Is that just adding on, obviously with the inclusion of Paul Watson coming in as the Chief Technical Officer, is that just adding on the success that the club has had and just showing it even more?

Yeah, I think so.

But I mean, I don't think you can really compare.

You can't compare us to a Chelsea or a Man City or a Liverpool or whatever, because their model is very, very different.

They just buy it as much as they possibly can.

We're never going to be able to get to a stage where we can do that.

And we're buying probably a slightly older player than than those, you know, we're probably getting their, I wouldn't say their cast-offs, but the players that, you know, they've been there and haven't done it and want to go somewhere else.

to to be able to go in the second half and just feel a bit more comfortable but the third goal um i don't know where it came from i know he obviously went off with a bit of cramp afterwards nick but the finish i mean rise rise put a video out um he's done this quite a lot in his training you know taking the touch and flipping it over his right shoulder and bending it with his left foot so practice does make perfect but the finish was absolutely sublime

but we've been in the way where it's basically just, you kind of just chuck yourself in, don't you? You know, you just stand there and just deal with

it.

Yeah, you look at it from the other perspective, you know, there are people who, for whatever reason, maybe they've got children or something and they've specifically chosen a specific seat because that might enable their child to watch the match or they may have a disability or they may have an issue that they need to be on the end of an aisle for whatever reason.

I don't know, but, you know, you know, see, away ends have...

The only one that I can ever recall that didn't have actual seats was Ashton Gate in the day when we were at the other end of the ground.

Oh, yeah.

In fact, that's the only away ticket that I'm missing because the game in, I think it was probably in 94 or something like that, it was pay on the gate, which a lot of them were in those days because the demand wasn't there, and it would sit anywhere.

Is it just about meeting, making sure that their expectations are kind of limited and managed a bit better?

If his striker's informed the way he is, for one, and you've got a midfielder, you just pointed out Behalter there, who's informed and he's getting used to the league and he's now gelling in quite well, why would he change it? Why would he think, I've got to freshen it up? Especially when you've got a week's rest coming up as well.

I think, Steve, my first reaction was that Langshear and Behalter must be carrying a knock.

Clearly they weren't and clearly it was simply a mistake in my opinion.

Did we disrespect Cardiff? They came here on a very poor record away from home.

Five games, four defeats and one draw.

Did he think this was going to be an easy game? Possibly.

But again, I understand some of the comments he made after the game.

For everyone, you know, it shouldn't be categorised on how many you bring for how much you charge.

Strand-Larsen?

No, no, no, no, not their player that, The centre forward has been around a bit and you said that it took him at the beginning of that season and...

Has it brought you? No, no, no, no, no.

I remember him in it.

You know, you look at people like him and, you know, how consistent are these players? And, you know, for me, he was disappointing and he wasn't the threat that I thought he would be.

But, you know, we've got players like that as well in our time as well, haven't we, that have gone on to...

He went to Sheffield...

So, yeah, there's got to be extra sanctions or extra punishment.

I feel like next few months he's probably the biggest pressure he's going to be put under as a coach and i mean i'm not saying what he experienced at hammerby was was not you know pressurized you know uh being towards top league but this is you know the prize at the end is probably the biggest pressure he's ever been under

yeah i mean he made comments didn't he about some of the players that we've signed who aren't used to that pressure either and and i thought at the time well You know what, you could say the same about him, really.

But again, I haven't looked at them, but I suspect if you track the games we've played so far against the same games last season, we might even be slightly ahead.

We got beat by Millwall, we got beat by Blackburn, just the same.

We won at Birmingham.

you know we didn't do particularly well against the relegated teams if you swap that for Lincoln I think there's a you know we've always got to remember there's two sides in all of these games you know have we had a hard start I don't think we have had a hard I don't think we've had an easy start but we certainly haven't had a hard start you know if you look you know we haven't played West Ham we haven't played Southampton we haven't played Wolves we haven't played Swansea who are top of the league You know, so, you know, I don't think we've had an easy start, but at the same time, I don't think it's been overly difficult.

You know, you can't think that Birmingham are going to be in the hunt for automatic promotion, for example.

Mm-hmm.

But if he'd have had somebody in front of him a little bit closer, then I don't think that goal would have been scored.

No, no, you're absolutely right.

It's all quite ironic.

We talked last week about not doing it for 90 minutes and how last season we played well first half typically and second half we weren't as good.

This season, before this week, it was complete role reversal in that the first halves were poorer than the second halves.

And I'd said last week, wouldn't it be good if you could put it all together for 90 minutes? And then you get two performances this week when arguably...

the first half was far superior to the second half again, which is what we saw last year.

Nick, come to you, because obviously you're on the bottom row, near a certain striker's family.

What can you tell us about this young lad, another one from America?

Well, actually, I have seen him play 90 minutes this season in a 4-0 defeat when I was in the Europa League qualifiers.

He played in that game.

The name didn't mean anything to me.

It was another name.

It's not an American type name, so I'd never heard of him as the answer.

But I did get tipped off the day before the reports came through because, again, another one of my football clients who is Croatian.

Jed Spencer's another one, he's moved to Inter Milan, so it's helping the money roll over, it's not having to rely on Steve Gibson piling money in each and every window, which... it's its own prerogative you might say you know i can't do it this year um which i don't think i'll ever do but this is giving you a bit more back and a bit more rump and the recruitment team have done well with the money that we've been we've been given so you know it's been a really good window i say we'll round up the window when it's all done tomorrow but i'll come to each and every one of you um i'll start with you nick is there any more that we do need in this window or do you think we're just about done now

We don't have that on the pitch, do we?

There's no leaders, no.

You know, you could argue, couldn't you, that it's a new team, it's a lot of new players, not knowing really where they should be playing and what they should be doing.

You can forgive them a little bit for that, but, you know, I just question, you know, we haven't we haven't got anybody on the pitch who is, in my opinion, capable of, you know, getting all the people by the throat almost.

I mean, that unfortunately in today's football is gone.

But, you know, for me, you know, that you need something, you know, probably the do-gooders are saying that, you know, you're not supposed to do that.

And again, a very interesting conversation with Graeme Souness over that a few weeks ago.

exactly it's able to keep the money for any any more business we're going to do in the next uh week a week and a bit or so so yeah you're absolutely right i'll come to the next one on nick ticket prices just come up for qpr we were talking about it last week um i said particular prices obviously blackburn charging an arm and a leg to get in especially in the upper tier thought blackburn was quite cheap when i saw the prices that qpr were offering 42 pound 50 for a restricted view seat

He fitted in quite well straight away, didn't he?

Yeah, I think that was a massive difference, Steve, in terms of the quality of delivery, there was a ball in the first half that he put in from probably 30 yards out, a free kick, that last year would have, you know, there'd have been no pace on it or it had gone straight through or whatever.

But the delivery from set pieces, corners and free kicks was just a different level than what we've experienced.

And, you know, twofold really, as Jacob said, you know, first thing is the delivery and the second thing is somebody to actually make something a delivery and last season you could argue that we had neither really um no yeah we had we had a few center halves come up and had a ball whatever whatever but you know in terms of the quality of the ball and the and the the opportunities i think you know it's got to board well for the season i was reading there was something like 25 of goals last season in the efl was scored from set pieces And then I don't know where we were on that, but I suggest we're a long way behind 25% of our goals.

You

know, transfers in today's world, Steve, are so, so complicated in terms of the actual deal and you look at the complexities and you know years gone by a player was sold to another club for X and that was the end of it and now you've got salons you've got you know you've got buybacks you've got all sorts of you know and then you've also got loads of milestones that you know in years gone by those milestones didn't exist whereas you know whereas you know in today's world you know there are so many extras there are so many clauses in the contracts, but that's, you know, that's by the, I guess it's just the way that transfers have evolved and there's fees have gone up and it's become more and more crucial and more and more relevant.

What are you thinking about? Do we go on loan for a keeper? Do we go permanent? What would your preference be?

I think it's very much a case of what is available and at what price.

I mean, I was talking in the paper yesterday or today that I saw that the keeper at Everton is on a very, very big wage.

Why would he then come to Middlesbrough? Well, he might come to Middlesbrough if he's in the last year of his contract and we offer him a three or four year contract, but he ain't going to come to Middlesbrough for a significant pay cut.

There's always deals to be done and we don't know We don't know what the numbers are.

I mean, there's two sides to every deal, isn't there? There's one is a transfer fee and the other one is a salary.

And if you've got an expensive transfer fee and a cheaper salary or vice versa, it works.

What about you, Nick? What are you most looking forward to in the new season coming up?