Mick

We've got to give the kids a chance to progress as long as we're not playing too many at once, they need to be involved with the first team and they need to get games to move forward as players. We've got some kids who look like they will make it in the game and the only way they can show that it to gain the experience which will only come with minutes on the pitch. They also need the incentive of knowing that they will get a chance from time to time, the more experience we bring in the lesser the chance of that happening and they'll suffer for it and so will the club in the long term.

The quality of the squad has improved, that is more important because we've got kids who are a year older than this time last year and a year more experienced. We've got to give kids a chance or they will never improve so we can't block them by bringing in mature players who aren't good enough and only get games because of injuries. We still lack a bit of quality in midfield and are thin up front because two of our best 3 forwards are suspect when it comes to missing games due to injury but we're not short of numbers.

Gone are Emre, Carr, Ramage, Diatta and Faye so far, we've brought in Coloccini, Gutierrez, Bassong and Guthrie. I would say we have brought in more than we've lost when looking at the quality of those who have been brought in and how much those leaving would have played.

£8 million for Dyer was better.

We bid a record fee for Modric and had a bid in for Coloccini at roughly the same time, budget doesn't come into it. If a player who we want is available and willing to come then we'll do what we can to get them.

£10 million plus for Milner, yes please.

Alam Smith scored less than 1 in 4 for Leeds, do you mean before that?

Kamil who?

Fixed.

Alan Smith. Is that the one you rated and was brought to the club by the manager you wanted at the club? I guess he could come good and eventually score a goal for us if he plays up front for the rest of his career and we face a team without a keeper.

What he does off the pitch affects what he does on it, we'll learn in the next week how many games he'll miss for being a thug.

Taylor wanted the same as Milner and N'Zogbia, whatever that was, he didn't ask for more than them.

I'd be very surprised if Taylor was given more than he was asking for and I've seen nothing to suggest that he did.

Agreed and I think if nothing happens regarding the transfer then all sides will forgive and forget although I think Milner will still want more money.

The club have gone public, we'll have to wait and see why.

Do you think Taylor received more money because of the delay? If Taylor was given the new contract earlier surely Milner would have just asked for more sooner, I don't see how the timing would affect anything.

Yes it was, at least we now only have to look back and cringe rather than go through it.

He was definitely here when Souness opened his mouth. I know Milner has been given loads of games and I'm not trying to say that he's a top player but I think the two things I mentioned are fairly shit and undeserved. I think it's a credit to him that he's just got on with his game. I wouldn't be too happy if my boss went to the press and publicly put me down and I still think our handling of his transfer to Villa was poor so we'll just have to disagree about that.

The PFA are representing him, he's not bleating to them and I doubt Milner is the type of player to get a strop on if he's still here once the window closes.

Souness, I think it might have been between going out of Europe and playing Man U at Cardiff, it was around that time anyway.

I can't remember too many players being told they are going and then the selling club withdrawing at the last minute and keeping a player who will have been told that he was not a part of our plans. The Souness comment was made while Milner was at the club and we had just lost in Europe, he wasn't at Villa at all.

I can only guess that the PFA have advised him during talks so I don't have a problem with what has happened. I think him using the PFA rather than some of the shitty agents knocking about is also a credit to him. It probably hasn't gone as expected but these things happen and both parties will move on from this.

If Milner does go then I'd like to thank him for his efforts both on and off the pitch, the lad is a model pro who has always tried his best. I can't think of any player who has been treated so badly by the club yet he's taken it all on the chin. We almost flogged him to Villa only to change our minds at the last minute and we've had the manager publicly stating that we'd win nothing with a team full of James Milner’s. I wish him luck as a player and a person, some of the comments in here are pathetic, Milner has always worked his bollocks off for us and if life was fair he’d be a top player, which he isn’t. I can’t think of any player who has worked as hard as Milner over the last few years and he’s done that for us, the club and himself.

He doesn't look sharp yet but we'll see over the coming weeks how he's going to play, I think he'll be OK.