Tayls from Tyneside: What ex-Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has said about Sunderland in the past

Former Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor's rant about all things Sunderland is not the first time he has slagged the team and its fans off.
Steven Taylor at the centre of a derby confrontation.Steven Taylor at the centre of a derby confrontation.
Steven Taylor at the centre of a derby confrontation.

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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“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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“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.