Simon Clegg says taking flak during the tough times comes with the territory of being the chief executive or owner of a football club. Like former boss Paul Jewell, Clegg was on the end of calls for him to go after last night’s 2-1 home defeat to Derby County.
Clegg said: "I accept that people aren’t happy, they want to vent their frustration and I accept in situations like this that the chief executive and owner of the football club have to take some responsibility and expect to take some flak.
"It happens at other clubs around the country and it’s happened at this club before. That goes with the territory. All I can tell our loyal fans is that we’re determined to get the next manager in here as quickly as possible and we’re going to get the right individual to take us forward.”
He says he and Marcus Evans know the type of manager they want but wasn’t keen to discuss the parameters within which they were working publicly at this afternoon's press conference: "With the benefit of hindsight, the last two appointments didn’t work.
"There are lessons we can learn from those appointments, I don’t want to go into too many specifics because I don’t want the media to narrow down the field in terms of where we’re likely to focus.
"But the owner and I are very clear in terms of how we want to take this forward and the type of individual that we want to bring into the club.
"I’m not going to narrow it down through the media so you can speculate as to who is likely to succeed Paul Jewell.
"All I can tell you is that the owner and I are clear in terms of going forward and we need to bring someone into this club as soon as possible who will be able to take us forward.”
The chief executive says owner Evans has trusted advisors, managers and ex-managers amongst them — with ex-Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp understood to be one along with former Blues coach and scout Charlie Woods — who he liaises with but wouldn’t go into detail regarding their identities: "I think that that would be inappropriate. The owner is a very private person but he has extensive contacts across football.
"I’m not going to get into the specifics in terms of who Marcus is taking advice from over this particular appointment.
"All I can tell you is that he does take soundings from the highest levels within the football industry and he gets advice that he values, but ultimately he will make the decisions because he is the owner of this great football club.”
He says those advising him - "a relatively small circle of trust” - won’t all be those who have been spoken to when the previous two appointments were being made: "I didn’t talk about the same advisors advising again, I said advice is being taken. I’m saying that soundings will be taken from different places as well.”
Clegg, who says the club would be prepared to pay compensation to another club if the man they want is currently employed, says he has a long-list of 34 names — 39 by the time of this evening’s Supporters Club AGM - which will now be reduced: "When you start this process it’s important to look at everyone who is available or might be available and who you think might be able to contribute to giving us the success we aspire to.
"[The list of names is] where we started off. That long-list is now being driven down to a short-list and interviews will take place shortly.”
Clegg has ruled out involving respected Blues stars of the past in the selection process: "No, because ultimately the decision comes down to the owner and myself.
"We need to find someone who we passionately believe has the right background, the right experience, the right drive, the right motivation and someone we can work with.”
He also dismissed suggestions that the club might look at appointing a director of football between himself and the new manager: "I think that you’ll find that Marcus has a lot of advisors from the game that he knows on a personal basis that he takes advice from and I don’t think that a director of football — and I’ve listened to the arguments — would be a route that he would want to go down at this moment in time. I think that he feels he gets enough advice as it is.”
Clegg says he’s confident that he and Evans can get the appointment right this time despite Jewell and Roy Keane not working out: "Everyone’s talking about the last two appointments with the benefit of hindsight.
"When I was sat here three and a half years ago with Roy Keane and 21 months ago with Paul Jewell, a lot of people felt that they were the right people to take this club forward.
"There are a lot of people with the benefit of hindsight now speaking slightly differently. I’ve admitted that it’s been a steep learning curve over the last couple of years, but I feel very confident in terms of our ability to make the right decision for this appointment going forward.”