Steven Taylor did not need much convincing to move to Dubai. Forget the weather and job opportunities; Dubai's time zone means it is now a lot easier for the 36-year-old to follow his beloved Newcastle United.
Having previously had to get up in the early hours of the morning to watch his former side, while he was playing at the Wellington Phoenix, Taylor does not have to set his alarm clock at 2am these days. It's just as well because Taylor needs all the sleep he can get in his first managerial role at Gulf United.
Although training has finished at 10am local time, it is 32 degrees out when we speak and Taylor's phone ends up overheating and shutting down. It gives you an idea of the sweltering conditions Newcastle players will be training in this week during their warm-weather break and, perhaps, Taylor was only half joking when he said he was 'definitely missing the weather' back home.
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Taylor could have kept playing in New Zealand, but the defender had already been through six quarantines and five lockdowns in the space of just 18 months. The chance to be able go out on his own terms appealed to Taylor so the Geordie hung up his boots and moved to Dubai.
Taylor had always wanted to go into coaching after retiring and soon got his chance at Gulf United. The club is billed as the UAE's leading academy for footballers aged between eight and 23 and is also the biggest scholarship provider in the Middle East.
There are players from 49 different nationalities on the club's books and many have moved all the way from Africa in the hope of realising their dream. The chance to help these players and oversee the first team in its first season as a professional outfit was something Taylor simply could not resist.
"When you see where they've come from, it's crazy," Taylor told ChronicleLive. "I heard little bits when I was with Cheick Tiote, Papiss Cisse and Demba [Ba] with where they were from and their hometowns. You never understand it until you see it with their videos and with them showing you they've got nothing.
"Cheick used to take everything back home. I think it was the last day and I used to come in for my shirts and football boots. Cheick had dismantled my locker, took my gear out and it was all in his car to go back to the Ivory Coast!
"The guys we've got now, especially with their backgrounds, we look after their football boots for them and make sure they've got the right kit and trainers for the gym. They have everything they need here and that's thanks to the sponsors we've got, who basically fund everything for them.
"We house them and get them food every night so they're always looked after. They don't have to worry about anything now, which is the best thing. They can just concentrate on football."
You can already see how Taylor's 21 years at Newcastle have shaped him, whether it is the team-mates he shared a dressing room with, such as Tiote, or the mental notes he made on the sessions Sir Bobby Robson, Kevin Keegan, Chris Hughton and Rafa Benitez used to put on. Taylor made 268 appearances for his boyhood club and, unsurprisingly, did not need a second invitation when he was asked to come back for the club's foundation dinner last November.
Taylor may be living thousands of miles away, but it did not take the 36-year-old long to notice how the atmosphere was 'so much better' on Tyneside. Taylor referred to the contrasting feel in the final years of the Ashley era as a 'virus', but the former centre-back was still 'a bit nervous' about what might happen in the new owners' first window in charge.
"You're going through the January transfer window and thinking, 'Who are you going to sign?'" he said. "You could go and bring a foreigner in with a massive CV, but does he understand the league? Is he used to a relegation battle?
"You've got a guy like Dan Burn who's from the area, understands football and understands Newcastle United. I played against him when he was at Wigan and he's an absolute man mountain. He understands, especially when we're in a bit of a dogfight. For me, he's the perfect signing.
"It was fantastic for Newcastle to do their business that way. [Chris] Wood as well. These are players that are hungry and understand being down the bottom end. Getting those sort of characters in was the biggest thing for me.
"You look at [Kieran] Trippier as well, who's been a leader from day one. Speaking to people behind the scenes there, straight away, everyone says that he's a big voice around the dressing room. His performances on the pitch speak for themselves."
Perhaps, it is not a surprise that all of Newcastle's mid-season arrivals have slotted in quite so seamlessly. The club now not only have a player liaison officer, Glenn Patterson, but an assistant player liaison officer, Jamie Morren, too, to help new arrivals and their families settle off the field. However, it has not always been quite so easy for big-money signings to bed in over the years.
Take Florian Thauvin, for example, who joined the club from Marseille for £15m back in 2015 but returned to the Stade Velodrome just a year-and-a-half later. Thauvin only made 16 appearances during his brief spell on Tyneside and nothing seemed to go right for the Frenchman - right down to his ill-advised decision to wear a tuxedo to a game.
Thauvin had his agent and girlfriend with him, but the winger relied heavily on his interpreter for everything from ordering a pizza to opening a bank account. There was a gifted player in there - Thauvin went on to win the World Cup, after all - but the winger was unsettled off the pitch and it showed on it.
"Thauvin was an unbelievable talent," Taylor said of his former team-mate. "He had a wand of a left foot, but we just didn't play to his strengths.
"He came to Newcastle and he must have felt isolated. He didn't fit with the group because he wasn't happy and I don't think we played to his ability. He didn't have the chance to produce what we know he is capable of.
"When he left Newcastle, like a lot of people, he went and produced. A lot of people weren't happy here and life behind the scenes is a big part of it. I remember he just got dumped in the dressing room. He had no support.
"A lot of times at Newcastle, when I saw top players come to the club, they just got left there. They probably don't shine on the football pitch because behind the scenes things aren't going right for them - maybe at home, maybe with his family or maybe because his wife isn't happy in the area - and they feel unsettled.
"Now, I think they're starting to get better from what I've heard and seen so hopefully they are going to sort that out for the big signings that are going to be coming to St James' Park because that is a big factor."
Those big signings Taylor mentioned will hope to bring European football back to St James' Park one day. It is now nine years since Newcastle last played in the Europa League following the Magpies' best ever league finish in the Ashley era.
While 'beating the Mackems at St James' Park was always a nice feeling', when it comes to Taylor's favourite memory at the club, nothing quite compared to the last 16 win against Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013.
"Newcastle has never been the same since that game," Taylor added. "I don't know what happened that night with the fans. It was electric from literally the first minute.
"The belief that we had, it was just incredible. We went into that game the underdogs. Everyone was telling us you're playing against Willian and Samuel Eto'o. This was Russia's most expensive football team at the time. Everyone was saying this was going to be a tough gig for us, but the boys played well.
"The main thing for us was turning the heat on and going after them with front-foot football. When Cisse scored that goal, I have never experienced the atmosphere like that. Ever.
"Bear in mind it was a Thursday night. You normally expect a Saturday to be like that, but what a night it was. Newcastle missed those European nights. They were special."
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