Well, the thing about appointing a "Young Buck" Manager is that you have to have the upper levels in place and established first, either by sticking with a successful team already in place or else by going for a high-profile DOF first and then bringing in somebody that that DOF has an established relationship with so both can hit the ground running. So either we bring in Dave Whelan as DOF or we are taking a massive risk with Martinez and a new DOF that could take months to gel - certainly you could write off this Transfer Window for any meaningful strategic signings.
(Where do we stand with coaches other than Guardiola who have worked with Txixi or DOF's who have worked with Villas Boas)
The alternative, then, is the older, wiser head who can come in on a more English model. Leaving aside the fact that FSG seem to be discounting this model (a mistake in my view) you would still have the disruption of such Manager wanting to bring in their own team meaning more payoffs to our staff and any clubs they are currently working for - unless those people are already in place and the Manager is currently between jobs.
So the answer is standing there like an elephant in the room - Frank de Boer Rafa Benitez! For all my wishes to see him back though, he should rightly expect to have to answer the following questions in an interview
1) What does he think "went wrong" this season and how would he have dealt with this (all candidates would need to tackle this) - I realise the term "went wrong" is perjorative but given FSG have sacked Kenny they are obviously looking at things from this angle.
2) Ditto for 2009/10! The fact I think Rafa should never have been sacked does not mean that he should be immune from having to account for this. Blaming H&G would not be sufficient - I would want to know what he would have done differently in the summer of 2010 to halt the slide and what he would have done upon the change in regime or if he had replaced Hodgson.
3) How would he deal with any parties still at the club who were instrumental in his departure? I'm not naming names but if anybody was to know who these were it would be Rafa
4) FSG's own self-interest would want to know that Rafa would not turn against them the way he turned against H&G. I don't know which would be the more difficult though, Rafa convincing FSG of his "loyalty" or FSG convincing Rafa at this stage they're the right custodians for the club.
Two things are sure for me though - 1) we did Rafa wrong and owe him a fair hearing and 2) if he does not come back now he's never coming back!
