Alan Biggs: Why Slavisa Jokanovic is the safest bet for Sheffield United vacancy

Three choices in this order;-1/ Slavisa Jokanovic.2/ Slavisa Jokanovic.3/ Slavisa Jokanovic.

Sorry to sit on the fence. Experience, stature, know-how. All boxes ticked. And he’s indicated an interest as his tenure with Qatari club Al-Gharafa draws to a close.

As far as we know it has not been reciprocated, whereas German coach Alexander Blessin remains a definite target.

No disrespect to Blessin but for me - bearing in mind reflections here last week on how Howard Kendall replaced Dave Bassett - there would be only one place to start.

That is with Jokanovic, a promotion winner with both Watford and Fulham, previously long-time boss of the then Yugoslavia and who, after managing eight clubs in various countries boasts a career win percentage of 52.84.

Discussing this with a well-connected colleague the other day, he pointed out that Jokanovic likes full control and has clashed with former clubs for that reason.

Which doesn’t sit well with suggestions, formulated long before the departure of the previous manager and central to it, that owner Prince Abdullah and his trusted technical aide Jan Van Winckel intend to take a far more active role in the club’s recruitment strategy and overall football operation.

Bottom line for me is it doesn’t matter what methodology a club adopts - as long as it works. If say, Blessin, becomes part of a successful structure that remains in place regardless of future changes in head coach, then fine. Only future events will tell.

But if it takes a revision of the club’s approach (highly unlikely) to land someone like Jokanovic then I think it is well worth the compromise.

Further, his international knowledge fits perfectly with the United board’s desire to spread the net.

In four of the last five years, Bramall Lane has seen how trusting your number one football expert can work spectacularly well, as I remain convinced it would have done again next season.

Everything around a club flows from what happens on the field, not from what occurs in the boardroom and not from grand long-term strategies involving the promotion of youth.

Some of it - for instance, trying to make the club self-sustaining - is ideally the right way to go. And certainly United need to harvest more from their academy, much as it needs investment.

But the here and now will determine whether supporters have faith, or not, in Prince Abdullah’s plans and his ability to deliver.

That’s why, as an opening gambit, Jokanovic would be a very powerful, if costly, statement.

Let’s not forget that, under the previous manager, promotion back to the Premier League was expected next season. That still has to be the yardstick.