Tayls from Tyneside: What ex-Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has said about Sunderland in the past
Here is some of his previous wisdom:
“When I am warming up their fans have their veins popping out of their necks. It is like I have done something to their family or something. Even when I was just starting out I have always enjoyed that hostility, getting abuse off their fans. It doesn’t bother me that much. I like that sort of thing. It won’t upset me one bit” - October 2012, before the Wear-Tyne derby.
“No. Even last year the gaffer said it, he has our team above Sunderland. That is the quality we possess” - when asked in the same interview if any Sunderland players would get into the Newcastle team. The Magpies had admittedly just finished fifth. But they haven’t won a derby since.
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Hide Ad“I would rather go and collect stamps than stick on that shirt” - before the same game. He only just put a Newcastle shirt on, appearing as a late substitute while his team were still ahead. They soon conceded an equaliser.
And as for his response to the Sunderland fans’ response to the above comments:
A lot of people could have buckled with that” - after Black Cats supporters started singing “we wish you were dead”.
But out of fairness to the lad, he also said:
“One of the biggest things from my point of view is that a lot of respect has got to go to the Sunderland fans for all they have done for John and Liam. That was a massive thing.
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Hide Ad“I even think it’s gone a but unnoticed in the build-up to the game. For them to raise over £33,000, and they were just aiming for £100 at the start, for me is amazing. I have a lot of time that for and so do all the lads here” - praising the red and whites for raising money in memory of MH17 plane crash victims John Alder and Liam Sweeney.