Astonishing Steven Taylor comments on Sunderland, Mackems and the '˜wish you were dead' song

Taylor, who has recently signed for former Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy at Ipswich Town, has spoken in a candid interview with the Daily Mail.

He said Sunderland is a 'horrible place' and that he thrives on the ire of Black Cats fans.

Quizzed on his least favourite away ground, Taylor said: "Sunderland. It's a horrible place. People know the situation between me and Sunderland. They don't like me, I don't like them. It's unfortunate but that's how it is. It's always going to be like that. I'm never going to change my opinion on them, but I will look forward to it if I get the chance to play against Sunderland again.

"It's great. I thrive on it. The hatred is what I love about playing against them, especially having 46,000 Mackems hate you as much as they do. It's great, and I hate them. That's just how it is. I think you'll see that if we play them."

Asked on the one regret he would want to put right, he said: "To never lose against Sunderland. That kills me to this day and the defeats always stay in mind. It's the sight of happy smiling Mackems that I don't like but unfortunately we got beaten a couple of times by them. It's not nice. In recent times my record against them wasn't good, but overall it might be 50/50.

"I could be facing them as an Ipswich player next season, absolutely, but as a Newcastle fan, I hope that Newcastle do go up and play against them next year because as a Newcastle fan, you always thrive on those derby games.

"I hope the fans get what they want, but at the moment it's not looking like that because Sunderland are struggling. But then we've said that for the past few years and Sunderland have always got themselves out of it.

"On a personal level, it would be great to play them. Having 46,000 Mackems singing the 'Steven Taylor, we wish you were dead' song again would take the pressure off my team-mates. I'll take the hassle from them, no problem at all."