The manager's post-match interview with Sky Sports was refreshingly honest. Neil Harris readily admitted that Preston were the better side. He said his team was below-par, particularly when in possession of the ball, and admitted that his tactical switch that saw him bring on Madine and Ward hadn't worked out. He also spoke of the difficulties in getting a group of players like this one to play in a different way and how that's going to be a gradual process.

Unlike the last fella's tedious post-match interviews, there was no grizzling about the referee and no attempt to deflect the responsibility for a poor performance away from himself or his players. I thought he spoke really well.

Harris is on a hiding to nothing with this squad. Admittedly I haven't watched every game this season, but I've seen most of them either on TV or at the stadium and the truth is that I've yet to see City play another Championship team who have had less natural ability than them. Every other side I've watched has had their weaknesses, some of them glaring, but all of them have looked faster, more comfortable on the ball and better in possession. They've also generally been younger than City and have had at least one or two players who look genuinely promising.

Having said that, I should point out that I didn't see the games against Luton, Middlesbrough or Stoke, and I understand those three teams were desperately poor.

City's current squad is packed full of players who are average at best by Championship standards. Very few, if any, would get into one of the division's top sides. To compound matters, as a unit they are so conditioned to playing Warnock's style of huff and puff route one rubbish that getting them to play any other way is going to be very difficult.

I've watched City win 3-0 and 4-2 this season against sides who looked considerably better than them. As things stand, I reckon they're genuinely fortunate to have 33 points on the board and be sitting in the top half of the table. They could very easily be five, six or seven points worse off than they are now. Warnock made a horrendous mess of the last few transfer windows and I reckon it's likely to take anyone, let alone a young and relatively inexperienced manager like Neil Harris, at least a full season to redress the balance.