Matt Ritchie has become an integral part of Newcastle's team

He will shout, cajole, admonish and scream for 90 minutes as Rafa Benitez’s struggling side search for their first win of the season– and that’s just at his own team-mates. The Scotland international is a popular figure in the dressing room, which is quite surprising considering what he subjects his fellow players to, on both the training ground and pitch. Mr Angry? “Yes, I can be angry,” he said. In your face? “You could say that too.” Narky? “Yes and annoying! “We’re all different characters and I’m just passionate about winning,” he said.

“Like everyone else, I can wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I’m an angry little Scotsman but some days, I want a laugh and a joke.” Neither Rafa Benitez nor Newcastle fans would have Ritchie any other way. His commitment and fighting qualities will be sorely needed this season. And you suspect his team-mates would not want to change the 29-year-old too much either even if, by his own admission, he can sometimes be a pain in the neck. “The lads know me,” said Ritchie. “I’ve been the same player since day one. Jonjo Shelvey will say to me, ‘Matty, please, just for today will you not shout?’. I’ll try it for 10 minutes but more often than not, I’ll fail.

Matt Ritchie admits sometimes he wakes up and is an "angry Scotsman"

Like everyone else, I can wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I’m an angry little Scotsman Matt Ritchie

“Sometimes they just ignore me and are thinking, ‘Just shut up’ but it doesn’t stop me because it makes me demand levels from myself.” And there lies the crux. By setting such high standards for everyone else, Ritchie knows he cannot afford to slip up himself. “I’ve always been loud, always been vocal,” he said. “It’s just my personality and I’ve never been one to shy away from voicing an opinion. “I like to think I am honest and open with those around me and if you are demanding the highest standards from team-mates, your own standards have to be right up there as well.

Matt Ritchie had a training ground bust-up with Jamal Lascelles last month

“The way I am means I have to raise my own levels. But I am not the only one in this group who demands. Everyone does – just in a different way to me. “Jonjo, for example, is very relaxed and calm but there are a lot of leaders here.” Which brings us to that training ground bust-up with captain Jamaal Lascelles last month, something Ritchie is happy to talk about publicly for the first time. He said: “We had a difference of opinion and a discussion about it – a lively discussion!

“Jamaal and I are two of the more vocal characters, very similar in the way we train and conduct ourselves. “It was something which got overheated but it was nothing personal and 20 minutes later, everything was fine.” The table makes depressing reading for Toon fans right now, with the club second from bottom after five games. But one person who stays calm all the time, according to Ritchie, is the boss.

Rafa Benitez is always calm, says Ritchie