Tom

I don't mind helping out, and advising, but I'm probably far too busy these days to be fully involved. Also, because now I'm editing full time, doing more of it in my downtime is a bit too much of a busman's holiday! But I don't mind being involved in some capacity

I think my opinion of Karanka is somewhere down the middle. I think Humpty is right that clearly his man management is suspect, and his conduct at Boro from the end of the promotion season until he left was poor, but I also think it's slightly unfair to say that the conditions were ideal when he came in. If you take Mogga's last 46 games (across 2 seasons), we got 45 points. That is relegation form most seasons. I think it's sometimes forgotten, because Mowbray did well with recruitment and cutting the wage bill, that on the pitch we were nothing short of dreadful, and in freefall. For an

That’s 100% how it’s done. Don’t forget to have a little ambiguity in your context so if it turns out you’re wrong then you can claim deniability buddy 👍 Don't forget the classic "I hope I'm wrong", that way you can be happy if your negativity is justified and 'happy' if it isn't.

Who is MDL?

It will be for incomings yeah. Probably Roberts exit to announce and maybe an outgoing youth loan.

Hmm. The official Boro site have reported that we've signed Mendez Laing and Kebano, but J.T said that we weren't signing anyone. I just don't know who to believe.

Does that mean that Roberts loan here has been terminated regardless? So if Derby's paperwork doesn't go through, he's stuck at Man City til summer?

I assume there must be a loan-to-buy agreement, and most of that is the deposit, because otherwise, it's mental.

It doesn't take long to agree a loan, especially if all parties are up for it. Sometimes players only become available late on

It seems to me that we're making sure that we can sort out our incoming players before we let Britt and Roberts go anywhere. That's good business sense, and the type of thing that people always slag off the club for not doing (which is actually rarely accurate). Neither are really ideal at the moment, but I'd rather have them than nobody.

We signed two players last week.

We haven't been linked to Grosiki by anyone reputable, so it's not a downgrade. The question we need to ask is whether NML is a downgrade from Roberts.

Mainly that Britt appeared nailed on to be off to Bristol City last night (£2m, not a swap deal), but that looks less likely this morning. Tenous link with Grosiki, and Wing and Coulson can apparently leave on loan. I think that's about it.

My sister worked at a pub during that time, and Bates, Cattermole and Grounds were all on a 'Do Not Serve' list that was handed out to some of the local boozers.

Don't think anyone has said it's good.