I've just finished training, I'm in a right mess. I swear, they nearly killed us out there. At the end, I couldn't go on. It hurt so much, I wanted to throw up. What a nightmare! We ended the session with 500m races, that had to be run in 1'50''. Six pitch lengths at a time, twice. It was incredibly hard. 

Getting back is tough then? 

Tough, but good. We're working hard. It's hurting at the minute, but we know it'll pay dividends in the season ahead. 

You rejoined the squad last Thursday. How was it, seeing everyone again?

Well first off, there's the new facilities. The club has completely refurbished everything and it's amazing. Then we were straight into training, hard training. We've been at it two times per day since last Thursday. The hardest is the afternoon session, it starts only an hour after we've eaten, so its tough on the digestion. 

Have you had a chance to meet the new recruits? 

Viana, the Portuguese lad, is still on holiday. As he was on World Cup duty with Portugal, he has the right to a few more days holiday. As for Bramble, well I've seen him but he's currently injured and not training with us. In fact its not actually certain that he's signed, from what I've heard, as it stands, he won't be a Newcastle player. Well that's all folks, speak to you again at the end of the week. Ta-ra.