-Mendieta is good but not the player he was. If he was truly that good Lazio would never have let him go, or more to the point Barcelona would have signed him after he went on loan there. He wasn't even in the Spanish squad for Euro 2004 when he would've been an almost certain starter 2-3 years ago, so that tells you something.
-We were never linked with anyone who would be an unrealistic target for this club. When Robson was in charge all I ever read about was him being 'interested' in signing god only knows how many players *that were beyond Middlesbrough's means* - Man United get linked with a ton of players but they can buy almost anyone because they're a huge club...examples off the top of my head include the De Boer brothers (when they were still at Ajax and could've moved to any club in Europe), Sol Campbell, Kluivert (again when he had the pick of teams in Europe), Shevchenko, and I'm pretty sure at one point he might've mentioned Zidane
The point is he made himself look like a prat by even thinking they would ever go near Middlesbrough.
-If you think I'm jealous of Middlesbrough you must be on a different planet.
-Bryan Robson - a mini Chelsea years before Abramovich came along. Threw money at a team and hoped some of it stuck. Won nothing. Eventually got found out. His fantastic management skills sure worked at Bradford this season didn't they?
-Juninho - wow, the Umbro Cup
Seriously, he had a good season when he first arrived (lord knows why he did, I'll never understand it) but then his form dipped. Sold, broke his leg, couldn't get a regular place in a team back home, came back still good but not the player he once was.
-Ravenelli - booted out of Juventus as part of their revolving door of strikers in the late 90s. Lasted just over a season, mainly because of the fantastic paypacket he was picking up.
-Merson - good player but you can't honestly tell me he would slot into a major European team.
-Emerson - came for the money, lost interest in the 2nd half of the season, sold.
-Southgate - booted out of Villa as part of Deadly Doug's annual costcutting. Not the player he once was but still a decent defender. Best years are behind him though.
-Ince - see Southgate, replace Villa with Liverpool and costcutting with managerial fallout.
-Gascoigne - please. The man is and has been for years a walking joke. Besides which we had him last season so don't be so proud
-Geremi - loan signing, doesn't really count. Could've come back but showed how much he liked the place by signing for Chelsea.
-Boksic - as before with Ravenelli, except Ravanelli wasn't a broken down cripple. Has flashes of his old self but time and injuries pretty much destroyed him as a player.
-World class, i.e. someone who could play for any team in the world. Dunno why you mention Wolves cause it's not about us, the last world class player we had was probably Billy Wright back in the 50s. Mendieta used to be very good, but he isn't the player he was. Zidane isn't world class? Nedved? Raul? Ayala? Shevchenko? Maldini? The list could go on.
-Zenden isn't your player, he's Chelsea's and he knew he wouldn't get a game this season if he hadn't moved somewhere. Doriva isn't all that - Roque Jnr is a world cup winner as well, and he didn't exactly set the world on fire at Leeds did he?