It’s all been a bit crazy around Blues these last few days hasn’t it?

After I confidently predicted McLeish would never manage the Villa, he decided to hand in his cards and go for the job. I talked about three players we might sign and we sign someone else. There’s been talk of players that may move on, and of who might take on the managerial hot seat. In short, it’s been a week full of news.

Thankfully, things may calm down a bit now. Whilst there is still movement behind the scenes to sort out possible compensation for McLeish, hopefully things will settle a bit and Blues can get back into preparations for the new season. Blues play Cork City four weeks today, and it’s imperative that a) we get a new manager in as soon as possible and b) then sort out the squad ready for next season.

I’ve been asked several times who my preferred choice for the manager’s job is, and I have to be honest here and admit I don’t have one. Of the names that have been mentioned, the only two I don’t fancy are Billy Davies and Dave Jones. I don’t think it’s that the rest underwhelm me, it’s more of a case I think that any of the rest could do a job really. On a side note, I’ve been told that Dave Jones nearly did become Blues manager once, back in the days of Steve Bruce and another name that has been mentioned, Martin o’Neill, was rejected for the job in favour of Barry Fry.

I remember when Bruce went, I was happy – things had gotten awfully stale around Blues and I felt we needed someone to come in and change things. We get relegated that year, so results didn’t change that much although I think if Bruce had have stuck around we’d have gone down sooner. When Francis went it was a similar sort of feeling, although I remember thinking Bruce wouldn’t do much for us… and then we went up in the play offs.

I have to admit, I’m worried about my forecasting. I thought we’d stay up with 38 points and we got relegated with 39. I thought McLeish would never go to the Villa job in a month of Sundays, and yet this Sunday he’ll be eating his dinner thinking of his new challenge in B6 (and possibly dodging death threats, sadly). So before I do any predicting for next season, I’m going to say we’re doomed (wink), we’re going to get a nomark in as manager (wink wink), and Carson Yeung is going to run away with the petty cash money (wink wink wink).

I’m hoping that this week Blues show the mob from Witton how to go about a manager search. Quietly, with minimum fuss and the sole announcement being that Mr X is to be the man to take charge. I suspect there will be no further player movement until the new manager comes in (and decides who he wants to keep/sell), unless someone offers us a ridiculous amount of money for one of our players. Two days before McLeish resigned, I felt a bit miffed that there was nothing in the news, and it was too quiet. After the last week, I’d gladly take one where things go back to normal.

Tags: News roundup, The Future, The Scottish Manager