'Speed urged me not to sign for Magpies'

KEVIN Nolan has revealed Gary Speed warned him against a move to Newcastle United because the club was in a "bad place".

- CIARAN KELLY

Newcastle were on their second of four managers and halfway through a turbulent campaign, which, ultimately, ended in relegation in 2009. The Magpies were without a win in six games at the time and Shay Given was about to leave for Manchester City because "the ambition, direction and the reason I joined the club in the first place was gone".

Nolan was close to Speed, who, of course, spent six-and-a-half years at Newcastle, and the Welshman reached out to his former Bolton team-mate after he broke the news to his wife, Hayley.