They were Newcastle team-mates but Joey Barton and Ryan Taylor are like chalk and cheese.
Loud-mouthed Barton will always take centre-strage; while Taylor is concerned about who he upsets.
But they have been, and still are, the best of mates.
Taylor suffered an injury setback on his first Premier League start for 32 months, and Barton was deeply concerned as the 30-year-old left the pitch at St James’s Park in tears in the first half against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
The QPR captain has been in regular contact with Taylor during his long rehabilitation.
Joey Barton (talking to the Chronicle): “When I saw him go down, I said ‘oh, no’.
“You hope he’s OK. It was difficult to see what was going on on the pitch.
“Your thoughts are with him. I know how hard he’s worked.
“I’ve been in contact with him all through his rehab and the early part of his injury.
“He’s a great lad. He’s done incredibly well to get back to playing at the level he has been recently.
“It’s difficult to speak about as we don’t know the extent of it, but hopefully it’s as minimal an injury as it could possibly be.
“It puts things in perspective. We’re devastated – we’ve lost a game – but we live to go again.
“Hopefully, that’s the case with Tayls.”