That is some incredible collection of screamers!

It is called opinion, not evidence.

That Paulo Jorge left in 2015? Ya, how did I miss that. I will need to take his poster down off my bedroom wall now. You are a true fan Athletes foot

Jesus, Jordan Slew, I forgot about him. Crazy times. As for the Portuguesers , if they were on 10,000 a week, I would eat my hat. Why did they leave to mickey mouse leagues for less money so??

That is still only 1 youth player. The implication in the post that started this conversation was that agents were signing a lot of our youth players onto big contracts at the club. That doesn't seem to be the case though?

1-Don't buy a football club when you know jack-sh1t about football 2-Do not sack a respected coach and replace him with a coach recommended by an agent 3-Do not stick with that coach when it is obvious none of the fans want him and that he will relegate the team 4-Do not stick with him after relegation 5-Do not bring a Malaysian football pundit in as a global advisor 6-Throwing money into a relegated team does not guarantee promotion and will land you under FFP restrictions 7-Get football people in and let them make football decisions (the Coyle appointment was an absolutely terrible decision, so I suppose you can't always trust "football people" either!) I would say the above 7 points have been their key leanings

I don't know. Did he? If he did, is that such a bad thing? He was seen as being a good prospect here and I wouldn't say 5,000 is crazy money. Not sure it has worked out for him though.

Ya it should be diversified where possible, but player quality needs to be number the number 1 factor.

Agents are a horrible aspect of modern football, no doubt about that. We got absolutely fleeced by them over the past 6 years, but there was a concentrated period when we were probably getting fleeced and signing more dross than anyone else. Venkys learnt an extremely costly lesson. The unfortunate reality is that we will need to engage with agents to sign players going forward. There is no alternative. Picking and choosing agents isn't the answer either though. Number 1 is the focus on the right players we need to improve our squad and then work to deal with their agents. Every club is getting fleeced by them in one was or another. They are a horrible devious breed by and large though and a horrible by product of the money that has flooded the game. Even though I saw it before, reading that article is so depressing. It strikes me though that the one thing that Venkys really made a mess of was picking managers. If they had have gotten in a Mick MCarthy or a Warnock our first year in the Championship and given them the transfer reigns. I am pretty sure we would have been promoted in a similar fashion to Newcastle. So depressing.

But they haven't played for us and most have been released by other clubs. I don't see where the profit for agents is in this instance? I can't see a signing commission/bonus for handful of no mark youth players being that lucrative.

What is a big contract for a youth player? Is Mahoney on his books?

Someone posted the league table before Mowbray joined and since. I would recommend that you take a good look at it.

Which players were these?

There is no guarantee that Mowbray will stick with Steele just because he had him at boro. The thing is though that we have been spoiled here with our goalkeepers. Friedel in particular set an unachievable standard that is pretty much impossible to repeat, even if we were still in the premiership. Hopefully Raya comes good,because I think it will be very difficult to sign a goalkeeper of the standard we all expect and want at the club.

If you are getting wound up by me saying that I am more optimistic about this summer than I have been of previous summers under Venkys,you need to see a counsellor and learn some stress management techniques. Either that or maybe you really enjoyed previous summers under Venkys. In which case,you should also see a counsellor.

I think some posters on here You should boycott this message board in protest until they go.

I haven't really enjoyed any to be honest. I am more positive about this one. We have a proper manager, a DOF to improve communications with the owners and some talented young players coming through.

What was your favourite summer under Venkys?

We need to keep Mahoney. He is exactly the type of player we need right now to excite the fans. If he leaves, he won't be replaced adequately. All the money that has been wasted here over the years, this seems like a no brainer. I would say what division we are in will play a huge part in his decision.

What? I must have missed that

Nothing wrong with that as long as Mowbray has an input. Which I would assume he will.

Well that was their choice. It isnt really relevant to this summer anyway. We don't have any Bentley's or Santa Cruzes hanging around the place.

I don't think anyone thought it was the way forward, but it was necessary for many seasons in the Premiership. Selling Santa Cruz, Bentley etc for big money was the right decision at the time. The key is reinvesting the money well. Which by and large we did over the years BV(before venkys) No doubt about it , that side of things has slipped massively under the current owners. We are coming at this now from a certain level. My point is that I believe things are settling down a bit behind the scenes and in the dugout. I am not going to burst into a rendition of "Things can only get better" but I do believe we will be stronger next season and that relegation is not inevitable.

I wanted proof about a phone call(which has not come, incidentally). What does that have to do with me being optimistic? Your point doesn't make sense, but I will play along. The reason why I am more optimistic is because we now have a DOF to improve communications with the owners. We have a solid managerial appointment. The manager has already spoken to the owners, which was not the case with previous managers. So that would suggest to me that small changes are happening, for the better. Look I am not getting into a big debate about this. I feel more optimistic about this summer(provided we stay up of course) I am not asking anyone else to. I will leave it at that.

The low bar setting probably does play a part Some decent signings in (free or not, doesn't matter if they are good) , none of our important players leaving, deadwood cleared out and new contracts for Mahoney, Lowe and possible Guthrie. All combined with the most solid manager we have had since Allardyce. That is the minimum I expect. Which I would argue is the most positive summer since Venkys took over. Anything extra is a bonus. I know we have been burned by agents, but I don't think we need to over focus on this. Anderson was a different animal.