When you are starting a new job, you have a finite window of power

I changed jobs last year. During the interview phase it's very difficult to be demanding of the employer as at that point you want to impress.

Once you have impressed and the job has been offered however, the balance of power shifts in favour of the prospective employee. I used that as an opportunity to negotiate on salary and the type of work I'd be doing etc. Once you sign the contract and accept the job you no longer have the same level of negotiating power, arguably you have none.

So if Alex Neil wants certain conditions attached to his employment, or to agree the boundaries of his role and the rest of the football board, then this is his one and only chance.

He's doing what anyone else would also do. It doesn't mean though, that he won't be signing on the dotted line. There might be a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, but this is too big an opportunity to turn down, particularly given what happened to his predecessor at hamilton that turned down the Swansea job when Rodgers took it.

All of that said, and it was probably all stating the obvious, I think it's great that he's showing some balls. If he'd been effusive in his praise of Norwich and the wonderful opportunity little old Alex Neil had been offered, then I would have been very worried that he'd have been chewed up and spat out the other side.

Finally, when some of our fans start to think he might not join, it'll make them want him to. If he'd come running and said he was desperate to join, it would have put a lot of us off - desperation isn't attractive.

Posted By: SimonOTBC, Jan 9, 09:11:29