Lee Bullock is urging City to prove that Peter Taylor was right to reject Newcastle.

The club captain was relieved to see Taylor turn down the Toon and remain at Valley Parade.

Now Bullock feels it is the turn of the team to show the boss how much that decision means to them.

He said: “The onus is on the players. It’s up to us to go out there and keep doing it right.

“The gaffer is always hammering into us what he thinks we can do. Unfortunately there have been quite a few times when we don’t do what he wants.

“But he is experienced enough to know that if we get it right on the pitch and do what he is telling us, we’ve got a very good chance of achieving what we all hope for. Monday proved that against Bury.

“We need to keep it going now and make sure that his decision (to stay) is the right one.”

Rumours were rife around the ground about Newcastle’s approach before the win over Bury. But the players knew nothing about it until Taylor told them in the dressing room after the game.

Bullock said: “He’s always very truthful and tells us everything. He said that he hadn’t made his mind up.

“If we had given him another performance like Southend at home or Cheltenham away, it would have been ‘see you later lads’.

“But the fact he has chosen not to go to the Premier League speaks volumes.

“Instead of going to Old Trafford and the Emirates with Newcastle, he’ll be taking us to Oxford and Aldershot in the next couple of weeks. It’s unbelievable what that tells you about how he sees us.”

City kicked off 2011 with a perfect record thanks to wins over Lincoln and Bury. That has lifted them up to tenth and just three points off the play-offs.

The season only hits the halfway point on Saturday and Bullock admitted that losing Taylor could have thrown their plans into turmoil.

“He has been here 11 months and changed quite a lot of the day-to-day things we did when Stuart McCall was in charge,” said the midfielder.

“Everybody is used to his training regimes, the way he goes about things and what he expects. If somebody else had come in now, then it would have meant more upheaval like changing the style of play and bringing in different players.

“There are times when the gaffer is in the dugout or on the touchline and we must send him into absolute despair. But he must secretly enjoy it all.

“On those days when we get it all right, the days when Omar (Daley) scores a goal like Monday, that must make it all worthwhile.

“He’ll be even more gutted now if we play like we did against Southend, Cheltenham or at Northampton. But he’s seen enough, probably since the Barnet away game (in October), to know what we are capable of doing.

“The gaffer obviously wants to get this club up and believes that we are good enough. Now we’ve hopefully got it going and it would be great if we can keep it that way.”