It has been confirmed that Gerry Taggart will now miss the rest of City's season after he decided to undergo a knee op in order for him to fully recover in time for the start of next season.

Taggart had limped out of last weeks game against Middlesbrough with his knee and was already doubtful for this weekends game against Newcastle anyway. This means that Gerry's reign as captain has been cut short with him only managing to last one game.

Taylor said, "Gerry has had this problem for a while and has bravely battled through as best as he could for the good of the team.

"But last Saturday against Middlesbrough it seemed just too much for him and so it has been decided to do the operation now to give him three months to get back fully fit."

Robbie Savage, a favorite to replace him as captain, is also set to be ruled out for this weekends clash at St James Park. Savage has not long returned after having a cartilage operation himself and is said to have suffered some pain in his knee during last week's 3-0 defeat against 'Boro.

City manager Taylor told City's official site, "Robbie might need to take a bit of a rest. He has reported a pain in the knee this week and has not been able to train.

"We'll continue to monitor the situation but he does look doubtful for Saturday's game.

"Robbie would have been favourite to be made captain in the absence of Matty and Gerry.

"With the current situation I'll leave the decision about who will be captain until nearer to the game."

But some good news does come in the form of Matt Jones who will play this weekend after recovering from his foot injury and playing the first half for the reserves the other night.

He told reporters, He said: "My foot is fine. I played 45 minutes for the reserves on Tuesday and scored so the night was quite a successful one.

"But I felt quite stiff afterwards so I have been trying to get in as many massages as possible before the game on Saturday to loosen me up.

"I feel my injury has been going in the right direction in the last couple of weeks and I have reached the point now when I can start playing games again.

"It has been a frustrating time for the team and with the current injury problems at the club I will be fighting to get my name on Saturday’s teamsheet.

"We know what a difficult task we face up at St James’ Park but if you look at the Premiership table then we should be going there in confident mood.

"Hopefully we can start well on Saturday which is something we have been guilty of not doing of late.

"With Muzzy and Robbie missing from the midfield it will mean extra responsibility for me if I make the starting line-up which is something I will not shy away from.

"There are plenty of leaders in the Leicester City side and I will be taking on my own responsibility to make sure that I do my job properly.

"If we go out with confidence and feeling good about each other then I am sure we can come out good on the day and finish off this bad run."