It is 10pm local time and Tyneside has come to Turkey. Jonjo Shelvey is sitting in the canteen at Caykur Rizespor's training ground watching Newcastle United's Champions League clash against PSG with his team-mates.

Shelvey does not understand what they or the commentator on the television are saying without his trusted translator, who has clocked off for the night, but no words are needed; the live pictures from a rocking St James' Park tell their own story. "I was thinking, 'What I'd do to be in that stadium right now," Shelvey smiled.

Understandably so. In fact, Shelvey even spoke to Jamaal Lascelles just a few hours before that famous 4-1 win, reminding his friend and former team-mate that he 'deserved to experience the moment' of leading his side out after all the Newcastle captain had 'been through at that club'.

"I just enjoy being a fan now and watching the games and knowing they are my mates and they are out there doing it for the city that my family lives in and the club that I support," he told ChronicleLive. Shelvey's wife, Daisy, and kids are still living on Tyneside. "We will probably end up staying there for the rest of our lives," he added. "That's what it does to you."

In Shelvey's own words, his eldest daughter, Lola, who was born in Swansea, is a 'full-on Geordie' now. The family have even sold their house in London, which they had originally earmarked as their forever home, because they are so settled in the North East. No wonder Shelvey continued to travel up north when he left Newcastle for Nottingham Forest last season.

Shelvey remains contracted to Forest, but the 31-year-old was informed he 'wasn't going to play', which 'hurt massively', and soon found himself training on a local pitch in Ponteland. "My missus knew what kind of state my mental side was in," he admitted.

Shelvey 'fell out of love' with the game - never representing Forest again after making his feelings clear after being left out of the starting line-up for the trip to Liverpool back in April - but the former England international is now back 'enjoying football' on loan at Caykur Rizespor and is even living at the club's training centre. It begs the question - why did the Londoner leave Newcastle in the first place back in January?

Well, Shelvey knew that game time would 'probably be limited' if he stayed, after failing to make a league start during an injury-disrupted campaign for the club last season, and a January move to Forest offered 'security going forward for my family' after the midfielder entered the final months of his contract at Newcastle. However, Eddie Howe initially said no when Shelvey asked to leave in the final throes of the window - only for the Newcastle boss to change his mind.

"He came in the next day and said because of the way I spoke to him and approached him and because of our relationship, he was going to let me go," Shelvey revealed. "He also said that I had killed him by leaving it too late for the club to bring in another midfield player. I was putting him in the s---, basically. I said, 'Sorry!' but I was thankful for the way he let me go. It was an amazing send-off as well."

Jonjo Shelvey waves goodbye to Newcastle United with his kids That aforementioned farewell took place on the night of Newcastle's Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg win against Southampton at St James' ahead of Shelvey's departure being formally announced. Shelvey was given the chance to walk out onto the pitch at half-time with his children to say goodbye to the supporters, which 'really meant something to me and my family', before the playmaker addressed players and staff in the dressing room at full-time.

Those present described it as an 'emotional' speech 'from the heart' as Shelvey thanked everyone around him and looked back on his journey at the club. It was all the more powerful because even some of Shelvey's longest-serving team-mates had never seen the Londoner stand up and speak quite like this.

"I'm not a massive talker to be honest," he said. "I don't tend to talk to the media or anything like that as you probably well know. I have never been one to do interviews and I like to keep my life totally separate and just concentrate on football.

"Even in the dressing room, when I've been captain of Newcastle, I've never been one to give rousing speeches but I just felt like I owed it not just to the players but the staff who had been there for the seven years I was there. I owed them a massive thank you.

"You start to tear up a little bit and I think I had a Guinness before I went down just to calm myself down, but it was a nice moment and one I will always cherish."

Howe admitted he was 'devastated' to lose Shelvey, who the Newcastle boss hailed as an 'incredible servant' that 'always stood up and gave his best in dark times', while the club's owners even personally thanked the midfielder for his service after he made more than 200 appearances in black and white. Those were not empty words.

Shelvey is similarly effusive about Howe and the 31-year-old said he knows for a 'fact that Newcastle have got the right manager for many years' after pundit Simon Jordan bizarrely compared the Magpies head coach's ultimate fate to the 'Mark Hughes transition' at Man City.

"Eddie made me see football in a different way and helped me understand the game a lot more," Shelvey said. "I still speak to him now and again over text and he's one of those people you can pick up the phone to at one o'clock in the morning and he will always be there to help you out. I can't speak highly enough of that man. It's just a pleasure to see him doing so well.

"I know that a lot of pundits are saying, 'Is he the man that can take them into the next bracket and manage these big superstars?' They don't need to do anything. He's got that club galvanised. The way they are playing football is just ridiculous. They hurt teams straight away with the high press and go for the jugular.

"Look at what he has done to bring the fans and the team together as well. You see the pictures after games and you take a little bit of stick for it, but it just shows you how unified that group of staff are."

You suspect there is one dressing room photograph Shelvey will never forget and that was the picture taken following Newcastle's 1-0 win against Leeds in January, 2022 after the midfielder fired his side to a priceless three points late on at Elland Road while wearing the captain's armband. It was relegation-threatened Newcastle's first victory on the road all season and just their second win up to that point. That spirited showing helped spark a run of five wins in their next six games.

"It was a bit weird," he added. "Looking back at it now, it was a massive turning point in our season but, at the time, you don't really see it. It's only when you look back and reflect that you realise how important that goal was.

"Let's be fair - the 'keeper [Ilan Meslier] should have saved it. It was a shocking free-kick! I didn't catch it at all, but we would have bitten someone's hand off for anything at that point in time.

"It galvanised us and we just went on this mad run, but I was not one to panic in terms of us getting relegated because I knew for a fact there was enough in that dressing room to keep us up. Obviously, the results weren't there but we knew in that very first session that Eddie came in. You just had this feeling that something is going to turn, that something has to turn, that something will turn. Luckily it happened that day."