Michael Duff has become the latest name to emerge on Swansea City's radar, as their search for a successor to Southampton-bound Russell Martin continues.
It's been over three weeks since news of Martin's apparently impending move to St Mary's first emerged, but 'glacial' seems too generous a term to describe the pace of his exit from south Wales.
It's left Swansea in an agonising state of limbo, although the search for a successor has, nevertheless, already begun.
Chris Davies, a student of Brendan Rodgers, was seemingly the club's preferred choice, but the bright lights of north London and the chance to work under Australian upstart Ange Postecoglou was clearly seen as a more attractive brief than taking the hot-seat at SA1.
It's a development that's seemingly paved the way for interest in Barnsley boss Duff, who is now a leading contender to take over.
Whoever comes in will have a fairly meaty in-tray come their first day. The squad was in desperate need of strengthening even before the departures of free agents Joel Latibeaudiere and Ryan Manning. Star striker Joel Piroe is likely to leave should an acceptable offer come in, while there's every chance Martin will look to pinch a player or two for his project at Southampton when his own move there is finally rubber-stamped.
Transfer funds are likely to be tight once more, despite the arrival of new investment, which in turn has triggered a boardroom shuffle, with many of the details left out of official club communications.
From the outside, it looks a really chaotic and challenging gig.
But as Leon Wobschall, football writer at the Yorkshire Post, explains, Duff has already shown he can cope with a little bit of turbulence.
"He's done a brilliant job at Barnsley," he says.. "When he came in, they'd been relegated and it was a real mess. They lost between £6-7m, there was a lot of tension between the fans and the owners who have now left. I think everyone felt this had to be a season of consolidation, because there were a hell of a lot of big hitters that wanted to leave.
"They sold Carlton Morris, they sold Cauley Woodrow, they sold Callum Brittain. Callum Styles went to Millwall on loan. He had all that to contend with. I think he himself said it was 'chaos at best'. So most Barnsley fans were hoping just to steady the ship, either get top 10 or get top half.
"To get to the play-off final, within one game of an instant return, no one expected that at all. His budget wasn't one of the highest in the division. He was competing with Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, their wage bills were far bigger. What he's done is brilliant and he's one of the EFL stories of the season, really."
With a League Two title with Cheltenham Town also under his belt, it's easy to see the appeal, although a move for Duff would represent something of a change in direction in footballing terms for the Swans.
Sources had previously indicated that the club were keen to carry on the foundations laid by their current boss in terms of approach and philosophy, but while he believes in intensity, Duff isn't really much of a like-for-like replacement.
"He's big mates with Sean Dyche and has a similar mindset. No excuses. When you come to the club you have to leave your ego at the door. The players have all massively bought into it.
"He's not really possession-based. He's not bothered about having the ball all the time. It's more about high pressing. He usually plays a 3-5-2, and they do play some nice football in midfield. But they're about in-your-face and high-energy.
"But it's not possession-based."
How that philosophy would fit in with this squad would be interesting to see. While Martin's methods didn't really yield a serious top six challenge during his two years here, they were hugely popular with many of his players.
Fans, however, have always been a little divided on it all. Many hailed Martin for seemingly attempting to hark back to the Swansea Way of old. But at the same time, the defensive fragility became too pronounced to ignore.
Some might feel a bit of pragmatism wouldn't be such a bad thing. The view of the new investors has perhaps also been considered too.
In any case, and putting philosophy to one side, it's certainly no surprise Duff's success in bringing a chaotic squad back onto its feet has attracted admirers. Huddersfield Town were another club to have been linked with a move for the Northern Irishman this summer, but went for Neil Warnock instead.
A move to the Championship appears to be the next logical step, but right now, the suggestion is he remains focused on mounting another promotion challenge with Barnsley.
"He spoke after the loss at Wembley and it was all about dusting themselves down after a great season and as far as he was concerned it was about a rest and then planning ahead for next season," Wobschall adds.
"He's got two years left on his deal, so I think he was just concentrating on that. Licking the wounds after what happened at Wembley and using the disappointment to go again."
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