Tuesday 18 June 2013 11:15, UK
Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has backed Joe Kinnear's appointment as the club's new director of football.
Newcastle have yet to officially announce the news of Kinnear's return but their fans have been quick to voice their dissent, with one fanzine editor saying it made his club a laughing stock. Kinnear's first time on Tyneside was overshadowed by a foul-mouthed rant at journalists, accusing them of having an agenda against him and, while he returned to his grudge against the media on Monday night, he hit out at the fans as well. When asked by talkSPORT what he would say to unhappy fans, he said: "To all the fans who don't agree with this decision, shall I bring (Derek) Llambias (managing director) back in?. What do you want? What do they want? "I heard a silly comment of 'what can I attract?' I can open the door to any manager in the world, anyone, that's the difference. I've spent my whole life talking to Alex Ferguson, week in, week out, what would you do? "I can pick the phone up at any time of the day and speak to Arsene Wenger, any manager in the league. In all the divisions. "I don't know what angle they've got, if they want to sit down and argue with me... Some are talking out of their backsides, a load of tosh. I'm not accepting it, as simple as that. I have certainly got more intelligence than them, that's for sure." Kinnear's initial announcement in a Sky Sports News interview caused surprise in the game. While his time in the dugout was ended by a heart problem, results on the field contributed to the club's relegation from the Premier League. United's fans have reacted accordingly but Kinnear, who struggled with some Newcastle players' names as well as Llambias on talkSPORT, added: "I'm a bit surprised. "There's a certain section, exactly the same when I got there. I got over 10,000 letters when I had my heart attack, I felt very proud of that and thought I did an excellent job. "A lot of Geordies are influenced by the media set, because I stood up to 100 journalists that night. It was the same night we beat Tottenham 2-1, the journalists always had it in, many of the Geordie fans were sucked in."
