Newcastle United fly to almost all their games now, but in years gone by, the teams used to always travel by coach to get to their games.
Ryan Taylor – hopes for more chances next season
Of course travel plans around the world have been upset by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland – try pronouncing that by the way. 😀
And we saw the Newcastle coach pull out and start their travel down to Plymouth on Sky Sports (Fox Soccer Channel) yesterday – the coach looked great and of course was in black and white, with darkened windows and the Newcastle United crest on it.
Ryan Taylor has been on many coach trips, particularly when he started his career at Tranmere Rovers, but he doesn’t like the long trips on the coach, which is hardly surprising.
Ryan has given a very long interview today, and was probably interviewed by the Journal reporter on the way down to Plymouth on the coach – which is why the interview is so long: 😀
“As you can imagine, the situation is a bit of a nightmare. With three games to go after a long, hard season it’s probably the last thing we wanted to do but when you read about what it can do to planes, I’d rather be on the ground than in the air,”
“We usually fly everywhere – even when we go to the Midlands – so it’s probably a bit of a novelty for some of the lads.”
“Eight and a half hours on a coach, it’s not many people’s idea of a good time.” “We just had to get out the DVDs and games and keep ourselves amused.”
“There’s a few I’ll be trying to avoid sitting next to on the way, to be fair! Jonas is one, just because of his taste in music.”
“No, it’s a good dressing room and we all get on well. For some of the lads it might be a novelty but not me. We used to do every journey by coach at Tranmere.”
“I remember a bad drive to Peterborough once that took us five or six hours because of the road works but I didn’t like driving to Swansea.”
“Yeah, we went to Plymouth too – it was a long way even then.” “I can’t see it making a difference, to be honest. If it was a 3 o’clock kick off and we were going down on the morning I think it probably would,”
“But going on Sunday, we’ll have a good day to stretch our legs and the long drive is no excuse if we don’t win.”
And of course Newcastle need one point from their remaining 3 games, or WBA need to drop one point in their remaining two games, and even if that doesn’t happen – Newcastle will win the league on goal difference from WBA.
Ryan continued:
“We want to be crowned champions and we want to do it because we’ve won a game – not because someone else has dropped points,”
“The lads also want to break the 100-point barrier and those sort of things do matter to us.”
Ryan has appeared in 36 games this season at Newcastle, but has only 23 starts, although he’s got 4 good goals, and we’re sure Ryan would have liked to start more games this season.
Ryan continued:
“It’s been hard but the lads have been going on unbeaten runs, they’ve been at the top of the league,”
“I’ve been knocking on the manager’s door all season to tell him I want to play but we’ve been doing so well, you can’t exactly say ‘I deserve my chance’ because the lads have been playing well.’ “
“I think he (the manager) knows I want to play. I must have knocked on his door four or five times this season. When I’ve got my chance I think I’ve done well but you know the pressure is on when you get that chance because you’ve got to do really well to try and make your point.”
We think Chris Hughton has used Ryan very well this season, and Ryan is hoping he will get more chances next season.
Ryan is experienced in the PL, but if he doesn’t get more chances he says he may have to consider his options at Newcastle:
” I think I might (consider a move) if it happened again next year,” “It’s a bigger challenge next year in the Premier League but that is obviously where I want to play, it’s the league I came to Newcastle from.”
“I think I will get more of a chance to play next season. It’s a bigger challenge and being realistic we’re not going to win 90% of our games like we did this season so that might give me a chance if someone gets injured or the manager needs to change it round.”
“It’s up to me to keep working hard, show the right attitude and make the most of my chance when I get it.”
Ryan is a player who will be used next season, if only because of his versatility, because he can play on either flank, in either full-back or wing position, and last season in the second half against Everton, did a good job of playing central midfield.
But like most players who can play in different positions, it’s sometimes difficult to nail down a starting position in just one specific position.
Comments welcome.
5 comments so far
Obafan
Apr 19, 2010 at 12:32 PM
Comment #1Sorry R. Taylor, you are not good enough for the EPL. You cannot get into the team in the Coca Cola Championship either.
I hope a team comes in for Taylor, cause he is so average, but then NUFC need to write that he cannot play against us anymore, cause he always scores against us (can you believe it?)
banana strip
Apr 19, 2010 at 12:44 PM
Comment #2Yes i can oba, he has been vital this season and i for one, think he deserves his chance In the EPL.
chuck
Apr 19, 2010 at 1:32 PM
Comment #3Want`s more games eh !
I`m down with that as long as it`s for someother team, sorry not good enough.
Bucks mag
Apr 19, 2010 at 2:39 PM
Comment #4Agree with Obafan – he’s rubbish.
Only serves as resort to backup.
Only thing he can do is set plays, and he’s scored one.
Newutd
Apr 19, 2010 at 5:52 PM
Comment #5He’s not good enough for the Premiership. Ok backup though.