Steve Harper: "We have a collective spirit in the dressing room now, and it's probably the best I've been in.
"Chris, Colin Calderwood and Paul Barron have done a fantastic job here, and we're United again.
"I think that you can see that from the battling qualities that have been shown.
"It's the atmosphere here. In the past there have been accusations of little pockets in the dressing room of three or four in one corner, and half a dozen in another.
"These things do happen in football. Now the banter is great, and it's a very happy place to be. The spirit's really good.
"All of the uncertainty rumbled on and on and on. In pre-season the players knew it was nothing to do with us – we just play football.
"When we went to Ireland for the pre-season tour, you could see the players had the attitude of, 'look it's nothing to do with us, who wants to be here? And if you do want to be here, give us everything you've got', and that's what has happened.
"We can't affect what happens off the pitch. What's happened has happened. The owner has taken the club off the market and given Chris Hughton the job, and he fully deserves it given the job he's done.
"We get on with the job now. There's a stability, and hopefully by the end of the season it'll result in us getting promoted."