Ah, of course, the answer my friend is Blowin' In The Wind'. Should've spotted that, but don't get me started on Bob again. There are those on here are already bored with the subject.

But, isn't this thread fun. I'll be interested to see who will be the first to post "I told you all it would be him!" when the interminable wait is over and an announcement is made.

BTW what's the weather like in Malta today? Been raining here after a few decent sunny days. Good for the gardens though. Oh hum.

I'm not anti-Favre, I'd be happy enough with him (as I would with most of the other apparent contenders). As you say though, all coaches have their downsides, and it seemed to me that nobody was acknowledging Favres, so I did.

To elaborate a bit, experience of the league and players can be very important. It's one thing to be a top student of the wider game, and another to already know exactly how you would get the best out of Benteke, Zaha and Eze (when fit) because you've had experience of managing against them a few times, so you've done detailed research on them, then tested your theories in practise. I'd imagine Dyche, or maybe even Howe, would know our best players inside out from setting up their Burnley or Bournemouth teams to stop them. For all his wider understanding, Favre would have to develop that level of detailed knowledge over time. Not fatal perhaps, but not preferable either.

Not understanding culture is potentially an important thing too. The coaches you list have all adapted well, but they've had hugely expensive squads of top-class players, which helps. Plus we can't forget the ones who went the other way. Scolari won the world cup with Brazil and was a tough, no-nonsense hero with the Portuguese national team - The country loved his style. That same style clashed and failed horribly at Chelsea - he just couldn't get the same cultural connection.

Felix Magath won the German Bundesliga three times with two different clubs, one being Wolfsburg who haven't got close before or since, but he is still talked about with a shake of the head at Fulham. His methods worked brilliantly in one place, but didn't translate - in fact they crashed and burned as Fulham went down.

Santini and Gross had great records in their respective leagues, but flopped at Spurs, with a failure to connect culturally being a big part of it.

In terms of knowing the club, I think that's vital. Villas-Boas was hugely successful at Porto, and on the face of it, he and Chelsea had agreed that he would come in and sweep away the old guard of players. Had he known the club better he would have realised that in fact the players hold the power, and that you need to take them with you along the way, slowly easing the big names out, or you'll be for the chop. I'd think a new Palace manager will need similar knowledge - Parish wants the youngsters brought through but he will sack a manager if we are anywhere near the relation zone. In fact, his longest serving manager (Roy) relied on experienced players to keep his job, and it worked. Will Favre understand the reality behind what Parish wants? Will he be able to manage upwards in a way which is effective specifically for Parish / Palace, and therefore low on drama? Harder to do if the club, chairman and DoF are all totally unknown quantities to you.

Finally, and whilst I repeat I would be happy with Favre on the face of things, I also repeat the concerns I aired when Nuno was in the running - if it seems too good to be true then it probably is. At his age he can't come to us and use us as a stepping stone, proving himself before going to a bigger job in two to three years, so he has to want to be here for it's own sake, to work at our (smaller) club, with lesser players, in the opposite end of the league than he has been used to. If he is happy to do that, I would ask him: Why? What is your motivation? If it's living in London, earning a fortune and experiencing the league, then it's a no thanks from me. We need the sleeves rolled up, and we rarely get it from those stepping down to our level, or at least not in the same way we get it from those stepping up. Human nature really.

Give him to me

Now we're into June it is basically like that old Fast Show sketch i.e. Scorchio! [Link]