28 February 2023 , 10:53
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Laura Woods had an awkward exchange with former Newcastle player Ryan Taylor after bumping into him at Wembley on Sunday.
TV presenter Woods was at Wembley to watch Newcastle play Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final over the weekend. Alongside her Newcastle-supporting father and brother, she attended a pre-match meal with some of Magpies legends, including Alan Shearer and John Beresford.
Taylor made 106 appearances for Newcastle between 2009 and 2015 and was also at the event to meet fans. The 38-year-old bumped into Woods before kick-off, only to discover that the talkSPORT presenter did not know what he looked like, despite working with him in the past.
“I had a very awkward moment, can I quickly tell you about it?” Woods said on talkSPORT while speaking to Ally McCoist. “Ryan – I hope he’s not listening yet – walked up and, just because we were frantically trying to find [our restaurant]. You know how big Wembley is and if you get lost, you’re lost for days.
“We had been saying hello to all the Geordies and fans outside and then we got up and Ryan came up to me and said ‘Hi, how are you?’ I said ‘Good thank you, how are you?’, and he went, ‘Yeah, nice to properly actually meet you in real life’. I went ‘Sorry, who are you?’, I didn’t recognise him!”
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Woods continued: “He went ‘It’s Ryan’, and I went ‘Oh God, Ryan, I’m so sorry!’ It was awful! I’m so sorry, Ryan. I did spend the rest of the day apologising profusely to him.”
Laura Woods had worked with Ryan Taylor but not met him in person (talkSPORT)McCoist revealed that Taylor had been on talkSPORT 114 times in the past three years before introducing him to the show. “Have you wiped that custard pie off your face yet?” he asked.
Taylor replied: “Mate, it wasn’t just one – it was two massive pies! I ended up having a good chinwag with her dad, so don’t worry about it. She’s not on the Christmas card list, that’s for sure!
He added: “Do you know what she tried to do to cover it up? She said ‘I thought you were bigger? I thought you were a bit taller?’ Jesus Christ!”
Ryan Taylor played for Newcastle for six years (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)Woods is an Arsenal fan, so she would not have been too upset by the result at Wembley, with Newcastle slipping to a 2-0 defeat against United. First-half goals from Casemiro and Marcus Rashford helped Erik ten Hag’s side end their six-year wait for silverware at Wembley.
"I thought we played well today, there is always fine margins between victory and defeat," Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said.
"I thought probably the final third today, but we were disappointed with conceding from a set play, and goals change games but I thought we were in it right until the end and if we got the third goal of the game it would have made it an interesting end to the match, but it just never came for us."