Smokedsalmon

In the Championship having had 1 less relegation scrap. The team is not very good. Woodgate tried to get them playing attacking football and it literally imploded. Jokanovic would have done the same just with slightly less implosion.

Braithwaite was totally let down by playing in a clueless tactical set up (Monk) and then one that didn't suit him at all (Pulis). He is obviously head and shoulders above what we have right now. If Monk hadn't tried to build a side with 6 strikers and no defence, he could have flourished.

So we just go into the season with 1 left back?

Some rare positivity from me, but I don't have a problem with the Lumley signing at all. He's young for a keeper, on a free, has a point to prove and by all accounts has a good attitude. We know we don't have the cash to go out and buy ready-made promotion winners. What we need to do is get behind the lads that come in and hope they can form a good team bond and build their confidence. If we have a successful season, it will be because of good team spirit and motivation, not from individual brilliance. Let's give the new lads a chance to prove themselves.

Considering he's literally never done the job before, it would be pretty justified. DoF should be someone with no history or emotional ties to the club so they can do what has needed to be done for a long time and clear out the people not doing their job properly.

Maybe. I think all complaints about integrity would go out the window if we had Kevin De Bruyne bossing the midfield instead of George Saville, like. One of those isn't it. You'd feel dirty, but you'd be too drunk on success to care. With the way football has gone in the last 20 years, with all sense of healthy competition and financial parity out the window, I feel like I'd rather ride the devil's train than be stuck behind. I wouldn't want us to become some random foreign businessman's play thing, but if it came to something like Red Bull, who have set a precedence of success for t

I'd have us turn into RB Boro tomorrow. They run their sport teams superbly and have a track record of building success (F1 team, Salzburg, Leipzig). Plus we could have a Roary vs Red Bull mascot wrestling match every HT to liven up the atmosphere.

The only issue with that quiz is it has reminded me that Kike Sola has made an appearance at the Riverside and I haven't, despite us being equally talented footballers.

No, that midfield would be absolutely porous. Gone are the days when 1 midfielder can be relied upon to fulfill the defensive role in midfield. You NEED 2 players in the middle who can work hard and keep possession. Wing is waaaay too blasé in his defensive duties.

Warnock is going to sign 2-3 strikers this year, and they will be in the exact same positions on that graph at Akpom and Britt. I honestly think he's gone by Christmas. The way we "play" football just won't fly. A 3-0 home defeat to relegation fodder and the stadium will turn toxic.

Okay. Fast-forward a year, and all of these short-term deals expire, and those players move on. The club is... right back to where it is now? Needing another rebuild? Is that good, long-term management with a clear path of progression? Or is it literally hoping and praying that it all gels perfectly for this one year?

1. Agreed. It needs totally revamping from top to bottom with a clear philosophy and chain of command leading upto a Sporting Director. I'm not sure totally ignoring it in favour of Warnock's gut feeling on a player quite counts as that. 2. Agreed. It's not the worst case scenario, at all. But we've already done that in the last 5 years and we... spent the 100's of millions on bad players, and secured absolutely no future for the club whatsoever. Do you trust the club to not do that again? 3. Hoilett is nearly 31, Michael Smith is 29. They are the only concrete links we have, so they

This summer has the potential to be a catastrophe for the club. It's clear based on his comments regarding the Akpom signing that Warnock is not utilising our recruitment department to decide who we sign this year. He's basing it off of his, Jepsen, and Blackwell's opinions of scouting the players. What this means is we are going to have a squad designed and sculpted entirely by Warnock and his personal preferences. Players who are 28+, with little resale value, who are designed to make an immediate impact by playing functional (i.e physical, long ball) football, without an eye on th

It's just weird that he seems to think we're all genuinely glad to be finishing 10th? He said "the fans won't be too unhappy" which just goes to show how wildly disconnected he is without us in the stadium. Does he know Boro fans? We're never bloody happy. Today's showing would have had fan dissent on par with when we all tried to get Brad Guzan sent off against Southampton at home.

I reckon Warnock is under-estimating how sour fan sentiment has been towards the second half of this season, judging by his interviews and reactions to today. If he doesn't have us up for games from the start next season - if we play ANYTHING close to how uninterested we've been for the last couple of months - he's in for a rude awakening. Our fans would have crucified them today if they'd been in the Riverside.

Think there's a huge lack of leadership and professionalism. You look at the squad and think, how many of them are talkers/organisers? How many of them look like they train and give 110% every week? We don't have many players at all that give a solid 7/10 week in, week out. We really do need an absolute brick sh*thouse CB to lead and organise the defence (I'm frankly sick to death of McNair starting there).

Did you see what happened to him? He literally catapulted himself into the goal post. He was not faking it at all. Treatment 100% justified.

Aye, let's just trust to blind hope after 5 years of the same sh**. Do you seriously not understand why people feel how they feel?

Considering we aren't looking for a centre forward who scores goals so much as one who literally bullies defenders and brings others into play, we don't have to go too wild over being linked with lumps like Waghorn. We don't need a 20+ goal striker to play how Warnock wants us to play. We just need someone who is going to make the ball stick at the right end of the pitch. Akpom doesn't really do enough in that regard (Warnock has said a few times how disappointed he's been with him, and I don't just think he means goal output) and players like Britt have always been useless at it. I

So you're saying because he literally has a single quality - pace - that we can coach EVERYTHING else and turn him into a Man United quality player? Come on lad.

Spence is dire. Take anything over a couple of mill for him and get it re-invested ASAP. By 20 years old I'd expect a potential first team footballer to be able to carry his own two feet without tripping over them. Get shot.

On the bright side mate, we've got Neil on the phone to a few agents he knows trying to sort out a few hand-shakes before summer. Swings and roundabouts!

It's also worth noting that we can't just throw the kids on in the middle of 2 incredibly crucial games in the relegation race. I dislike Warnock as much as the rest of them, but I totally agree with what he's doing here. Got to respect the competition.

Could it be the last we see of Djed Spence in a Boro lineup? Fingers and toes crossed!

Am I the only one who is concerned that Stojanovic is only being let down by the fact that he isn't English? Warnock has gone on about wanting to "buy English" and "players who know the league" (because obviously, who wants to sign someone like Pukki or Buendia?). Very worrying, because there's no chance in hell anyone looked at Stojanovic, Bettinelli, and Archer and said Stojanovic was the one who needed to go based on performance and talent.