ClaphamFox

You mean like we did with Cooper last summer?

Surely this has to happen? They go together like real ale and salted peanuts.

He's very highly rated.

I don't think it would placate many. Surely most fans would see it as a very poor decision?

BBM probably won't be going anywhere just yet. Cardiff's calls will just keep going to voicemail for the next few weeks unless one of the cleaners happens to be nearby and picks up the phone...

I’m sceptical that we’ve even approached Rohl yet.

Well Pereira managed to walk in the door at Wolves and sort the culture out immediately. They were a different club after he joined. We shouldn’t be touching Gary O’Neil with a barge pole.

Hasn’t the penny dropped that nothing is going to happen until July?

Hence my use of the phrase, “I’m not saying that finding such a manager is easy”. But as I said, other clubs of our size and smaller seem to manage it, so I don’t see why it should be beyond us.

I don’t have a specific name. I just want the club to show some imagination and resourcefulness and recruit a manager with both leadership skills and tactical intelligence. I’m not saying finding such a manager is easy, but other clubs seem to manage it. Why not us?

He’s a coach, not a manager. Bournemouth got rid of him when his stock was still high because they recognised this, and haven’t looked back. He did ok initially at Wolves but then completely lost the dressing room so they sacked him, and they haven’t looked back. He would be a horrendous choice.

I've heard from a very well-placed source that we might not hear anything concrete on the managerial front for another three weeks. I can't say the reason why because obviously I need to protect my source, but if you imagine a piggy bank being emptied and only an out-of-circulation penny dropping out, you might get the picture. I can't say any more - I've probably exposed my source too much as it is

If it were Dyche there would be absolutely no need to be so secretive about it as he's already been widely linked. It's hardly something that could expose a source as everybody is already talking about it...

He's 65. Surely he's got better things to do with his time than trying to turn around a basket case Championship club?

Mine too.

I wouldn't, personally. I suspect it would go badly and it would taint his legacy with us, which would be sad.

Gary Megson has unfinished business with us.

Ha - my opinion of Southgate has actually gone up a fair bit after watching England under Tuchel. However, I don't think he's right for us and I can't for the life of me imagine he'd want to join a circus like LCFC when he could get paid more as a DoF at a much more stable club.

As cautious as you are about actually saying who you mean?

Given that people were so against Russell Martin because of his inability to coach a defence and his inflexible adherence to a style of play that wouldn't work for us in the PL, I'm amazed that anybody wanted Ange.

You do understand correctly. So far, the deductions imposed by the panel have been lower than those requested by the PL, which is unsurprising given that the panel has to listen to both sides. I have no idea how this one will play out, but my gut feeling is that it will end up being much more complicated than some of the recent media reports would have us believe...

The PL does not get to decide the punishment.

Are there any actual rumours about Ben Wilkinson?

Yes, O'Rourke works for Football Insider, which may well explain why he's spinning this version of events. Journalists working for media outlets like Football Insider and TalkSport (which also claimed that Martin was basically a done deal) are under heavy pressure to get scoops, which makes them more susceptible to being hoodwinked by false rumours. Our club is so centralized and secretive that hardly any genuine leaks come out from our side, which means that any rumours we hear are likely to have come from agents.

It makes you wonder whether the club ‘going silent’ was influenced by the very negative fan reaction to the rumours about Martin joining. Either way, we do indeed appear to be a mess, although in this case it seems to have inadvertently had a positive impact in putting Martin off.