he wasn't good enough to play for the club but he had backers in John Carver and Steve Stone and, after productive loans at Gateshead and St. Mirren, made his Newcastle debut in an FA Cup tie at Brighton in January 2013. He won the Scottish League Cup later that season after rejoining the Buddies for a second temporary spell, and returned for pre-season buoyed and fitter.

Later that year, he made his Premier League bow and then scored against Liverpool on his home debut. "I signed a six-year contract after that game. Any time I speak to anyone about my career at Newcastle, I always say that that moment, in that game, changed my life."

He uses the word 'lucky' more than once. Fortune fell his way that afternoon at St. James'; he may not have been sent on as a substitute had Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa not been red-carded. But luck alone cannot make a career. "You're lucky to get the chance in that moment. But to get that luck you've had to work incredibly hard from eight years old to 21 years old, when I scored that goal," he says. "Shola (Ameobi) said to me after my debut, 'no-one can ever take this moment away from you, scoring for Newcastle on your home debut in the Premier League'. He said, 'you've had that chance. The hardest thing now is to stay where you are, in the first team'. Thankfully, I did."

The Championship title-winning season of 2016/17, in which he was a near ever-present, is another fond memory and while he played only sparingly after Eddie Howe signed Matt Targett in January 2022, he was part of the squad that reached the Carabao Cup final and returned to Europe a year later. It is a lingering annoyance that he didn't feature in the Champions League, "but I probably did more than I ever dreamed of doing by playing for Newcastle once, never mind over 200 times. I do look back at those big moments in my career now. I can't really remember any more, unless I’m missing some?"

There was a memorable goal against Manchester United in January 2016, lashed into the top corner to make it 3-3. "That celebration was so bad. That moment - to equalise against Manchester United, as a Newcastle fan, to make it 3-3 at the Gallowgate End… and the celebration was terrible," he smiles. "What was I thinking at that moment? I watch games now and the way everyone celebrates, sliding on their knees, and I think, 'why didn’t I do that?'" As he ran towards the corner flag, it looked like he was about to go for it before reining himself in and calling it off. "Probably because no-one celebrated with me!"

Dummett was always an understated presence in a number of different Newcastle United teams. The spotlight rarely fell on him and it felt like that suited both him and his game, though he did receive a degree of scrutiny that is usually reserved for local players. "I maybe didn't always play horrendously bad, but I was never a ten out of ten either," he says. "A lot of people used to laugh, saying I was seven out of ten most weeks. I wasn't a fancy kind of player. Players like me in my position don't get that, because you don't excite the crowd. The things you do are basic things. But, maybe, you do basic things well.

"I didn't attack loads, take players on, give ten assists a season like some full backs might. That's probably also why you don't get that status - because you're not that kind of player."

Did the seven-out-of-ten stuff ever get to him? "Didn't bother me. I was a local boy, playing for my hometown team, and the manager's trusting me to play every week. It didn't bother me what people thought.

"Now I'm not playing, a lot of people come up to me and say, 'I used to love you at Newcastle'. Whether or not they're lying, I don't know. People come up to me and say, 'you were my dad's favourite player'. At the time, it never felt like that. It might only be a small minority who say that now - you obviously don’t bump into thousands of fans - but it is nice to hear people say that now I'm not playing for the club."

A career spent largely in the Premier League has brought a level of financial security that means there is no real rush to work out what comes next. Dummett has held an interest in property and renovation since his dad, who has a plumbing and heating business, helped him buy his first house when he was 18. "It's enjoyable. I like doing the nice features, ceiling details, coving, all that kind of stuff, and seeing the end goal," he says. "I don't know everything but I think I've learned a lot. The past few months have helped me learn more.

"I've said to a few people working on the house, when they're working and I'm stood there watching: 'don't think I'm here inspecting what you're doing'. I'm watching because I want to learn and understand how the process works, and how to get to that end goal."

He has retained a level of involvement with the club too as he keeps his options open. He has spoken in lounges on matchdays and at partner and sponsor events, leading a training ground tour recently. Dummett was rarely the most expressive interviewee as a player so you would have got long odds on him jumping into such situations. "When I did my first one, I was still a bit nervous, thinking, 'what if I say something wrong on stage?'" he nods. "But I think it's one of those things that the more you do, the better you get."

Next week, Dummett will be among the travelling support at Bayer Leverkusen. He is planning on flying to Amsterdam and then catching a train to Düsseldorf. "I've never been to watch Newcastle United in the Champions League away from home as a fan in the crowd. I said to one of my mates, 'we need to go to one of the away games'. Leverkusen was one that we looked at and thought, 'we could do that one'.

"Growing up, I was a fan. Now I'm back to being a fan and not a player. It's different, but it's a new experience. It's one I'm looking forward to. I'm getting a couple of days away with my mates to watch one of the matches," he adds. "I'll be like every Newcastle fan now."