“Without sounding too biased, it’s a great football club. Their love, their passion for football in Newcastle is incredible – 52,000 every other week whether you’re in the Premier League or the Championship. I think it’s a very good opportunity for somebody to come in and hopefully take the club on and for it to be successful and win a trophy. Their last trophy was in 1969. It’s been such a long time. I was fortunate enough to play at Wembley twice in the FA Cup. We were beaten on both occasions, but we arrived back to a hero’s welcome.
“They have a world-class manager in Rafa Benitez. I hope he’s given the tools to be able to show that. I spoke to him before the season started and he was pretty frustrated in that he hadn’t been given what he thought he was going to get. They are where they are.”