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Former Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor has labelled Sunderland a ‘horrible place’ and says he thrives on ‘having 46,000 Mackems hate you as much as they do’.

The 31-year-old has always enjoyed a frosty relationship with the Sunderland fans after saying in 2012 that he would rather collect stamps than stick on a Sunderland shirt.

The former England under-21 captain was routinely abused by the Sunderland faithful and despite leaving Newcastle in the summer of 2016, he has continued to stoke the fire.

In a frank interview with the Daily Mail, the Ipswich Town defender has said he hates Sunderland and he will never change his opinion on them.

(Image: 2016 Newcastle United)

“Sunderland. It’s a horrible place,” said Taylor.

“People know the situation between me and Sunderland. They don’t like me, I don’t like them. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it is. It’s always going to be like that. I’m never going to change my opinion on them, but I will look forward to it if I get the chance to play against Sunderland again.

“It’s great. I thrive on it. The hatred is what I love about playing against them, especially having 46,000 Mackems hate you as much as they do. It’s great, and I hate them. That’s just how it is. I think you’ll see that if we play them.”

Taylor enjoyed a good early record against Newcastle’s bitter enemies, but he was part of the squad who lost six derby games in a row against the Black Cats.

Losing to Sunderland is the biggest regret of his career, saying he doesn’t like seeing ‘happy smiling Mackems’.

“To never lose against Sunderland. That kills me to this day and the defeats always stay in mind. It’s the sight of happy smiling Mackems that I don’t like but unfortunately we got beaten a couple of times by them. It’s not nice. In recent times my record against them wasn’t good, but overall it might be 50/50.

(Image: 2014 Getty Images)

Sunderland are sitting bottom of the Premier League and are six points adrift of safety, while Newcastle are top of the Championship table and look on course to secure a Premier League return.

At this moment in time a Tyne-Wear derby next season looks unlikely, something which saddens Taylor, although he admits he would love to face them as an Ipswich player in the Championship.

He added: “I could be facing them as an Ipswich player next season, absolutely, but as a Newcastle fan, I hope that Newcastle do go up and play against them next year because as a Newcastle fan, you always thrive on those derby games.

(Image: 2014 Getty Images)

“I hope the fans get what they want, but at the moment it’s not looking like that because Sunderland are struggling. But then we’ve said that for the past few years and Sunderland have always got themselves out of it.

“On a personal level, it would be great to play them. Having 46,000 Mackems singing the ‘Steven Taylor, we wish you were dead’ song again would take the pressure off my team-mates. I’ll take the hassle from them, no problem at all.”