The Molineux regulars are clearly still going to take a lot of convincing but Wolverhampton Wanderers have once again opted to fly in the face of their fans' wishes by confirming Glenn Hoddle's continued status as manager.
Hoddle was far from a popular appointment when he made his surprise arrival in December 2004. And nothing that has happened at Molineux over the past 17 months has served to increase that popularity.
But, after ending another frustrating season of promotion failure with Hoddle under fire from the terraces, on the website message boards and in the readers' postbags, the Wolves board have opted to ignore the feelings of some of their most vocal supporters.
This is despite Wolves' failure to attain what was described by chief executive Jez Moxey last August as the 'minimum requirement' of the Championship play-offs.
The fact that Moxey has since labelled this season as a 'complete disaster' had most onlookers expecting Hoddle's next task to be a study of the 'Situations Vacant' columns.
After what was described as a 'frank and honest discussion' at an end-of-season postmortem on their latest promotion blow-out, Hoddle was yesterday given the green light by the Wolves board to carry on in his existing role.
It has also been spelt out to Hoddle, who has a one-year rolling contract, that he must now operate within a reduced playing budget and look to concentrate more on bringing through the club's promising young players. But he proved that he can be a low-budget operator in his first managerial role at Swindon Town 14 years ago.
The former England manager, who can be a good talker when he wants to be, has clearly done a good selling job to the Wolves board in convincing them that he can again be the man to cut his cloth accordingly.
"It's no secret that the board and Glenn are disappointed with the team's failure to secure automatic promotion or a play-off spot," said Moxey, in yesterday's prepared statement.
"Especially as everyone was well aware of the likely financial restraints for next season if we didn't achieve promotion.
"That said, Glenn is a proven manager and the board feel confident that he has the skills needed to rebuild the squad over the coming season.
"During the meeting, we clearly articulated that the loss of the Premiership parachute payment means that there will be a reduced budget.
"Glenn accepts this and is now looking at how best to shape his squad with the money available."
Possibly the main factor behind the controversial decision to stick with Hoddle is the effect his coaching skills can have on the emerging crop of youngsters from Chris Evans' flourishing Molineux Academy.
Young midfielder Mark Davies has already established himself as a first-team regular before hitting his 18th birthday, and the indications are that there could be more to come.
Hoddle will now sit down to discuss the future of the eight existing players whose contracts are almost up, most notably skipper Paul Ince.
But first and foremost the club need yet more patience from their fans.
"We will sit down with outof-contract players and back-room staff shortly to discuss what this means to their futures," added Moxey.
"This aside, a reduced budget will necessitate a re-definition of the club's approach to player acquisition and inevitably lead to more opportunities for younger players from inside and outside the club.
"Throughout this process, the club needs the support of its fans.
"Most clubs go through a period of re-building at one time or another.
"Our time is now and we need the fans to understand the realities of working within a tighter budget whilst sharing our optimism about the development of a younger first-team squad."
