Steven Taylor: 'Kevin Nolan helped flush out Newcastle misfits'

Former Newcastle United captain Steven Taylor has spoken of a team meeting at St James' Park where Kevin Nolan helped flush out players who did not want to be at the club following relegation.

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

Notts County boss Nolan, plying his trade for Newcastle at the time, led a heated discussion following that defeat alongside then-manager Chris Hughton, and the question placed to the players was simple.

Taylor told Sky Sports: "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.

"The players… it didn't hurt enough and that was the biggest thing for us.

"Alan Shearer came in and he tried to get rid of the players he didn't think were going to be here the following season.

"It was a learning curve and I think it was a good thing for us to get rid of the players who didn't want to be there.

"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."

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