David Hannant: Can a new sporting director turn City around?

The "new manager bounce" is the kind of phrase you hear uttered by endless pundits, commentators and other people within the game.

Clearly, if you're reading this column, chances are you know what I mean by that phrase, but just in case, it is when the appointment of a new manager reinvigorates the squad, injects a sense of new impetus and motivation and turns around results - albeit sometimes temporarily.

The last time I was writing in these pages I put my neck on the line and predicted that David Wagner would not be in the dugout on Saturday when City entertain Queens Park Rangers. 

Saving a really dramatic turn of events between now and then, it seems I was wrong about that one.

What City do have though, is a different sporting director since I wrote that piece, in the shape of Ben Knapper.

It was absolutely the right decision to accelerate the former Arsenal man's arrival and do away with the weird handover period with Stuart Webber.

But the whole thing begs the question - does the elasticity of this particularly football cliché extend itself to other roles? Will we see a new sporting director bounce?

The first thing to do when hypothesizing on this is actually understand just what the role of the sporting director is.

This is where I have to confess, I don't fully know. 

My understanding is that the head coach takes care of matters on the training ground - setting up drills, picking the team and managing the game.

Meanwhile the sporting director is in charge of making sure all the infrastructure is in place, heading up recruitment and ensuring the coach has the resources they need to do their role.

I have no doubt whatsoever there are plenty of things I have missed out there in my incredibly oversimplified explanation - which as a layman may also be wide of the mark.

But, taking my understanding of the role into account, you do wonder whether there's the same possibility of a "bounce" from a new arrival.

Most of the thinking around new manager bounce centres around psychological factors in the mindsets of the players.

The arrival of a new manager clearly has an impact on players, knowing they have a clean slate and a new person to impress. 

Any complacency from the pets of former managers is wiped away and players who may be in the dark look to step up to impress as well.

But one has to wonder whether a new sporting director will have the same effect or not.

This, of course, will depend on how Knapper chooses to carry himself in the role and what influence he has on team selection.

Clearly his arrival will see changes in the atmosphere at Colney - Webber is and was his own man and so is Knapper.

Any change in such an important role has to influence the inner workings of the club, with new ideas and new personalities.

But, how this will translate on the field of play remains to be seen.

One has to hope that players will be as desperate to impress him as they would be a new manager.

Logic says they will have to be.

One of the very first things Knapper will no doubt be considering is where in the squad needs improvement and which players he wants to upgrade and replace.

This surely should be enough for players to want to make a good early impression - the same way a new manager bounce would.

But the big question is, will this be enough to turn around a season that is clearly in a tailspin?

Only time will tell - and in all honesty, I'm not so sure.

A welcome international break

Anybody who has ever read one of my columns before will likely know I detest international breaks.

I have little to no interest in international football and did not watch a single minute of football during it.

But, for once, this one looks to be something of a well-timed one in all senses for City.

Yes, we went out with a win against Cardiff, but it hardly felt like a momentum building one and it would be fair to say it didn't really feel like it turned around ill-feelings.

However, what the break may well have done is taken a bit of a sting out of what was developing into a bit of a toxic atmosphere among the City faithful.

If others are like me, no matter what the fortunes are, after an international break I'm eager for club football to resume.

The hope is that this eagerness will counteract the sense of dread and flatness in NR1.

Clearly Rangers taking an early lead would soon restore any toxicity, but hopefully the short break may have served as a cooling off period for everyone.