It would say a lot if a convulated process featuring all these applicants resulted in the appointment of one of Gestede's old managers who has had a number of failed managerial stints in recent history. The managers in general that have been linked have been a mixture of dubious, underwhelming and out right bad. Karanka I think beside maybe the comedic shouts of Boateng and Boa Morte would be as bad as has been linked. And based on initial reaction from fans, it would cause further unrest.

If we end up with Aitor Karanka would you be happy? Or Ljinders? Or Ismael? You clearly have more faith in our dysfunctionally run club than I do.

Justification for the slow process was often put down to the quality 150 applicants that made us rethink. Karanka, Ljinders and Ismael?

3 truly desperate choices. Karanka was the one from the original underwhelming list that I was most against. Would be a dreadful appointment and would be Rudy doing his mate a favour. Ljinders has had one terrible foray into management. Ismael isnt as bad but still isnt a very good choice.

Win percentages are such a flawed way to measure a managers competence without further information. He did do very well to get Barnsley into the play offs but that was a while ago. I might be misremembering this but im sure he played a back 3 at Barnsley with Brittain and Styles at wing back. His teams pressed really high up and he used to regularly make lots of attacking subs after an hour to get freshness into the team. Question is, would he be able to play such a different style with such little time to implement his ideas? Definitely not the worst name mentioned but equally big question marks as to his record after Barnsley.

You have just beat me to posting very similar points twice!

Cauley Woodrow was decent at Barnsley. Its a long time ago. Karanka was good at Boro but has had job after job of disappointment since.

Obviously we dont know how many are being interviewed but as I said, 7 or 8 would suggest that they dont really know what they are looking for. We seem to get more than our fair share of internal politics and disagreements due to the dysfunctional way the club is run. But actually, I shouldnt talk about that as you have already told me off for.

Yep, football isnt a normal business and managers' careers have been played out in the public eye so you already know about them so much more than for your standard average job.

I think we should have had an idea who or at least what they wanted prior to Eustace going. He clearly wasnt happy for a while. We shouldnt be interviewing loads and loads of people, that suggests weve been caught on the hop. Im sure lots of people applied as they do with any vacancy. Obviously none will be Burnley fans taking the piss or whatever Mercer said. But im sure a decent chunk could be instantly discarded as not appropriate. Im sure that lots of desperados, managers with minimal experience, former big name players, they chuck their name into the ring for any vacancy. Youve seen stories of people like Dwight Yorke annoyed that he didnt hear back from applying for the Villa job when Gerrard left. So im not having that they had to seriously ponder over every single application. I bet because weve got so many people (Waggott, Suhail, Owen and Gestede) all sticking their beak in. Theres the usual disagreements we always seem to have at our club and its little wonder so many are being considered.

We can bury our head in the sand if you prefer. But the issues are kind of important.

I never said either of those things.

They are in great form so its hard to suggest that the decision is wrong.

My point like many others is that there was seemingly no succession plan to Eustace leaving. Youve seemingly reverted from last week going mad at the issues at the club to assuming that everything is running at maximum efficiency. I dont believe the club had any idea as to what was next after Eustace and they are just hoping to wing it. Short term its a good opportunity. There are never any medium or long term plans at this football club.

You keep saying things like whats the rush, why panic, whats the issue with having an interview process. No one has said any of those things. The situations arent as different as you suggest. Tomasson was let go by mutual consent but like with Eustace, he was the one who in a different way made his position untenable. He wasnt sacked because of relegation worries. And it all blew up as a result of another manager not being backed in January. Both were similar in that they had repeatedly and publically aired their frustrations building up to them going. The alledged 100+ applicants thing wont be some unique process quashing eventuality. I bet a large % of them could have been discarded within an hour.

Clearly was no succession plan and you would think a number of these supposed applicants would be immediately discarded as not suitable.

The thing is, those points per game tallies needed would be really difficult to sustain over a season but over 13 games, surely at least a couple will put together 3/4 wins at some stage and all of a sudden those points per games tallies become achievable.

I never said rush.

I dont understand why hiring the right manager and doing the process in a timely manner are mutually exclusive.

He cant this season. And even if he can. Why would he be desperate to go to a manager who (understandably) didnt seem to fancy him even when fit and one who he will see as at least involved in the decision not to register him?

I wouldnt be overly keen on O'Neil. His sides regularly had issues defending set pieces and holding on to leads. We also saw regular discipline breaches at Wolves. At Bournemouth, they obviously replaced him with an incredibly talented manager so the improvement since is more a reflection on how good Iraola is. But at Wolves, considering the talk of player sales etc, his replacement managed to exceed O'Neil's point tally this season in half the number of games. Its not just me being negative. I have actually aired my views on him in the Premier League thread in the past when he was at Wolves. Of course, with the likes of Boateng and Boa Morte mentioned, it very nicely makes it seem like a pleasant upgrade in comparison. Saying that, it is very much speculation and the market is so volatile to change so I dont know if he is actually likely to come.

Yes. Yes. Really. Its a shoddy way to treat someone. It was an excuse you was using as to why we werent signing players earlier in the window, which is when I raised the point. The difference is when we had the discussion, it was with time left before the window. Had we told Sigurdsson prior to the window closing that he wasnt going to be registered, or indeed anyone, that would be different as it would allow that player to either seek an exit, agree a termination of his contract prior to the window closing so at least he could move anywhere, or even if it he wanted to sit on his contract. Im not complaining about paying anyone off. I am saying that to not tell a player in advance of the window closing that he wont be registered. But instead only deciding and communicating after the window has closed leaving him somewhat in limbo is really poor. But our January signature move as a club is to fuck someone over, its the third winter running, so no surprise.

There is still a way of doing things and again ours wasnt the right way. Although, im not sure Woodrow needed to be signed.

An absolute mess to see a player unregisterer because we had too many players and had to be paid off. But hes been crap for us. Made of glass, slow, soft and a huge disappointment.

Obviously our league position but their squad. I dont rate Carrick as a manager, hes a media darling who they forsee getting the United job one day so he gets hyped way beyond his limited capability. My point was, it seems hypocritical to defend our transfer business in terms of spending/ambition when weve reinvested a fraction of what they have. I would agree that selling Latte Lath is clearly a blow.