There’s been a blast from the past for Newcastle United players in Dubai.
Eddie Howe brought his squad out to sunnier climates during the international break for a warm weather training camp.
And a certain Steven Taylor has been spotted in the camp.
Taylor, who left boyhood club Newcastle in 2016, is now based in Dubai after becoming manager of Gulf United, who faced his old club in a behind-closed-doors encounter yesterday.
And the 36-year-old, who retired from football in September of last year, paid a visit to his former club’s session.
Neil Stoker, a member of the Magpies’ backroom staff, uploaded a photograph on Twitter of him and the former centre-back.
Newcastle beat Taylor’s outfit 5-0, with Allan Saint-Maximin, Joelinton and Dwight Gayle among the goalscorers for the Premier League side.
United have been in stunning form since returning from their last warm weather training camp in Saudi Arabia in January.
Newcastle began the calendar year as genuine candidates to be relegated from the Premier League.
But fast forward three months and Howe’s troops are only some five points off a top-half finish – and given how well they’ve been playing, well nobody can be that surprised if the St James’s Park side do indeed finish 10th or better.
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