FOOTBALL trouble-shooter Rogan Taylor yesterday urged Newcastle United to settle a legal bill which threatens to bankrupt fans who lost a High Court challenge against the club.

The Save Our Seats campaign, formed by six supporters, faces costs of £82,000 after an appeal court judge last week upheld a ruling that the club were within their rights to move fans from their seats.

As part of a £40m-plus redevelopment at St. James' Park, Newcastle are relocating them to make way for corporate clients.

Over 2,000 supporters claimed a £500 bond paid six years ago guaranteed their seats for ten years.

But the club insisted the bond only assured them of a seat, not the same one.

Taylor, appointed by Newcastle in February to look at ways of improving relations between the club and their supporters, believes the United hierarchy now have the ideal opportunity to build bridges after a succession of PR blunders.

Asked if he thought the club should pay the SOS campaign's legal costs, Taylor said: "I hope the board deal extremely sympathetically with this situation.

"It's an excellent opportunity for the club and I think they should take it. It's a complicated issue, but the fans had every right to bring their case to court.''

Taylor was speaking at the launch of a scheme to set up a fans' liaison committee.

Director of the Football Research Unit at Liverpool University and a former chairman of the Football Supporters' Association, Taylor said: "This shows the first real democratic process involving any football club in this country.

"I don't think fans on the board is a good idea, but the only way they can show their real strength is collectively.

"They deserve to be heard because fans at Newcastle give £10-20m every season in advance.

"There have been a series of public relations disasters at the club, but I feel that they recognise they made a mess of a lot of things.

"No football club has ever come to me before and said: 'Give us a hand here.' It's a single recognition that something had gone awry.''

Newcastle will send 300 letters to randomly selected season ticket holders and arrange them into six groups of 50.

Taylor will chair private meetings with them on a range of issues relating to the club and report his findings and proposals to the board.

No club official attended yesterday's launch, but in a prepared statement, Newcastle's new chief executive David Stonehouse said: "I'm delighted Rogan is making such good progress. It's one of our aims to improve relations with the fans.''

l Steve Watson hopes his £2.5m move to Everton from Aston Villa will help him relaunch his England career.

Former Newcastle defender Watson targeted a return to the international stage after signing a five-year deal with the Blues.

He has been capped at youth, under-21 and B level and won a number of call-ups to the senior squad while at his first club Newcastle.

But he failed to build on this promising start when joining Villa in a £4m deal in October 1998 and his England career has been on hold ever since.

''Three or four times in the season before I signed for Villa I was in the full squad,'' said Watson.

''Once you've had a taste of it, as any footballer will tell you, you want more of it, and like anyone else I have hopes of playing for my country again.

''I can only do that by playing regular football. I know you can't guarantee regular football, but if I'm playing well and playing regularly for two years, there's no reason why I can't try and push my way back in.

''Last season was a poor season for me and in many ways it was a wasted season.

''The two things go hand in hand. I know it just won't come along, but if I can start playing again and get my confidence back then as Everton get better and better as a club, I hope it will come.''