Quote of the day

"Cooking for each other happens quite a lot. The girls are friends, they go out for lunch, everyone goes around each other's house. Everyone lives in close proximity and everyone just gets on. I cooked for Shola Ameobi the other day - bit of risotto. For the kids last night, we had chilli, salad and rice. I’m not quite Come Dine With Me just yet, but I had a jacket potato around James Perch’s house, so that’s a zero! Shola doesn’t cook and leaves it all to his missus. He very much stays out of the kitchen, but she is very good."

Er, I'm not sure these revelations from Mike Williamson really merit the Mirror's claim that "Come Dine With Me style evenings among Alan Pardew’s squad have helped the club cook up a storm this season". But what does this say about the players in question? Perchinho is a no-nonsense, no-frills man, whereas Big Lad's happy to piggyback on someone else's efforts...