Steven Taylor thankful of Newcastle United return

Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has thanked the club's medical staff for helping him to recover from serious injury.

The centre-back missed the final five months of last season after rupturing his Achilles against Chelsea.

"I feel sorry for them in a way it is always me nagging at them all the time," Taylor told the Daily Express.

"It must be like having a nagging wife, with me being the wife, saying 'When can I do this and when can I do that'?

"Six or seven months with the same person - I can't blame them if they became a bit grumpy. I don't know how they did it. But I take my hat off to them, although I have to back off now."

Newcastle start the new Premier League campaign at home to Tottenham Hotspur later today.