Steven Taylor: St James' must be a fortress

STEVEN TAYLOR believes Newcastle United must begin to turn St James’ Park into a fortress once again if they are to have any chance of making realistic progress next season in the Premier League.

The Magpies lost just five games from 19 fixtures on home turf last term in the top flight.

However, with eight of those games ending in a draw, a paltry total of just five wins on Tyneside meant that an improvement in the 2011/12 campaign is desperately needed for the black-and-whites if they are to improve on 12th spot.

Taylor – who ended the season on a high with three goals in as many games – told the Chronicle: “It’s something we’re definitely looking to improve on.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better year in the Championship, when we managed to stay unbeaten at home throughout the season.

“And last summer the main aim was to continue that in our home games to give us some solid foundations for the season.

“But it didn’t turn out that way and it’s something we need to address.”

Oddly, United yielded a respectable tally of points from some of the so-called bigger guns in the Premier League last season, with Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea failing to pull out of Barrack Road with a victory to show for their efforts.

And there were also excellent wins over Aston Villa, Sunderland, West Ham and Wolves.

But it was games such as Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool and Everton all going into the defeat category which had a major impact on Newcastle’s final Premier League finish.

Taylor said: “It’s those are the type of games we need to be looking to improve on because, as we know, we can beat anybody on our day at St James’ Park with our fans behind us.

“That’s what we’ll be looking to do next season and making sure we progress in the right direction.

“We were never in the bottom three last season, even though a few people tipped us to go down.

“Now, we’ll be looking to reach our targets quicker and make that progress in the second season back up.”

While Taylor ended the season on a high note, shoulder and hamstring trouble decimated his campaign.

The Whitley Bay lad is now hoping for better luck next time around, and added: “I didn’t really want the season to end if I’m honest.

“Hopefully next year I get a clean run at it and avoid the same problems.

“I’ve had my fair share of injuries, so I’m looking forward to better luck on that score.”

good to see a team member sounding positive and upbeat about next season surrounding all the talk about contracts that will or wont be revised