Seems about a week since it was being reported, shouldn't we have heard something about the outcome by now? They always say that sides in the Play offs are at a disadvantage when it comes to planning for the following season because they can't be sure of what division they're going to be in. The situation is different at City, but with no confirmation yet as to who our manager will be for the start of 23/24, we are, effectively in the same position as those Play Off teams.

That said, at many clubs the manager plays little part in the recruitment processes and basically ends up having to deal with what he is given. The difference is though that most such clubs have structures where their recruitment department could carry on with their work in he event of their manager leaving because they have a clear philosophy of how they want to play the game.

Seeing as we ended the season playing the sort of football we've played for much of the past decade with a squad which was supposedly assembled with the intention of playing in a completely different manner, we clearly do not have a coherent philosophy as to how we want to play the game. Although we've come up with some good loans lately, I wouldn't want our summer rebuilld to be carried out by people who are not involved in the management and/or coaching of the team.

We need to confirm Lamouchi in the job or get someone else in quick if there's a problem with him staying here - the bargains in he market we're forced to shop in will be gone pretty quickly and the last thing we want is to end up recruiting people in the month before the season starts who nobody else wanted.