Friend and foe encountered Cheick Tiote legendary ‘reducers’

It was always one of the very first vital snippets of information shared with new arrivals at Newcastle, along with showing them to their space in the dressing room, and a reminder to laugh at the gaffer’s jokes, however bad they were.

Whatever else you do, make sure you’re on Cheicky’s side in training.

As pieces of advice go, it was utterly invaluable. Recent signings were quickly disabused of any notion they may have harboured that Cheick Tiote toned down his no-prisoners approach to tackling when it was just him and his team-mates.