Former Newcastle United defender reflects on the 'bitter taste' of his Magpies departure

Former Newcastle United defender Ryan Taylor has criticised the way the likes of Lee Charnley handled his departure from the club in 2015. Taylor left the Magpies upon the expiration of his contract after a seven-year spell at St. James’ Park.

The 37-year-old made over 100 appearances during his time at Newcastle, where he helped them win the Championship title during the 2009/10 season. However, despite his long service at the club, the circumstances in which his time on Tyneside ended has left a sour taste in the mouth.

Both he and Jonas Gutierrez were left in the dark following their final game for the club against West Ham United at home, where neither were given clarification on their futures. Speaking on BBC’s Total Sport Podcast, he earmarked Charnley as someone who will reflect on his time at Newcastle negatively due to the way he handled certain situations.

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He said: “It wasn’t nice, but you know what, it was just the way the club was ran back then. It was just in the wrong hands, I feel. To do it to not only me, but to do it to Jonas was completely wrong and I bet you people like Lee Charnley, you’d like to think they look back on it and think you know what we’ve made a mistake there.

“Just have the decency, we play West Ham at home last game of the season, just bring us both in the office and have a chat to us. We’re human beings at the end of the day, if the club want to move forward and not offer us new deals, just have a chat with us. It took us to go on our B license to get a phone call in Ireland together and it obviously made it worse when they said can you pass the phone to Jonas.

“You wouldn’t mind if someone came in