If there was a middle ground candidate, this might be one. Interesting anyway.

OK, here's an interesting one.

Let's suppose that the Norwich board are sat there today, locked on the horns of a dilemma.

Do they go all Micky Adams and go for the complete Championship street-fighter?

Or do they go all Pierre Littbarski and go wholly foreign and wholly unknown, albeit in the German's case with the very well-known quantity of Ian Crook at his side?

Both types – and there's half a dozen from each side of the fence that'll be floating around the discussion table today – have their short-term strengths and long-term weaknesses.

And having come within an inch or two of getting the gig last time round, Crook could yet be a central figure in their discussions. Out of contract in five weeks time, can they afford to let this opportunity slip?

But does he have to come as one of a two? Does he have to come attached to such an unknown?

Or can he be bolted onto someone else? Can they conjure up a marriage made in heaven? Could a Crook coach an Adams side?

Is there a middle way out there? Someone that's got a little touch of the foreign, but equally has got a heart of Championship oak?

Which is why C Coleman's name is interesting. His name has been floating around for a while.

He ain't got that many medals on the table – other than keeping Fulham afloat in the bottom half of the Premiership table until his lordship wearied of him – but he might be tempted.

For while Real Sociedad might be a half-decent gig in the Spanish Second Division, read his quotes earlier this summer and you can't help but wonder whether he might not be feeling a little home-sick three months in.

His missus, Belinda, and their four kids are still back home as he tries to breathe new life into newly-relegated Real.

“Being a manager can be a lonely job and I'm sure there will be times when I will feel alone and isolated,? he told The Guardian early on in the season.

?But my daughter has just got into a top dance school in London, so I said to Belinda, 'I don't want to bring you all over here, take the kids out of good schools and in 12 months we have to come back…'

?I don't want to sound pessimistic, but we know what football's like. I can go back to London once a fortnight, or once a month. They can come over here for holidays. So we'll do it that way and see how it goes.?

Perhaps he's now seen how it's gone and given the level of expectation that follows Real around perhaps it's not for him; it's not for his family. Perhaps he's looking for a way back home.

“It is a step into the unknown and, I'll be honest with you, when I sit down and think about it properly, it is quite daunting,? he admitted this summer.

?I've always wanted to work abroad and this is something I just had to do. But we've just been relegated, we've lost 12 players, it's a brand new team with young players, mostly under 23, and it's going to be really difficult…'?

Mmm…