“It has come around quickly. It might have come around a little quicker if I wasn’t injured last season but nonetheless, it’s a nice milestone to get to and hopefully I can build on that and get to 100, then 150 and so on. Especially at my age, if you’d said to me before joining that I would have got 50 so soon, I probably would have questioned that. You always want to get minutes under your belt and try to improve as much as you can because players are getting better and stronger, so the more minutes you can get, the better it’s going to be for you.
“Thankfully, the manager trusts me to do the job that he wants me to do. Obviously I’m going to have bad games and good games but I’ve tried my best and given 110 per cent every time I’ve played, whether it’s ten minutes, one minute or a whole game, and I think the fans appreciate that.
“Compared to when I first joined, I think I’ve definitely improved tactically. Certainly, I’ve improved by learning from the manager here, and I think there’s the confidence factor as well. When you’re playing games - whether that’s coming on or starting - you always have to be ready mentally to do your best. I feel like I’ve done that so far in my Newcastle career and hopefully I can continue that for a long time.