Newcastle United headlines: Steven Taylor admission, Dan Burn journey and Barnes defends Howe

Your Newcastle United headlines for Saturday, March 26.

Steven Taylor has exclusively told ChronicleLive that he rejected 'good money' to stay at Newcastle as he preferred first-team football. Rafa Benitez offloaded the Geordie following relegation in 2016 and he decided to seek pastures new at MLS side Portland Timbers.

The defender had stints in New Zealand and India before calling it a day on an 18-year career last season. He said: "I could have had good money just to sit for another year, but I wanted to play every game," Taylor told ChronicleLive. "I didn't want to play Saturday and then not play Tuesday. I was very greedy - I wanted to play every game. That's one of the reasons why myself and, eventually, Tim Krul moved on. We just wanted to play every game."

To read our exclusive interview with Taylor, click here.

Dan Burn has told the club's website that non-league football helped him become the player he is today. The 29-year-old defender was released by Newcastle as an 11-year-old and had to earn his stripes the hard way, making his name at Blyth Spartans - his local team - before moving onto Darlington at 16.

He worked his way up the football pyramid and is now living the dream at Newcastle in the Premier League. Burn said: “Everything I've done throughout my career has led up to this point. From being a kid, going into the men's game, and realising people are playing for mortgages, bills and stuff - it's really important.

“For fans who have been part of teams relegated, where people are losing jobs around the training ground, you don't realise how much of an effect you out there can have on the club, the city and the staff.”

John Barnes has defended Eddie Howe following criticism he received regarding