Dr Gloom

I doubt this is a last minute deal. But for how long was it in the offing? Was hughton sacked because he knew it was on the cards and squared up to the fat man. Did Carroll really hand in the transfer request or was it a face saving pr stunt by the fat man? Or was this really just an offer too good to refuse which a want away striker helped facilitate?

If we do get someone in last minute, it's bound to be someone shite like Heskey or Carlton Cole

I don't him to go but 35m is a riculous price for him. Everyones got a price - who'd say he would go for anything near that 18 month ago? Can't see us turning that down. The farce is that we won't have anyone lined up to replace him.

i was Dan

there's a few old names there that bring back some memories - sparks, shearergol, aimaad21, chip2388, the_serbian_mag, hughesie, wullie what happened to them all?

i was one of the original toontastic/toon chat posters before it merged to form newcastle-online. then i got a pm from craig (known as chayton at the time iirc) asking me to join his new breakway board. they only wanted the cool original posters from the original toontastic joining haven't looked back tbh. this place is blatantly the best toon forum around. i never bother looking on newcastle-online anymore. too many young charv jokers

ridiculous. man u and arsenal have been doing it for years.

The slow transition to we won't be signing anyone, be grateful we haven't sold anyone is now complete fucking joke innit. sad thing is there have been several players made available this window that would have improved our first team. shame we aren't competing at the higher end of the market these days. And they were loans. And they'd have come here. Who? the likes of swp and Vela i'd assume would be amongst them. bentley was a loan option. i think swp too? larsson was cheap as chips as he was 6 months away from being out of contract. we wouldn't have had to break the bank for any of the players we've been linked with.

interesting. i've never made a tomato-based sauce with lemon juice before. isn't it super acidic?

The slow transition to we won't be signing anyone, be grateful we haven't sold anyone is now complete fucking joke innit. sad thing is there have been several players made available this window that would have improved our first team. shame we aren't competing at the higher end of the market these days.

adding posh olive oil at the end after you've cooked the sauce is lush. i sue cheap extra virgin olive oil to fry the onions and garlic then a glug of the young posh stuff at the end

Nice one. Glad you enjoyed it. Like I say it's dead easy to modify it to make a different sauce. Well thats your next cookery lesson, to post a few varieties, particularly with cream (bye bye diet). Also when we go to our local Italian they do a dish called chicken Alexandria. This is a chicken breast covered with a delicious creamy curry / spicey sauce containing prawns. If anyone has a recipe for this sort of thing I would get major browny points. Hard to describe it really. Nothing like chinese or indian just a lovely thick creamy curry flavoured spicey source?????? nowt wrong with cream. seriously. too many dieters cut fat. you shouldn't fear it. your body will actually burn fat for fuel quicker than it will burn carbs. better to cut refined carbs (like white bread and pasta) and eat a little butter, cream. plus plenty of good fats like olive oil, raw nuts and seeds.

frog in a blender by the looks of it

have we ever had a tricky winger that hasn't been frustrating?

he's got it all bar the final ball, the crucial bit in other words.

snack on something if you're hungry mate. just make it some natural yoghurt with some fresh fruit or something or some raw nuts and dried druit rather than going for crisps or a mars bar from the vending machine. i always have stuff like that in tupperware boxes in my desk for snacking in between meals. eating often is really important, just make sure it's the right stuff. and keep up the good work

they don't come around too often. you have to enjoy them when they do. i'm chuffed we've got this lad in You've really cheered up the last few months or am I imagining it? despite what most on here would say, i'm really not that much of a doom monger. my username change was really just an attempt to poke fun at those who say all i ever do is whinge. it's easy to be gloomy more about nufc more often than not but you've got to enjoy signing a genuine class player when it happens.

these aren't particularly embarrassing pics lads. raise your games

have a bowl of muesli every day for breakfast and plenty of fresh fruit and veg. if that doesn't help, consult your GP

Owt you recommend? I love a good homemade soup. Pea and basil is a good one I did recently (base of onion/carrot/celery/garlic), veg stock and peas / petit pois (frozen is fine). Season, add torn basil leaves near the end and serve with parmesan and nice bread. Lush. hmmm. you're right, there's nowt like soup this time of year. i like to do a green soup that sounds pretty similar - broccoli, whatever leaves you've got lying around in the fridge, celery, maybe peas, bit of green chili, veg stock then melt in gorgonzola and parmesan at the end and blitz it all up till its smooth. scooping the scum off the top and putting it through a sieve will make it even smoother. lush also roasted butternut squash blitzed up with veg stock and cream until its smooth and velvety with a bit of nutmeg. pure comfort food

i'm off for a session of circuits and boxing with my trainer. i get nervous about these sessions - almost died after the last one. i never push myself quite as stupidly as hard when training alone.

one tip on the seasoning for a tomato sauce is chuck in the salt at the end or it can muller the tomatoes