Could Tuesday be the day that the new manager is introduced ?
Football is a funny game and riddled with rumour and counter rumour and sometimes as those old enough to be following the club on a certain February morning in 1980 will testify, it throws up some unlikely surprises.
However one thing that has to be remembered is that just because something doesnt happen, it doesnt mean that it was never going to or indeed wasnt actually very close to happening, many a deal has been hit by last minute hitches that have completely scuppered it to the complete ignorance of the supporters.
So who will be unveiled at our next press conference ? the smart money has been on Nigel Adkins, but as i write several other names are coming up fast, Phil Brown for instance is making a late surge and then of course there is the name of Martin O'Neill.
If O'Neill was to be unveilled it would be as big a shock to football as the aforementioned announcement of Kevin Keegan, however its not as unlikely as you may think.
Firstly it could just appeal to O'Neill for several reasons, firstly their is nothing suitable in the Premiership, there isnt a club with a job available who can realistically challenge and in reality O'Neill is just waiting for a big Club to be needing a manager, O'Neill knows his timing was slightly out, if Liverpool were looking now he would be a bolt on certainty, but they arent and Hodgson is likely to be at least two years in the job, similar situations at Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd, so thats the big four out of the question, at least in the short term.
Next is the current pretenders, Tottenham and Man City are the two clubs best positioned to realistically break the monopoly, but its hard to see those jobs being vacant till at least the end of this season, Aston Villa who he has just left are 7th and then Everton, so in the top 8 of the Premiership there is nothing available and when you look and see who is in the table after them all that offers O'Neill is a first step on to the slippery slope.
Simiarly the England job, that will be tied up until at least this time next year when either England will have qualified and Capello will be safe until after the Euro's or they will fail and O'Neill could be banging in his application.
So at this moment in time he needs a nice safe bolt hole for at least this season and possibly two, somewhere where it can offer him a genuine challenge but wont ruin his reputation and therefore his chances to land a biggie when the time arises, offers him low pressure in comparison to the premier, oh and also somewhere were he can get out quickly and easily when the a job he craves becomes vacant.
If you look at it from this perspective then suddenly it could seem possible.
But as I have said taking a deal from possible to happening is a long process albeit one that crams a lot into a relatively short time as most managerial appointments mid season are.
But the problem is a manager like O'Neill will demand total control on team affairs and that includes transfers, Nicola Cortese comes from a European background in football, a background where the players are signed by the Chairman/President etc and not by the manager/coach, in places like Italy & Spain this is the norm, so its fair to assume that our Chairman will want to follow this pattern, that isnt a criticism, merely an observation and explanation to those who wonder just why Cortese would want to control signings.
In truth this could be a big stumbling block in signing the main contenders, those with a reputation will want to ensure that preserving it is completely down to them, so that will leave those willing to work under these conditions and whilst desperate for an opportunity might be too strong a sentence, it does of course give some clues.
As I have stated this is not a criticism of Cortese, its merely an observation that this is a man with an Italian way of doing things with regard to football finding that those he wishes to employ work far differently, we have of course seen this blueprint before undder a previous Chairman, the uestion is back then the supporters thought this was completely the wrong way to do things, have their feelings changed and are they now open to this new European style.
So who will Cortese be turning too to advise him, the answer is Les Reed, here is the 2010 version of Sir Clive Woodward, ostentaciously Reed is here to work on the academy, but being one of the most experienced men in the behind the scenes workings, it is only natural that Reed would be the man that Cortese turns to, but this could be a problem for a prospective manager in that in England the manager is second only to the Chairman in decision making and likes to go direct.
So who will be the next manager ? to be fair to our Chairman he has kept things under wraps very well, undoubtably he has met several applicants in the past week or so, now its decision time and the word is compromise, both a new appointment and our Chairman will have to meet in the middle to a certain degree as to the way things will work, otherwise like with Pardew things could once again turn sour.