Mowgli

Correct. And I thought it was recognised FF was carrying an injury for large part of season (not sure this excuses his poor kicking mind)

Why?

Very unpopular (scapegoat) at Villa but apart from some naive negotiations in front of a hidden camera he's not done anything wrong whilst with us. That said, these coaches Pelliegrino is bringing with him come with excellent reputations.

Some harsh comments from fellow fans. Presumably some mental illnesses are more 'fashionable' than others. I understand why it is difficult to look at the consequences and show sympathy but I guess you have to experience deep depression to understand the torture of the condition.

Not really. The Poch style was a pretty constant high press which RK thought tired the players out too much. He said there were times to press and times when you backed off and hit them on the counter. I think he called it an intelligent high press. On the whole I thought it was less predictable and we were harder to beat as a result. That said, I've seen some dire games under both, as well as Puel. I think Poch has progressed since leaving us and is now clearly the best of the three. Hopefully Pellegrino will be better still. High press, good counter, entertaining football and actually coaching the best out of the players rather than ****ing any off. Can't believe people are not excited about the new season!

Quality!!

He didn't feature last season. Or the season before that. So not surprising he was fifth choice really. I'm just not really prepared to judge either way on a total of 5 first team league starts.

Unlucky rather than a poor record. Forren has proved his ability elsewhere. It was a combination of things that worked against him here but basically he was home sick - which eventually led to other issues. Gardos? Well the jury is out. Too hampered by injuries which is why I classify the signing as unlucky.

It's a whole new ball game with the new manager. With Austin, Long, JRod, Gallagher, Redmond and Gabbiadini there is plenty of options up front. It's not so much a goal scoring midfielder we are missing as someone who can unlock the killer pass. Boufal, Sims, Redmond, JWP and even Davis can do that. We can criticise and praise performances last season all we like - it counts for nothing in 2017/18. Gallagher will surely get his chance now. Incidentally, anyone following Harrison Reed on social media will be aware that he has been back doing gym work for over two weeks already so showing a lot of commitment and determination to force himself into the reckoning.

At 21? I doubt it.

When was the last time that THREE left back created such a positive debate? All good in their own way.

Hmmm... the old 'what is a bigger club argument' again. We all know how that ends. Pretty subjective really. Leeds are a big club but I can't see VVD going there. If he wants Champions League football on a regular basis and / or silverware in England he really needs to look at Chelsea or Man City (closely followed by Spurs and Arsenal). If I was him I would be aiming higher - Barcelona, Real Madrid...

Mixing a 1980's shirt with 1880's shorts makes no sense whilst a return in future to original kits (ignoring sash and squares kit) I can see might have some appeal. But lets quit while we are ahead. The 17/18 home and away kits are awesome.

I meant reduces credibility - damn spell check.

I was starting to believe you and then you put that last word in. Always Reece's credibility.

Shows class

We sometimes forget he's only 23. And he has doubled his scoring rate here compared to his spell at Norwich.

If you do it will probably be a P@mpey player.... ;-)

Pretty sure it was Cortese. I seem to remember a video interview with him and he talked about going along (possibly with Mitchell) to the Espanyol game and being impressed by Poch so went back to a few more games before making his move.

Fans rally against manager, style of football and lack of entertainment before booing him off the pitch on the last game of the season. Then they start a "Puel out" thread on a forum before criticising the board for not denying the "Puel out" rumour because now the papers have picked up on it. Anyone else spot the irony?

Not really. Think where we were 10 years ago when the U23's were being recruited. Hardly a major attraction for youngsters or their parents. We will see significant strides over the coming years to match our rise through the leagues. Every club is a selling club. Even Leicester struggles to hold on to their better players when they won the league. Unless we can match the Liverpools and Man Utds on salary, there is always going to be an exodus. Nothing has changed there in the last 30 years. Unlike to change in the next 30. The key is making enough money through buying cheap and selling high to constantly rejuvenate the squad and developing 'free' talent through the academy. Even though U23s got relegated that was down more to first teamers getting match practice (and not giving 100% to avoid injury) and not to the likes of Stephens, Reed, Targett, Olamola, Slattery et al. Give me VVD instead of Lovren any day. Cedric will generally out perform Clyne. Bertrand will definitely out perform Shaw. Romeu is arguably a step up on Big Vic. The others are more debatable but overall we're surviving (and progressing) pretty well. I'll grant you that the performances were not as entertaining this year but to say we have gone markedly backwards after achieving 3 successful top ten finishes for the first time in 132 years of the clubs history is perhaps not fully appreciating where we are. I have no doubt that will improve next season - either with a new manager and mainly the existing squad or with Puel getting rid of the disruptive players and getting personnel in that believe in him.

I'm sure they'll give you your money back (less an admin fee) if that's how you feel. Honestly don't think there are too many other surprised that he is going.

To be fair, I think many are simply looking at who is available (there's not many). So irrespective of the tweet I have no doubt we would be discussing his merits on here.

Is this really appropriate for a public forum?

Absolutely. If posters actually know what the club could be saying, why do they actually need to say it?