Newcastle United

Steven Taylor: 'Newcastle United players raised hands to demand exit'

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 24 September 2017

Former Newcastle United captain Steven Taylor recalls a team meeting where players put their hands up to confirm that they did not want to be at the club.

Steven Taylor has recalled a heated team meeting at Newcastle United where players put their hands up to confirm that they did not want to be at the club.

Following the Tyneside outfit's relegation from the Premier League in 2009, they were thrashed 6-1 by Leyton Orient in a pre-season friendly.

That defeat was followed by a heated team meeting led by manager Chris Hughton and midfielder Kevin Nolan, in which a number of players made it clear that they did not want to play in the Championship.

Former Magpies captain Taylor told Sky Sports News: "We played Leyton Orient in the last game of pre-season before we went into the Championship and we got battered in that game.

"We got absolutely hammered and we had a meeting the next day and Kevin Nolan and Chris Hughton said 'listen, if you don't want to be here, put your hand up'. A few players put their hand up and in the space of a week those players had gone."

"People were putting their hands up, yeah, because I think they had their moves sorted, so they knew anyway that they were going. I think players know who the ones are who are going to leave and it was kind of making sure we knew.

"It was the best thing for Newcastle at that time, getting rid of those kind of egos and getting players for the Championship to get us back to where we wanted to be."

Taylor did not name any of the players, but the likes of Obafemi Martins, Sebastien Bassong and Habib Beye all left the club between the Orient friendly and the start of the season.