Will Sabri Lamouchi flourish in English football? Will he cope with the 'win or else' pressure at the City Ground? Can he impose his style on the squad? Can our signings hit the ground running - especially those jetting in from other leagues? Will he be able to hit on a settled side in spite of a big squad? Will we have luck when it comes to injuries of key players?
There are probably more questions - but those six unanswerable conundrums show why it's impossible to be certain how we'll do this campaign. Only time will tell, yet it's quite strange that people who've never watched Lamouchi sides in action for a sustained period or ever seen more than a YouTube package of Rafa Mir or Tiago Silva are able to be certain in their opinions.
My biggest gripe this summer has been the scale of the change needed. Getting 12 players in is, in part at least, a sign of failure. A team with serious hopes of mounting a promotion challenge this campaign really shouldn't need such surgery. The more players you sign, the more time you need to knit it all together and the longer it'll take to understand the best formula. This has been a continuation of a policy that has brought in 52 players in the last five windows (counting summers and Januarys). 'Throw a load of players in and hope something sticks' seems more like wishful thinking than anything worthy of the name 'strategy'.
Once again, we're asking a manager to squeeze 2-3 years work into one. But, once again, we've changed the man at the helm and a new manager was always going to want a fresh start - especially when the club has had no fixed style or plan. Savvy clubs seem to recruit a manager to fit their squad and style to get the most from their assets - we let a manager choose a new way every time and the bloated squad is a result of that.
Still, that all sounds like I'm down in the dumps and I'm not. There's been a fair bit of negativity around since the closure of the transfer window and I can understand that people feel we've left ourselves short of backup up front (especially given Grabban's fitness battles). Yet some of the reaction has been over the top. Given the constraints of FFP we were surely never going to get a second 'main' striker in the door. The forward line of Grabban flanked by Joe Lolley and Albert Adomah is (on paper at least) an upgrade on last season - and Sammy Ameobi seems a decent sub to cover any of that trio. Lolley and Adomah will have to get goals - as will the rest of the midfield - to supplement Grabban but, above all else, the wingers and the creative midfielders need to feed Lewis. You feel that if he doesn't get 20 goals it'll be as much their failure as his (injury notwithstanding).
The front three, Carvalho and the full backs should all have the makings of team that could challenge. The uncertainty over the defence and heart of the midfield - for now at least - means it's tricky to know if that framework will have a solid foundation to rely upon. These also happen to be the areas where it's difficult to hide if you're not up to speed (I'll never quite forget poor old Kyle Ebecilio disintegrating in front of our eyes). When people talk of the intensity and energy of the Championship, it's the battle here - 'earning the right to play' - that they're on about. Silva, Semedo, Bostock and Sow will be tested - as will whichever combination of central defenders end up being first choice (I can't help but feeling that the new manager wants his centre halves to be more comfortable on the ball than Benalouane).
Aro Muric might have had a nightmare debut, but he's been brought in to help with the team's style as much as anything else. He deserves a chance to put that behind him and show if he can make a difference and set the tone for a new way of playing that builds from the back. It's brave and it needs patience - something few involved with the club have shown in recent times. Having apparently courted Manchester City heavily, maybe the club's hierarchy will be keen to let this experiment play out a little?
I've always tried to see the positive with new managers. I did think that there was a chance that O'Neill could have given us a lift. Yet the club's subsequent recruitment policy probably proves that it was right to move to a head coach in the mould of Lamouchi. If we're going to shop overseas and put together a squad of assorted players for a manager to try to knit together then it's clearly more a job for someone like Sabri. Whether you liked O'Neill or not, his sacking can be seen as a failure of the current regime to still properly 'get' the Championship. He was another short term fix for a division that hasn't rewarded our short termism - another man asked to work miracles who proved unable to do so.
Keeping a manager for a season would be nice - but so too would replacing one manager with another who is willing and able to work with his predecessor's blueprint. Signing another 20 players in the next two windows will be as much of a sign of failure as the presence of yet another manager in the hot seat.
Yet let's not dwell on the inevitable 'manager pressure' narrative yet. We've got an exciting front line, some intriguing new acquisitions (yes, I'm guilty of watching too many Bostock through balls on YouTube) and we're not stuck with Matt Mills and Michael Mancienne at the back, whoever ends up playing there. I've got no idea where and how we'll end up - no-one truthfully does. Let's at least try to enjoy it for a bit though.
*With apologies to Donald Rumsfeld. And to everyone reading this for a dated and probably irrelevant cultural reference.
