Watford will begin the process of rebuilding this summer, on the back of a difficult campaign, which will begin with the appointment of a new head coach, or manager.
Regardless of whether they are in the Premier League or, as appears more likely, the Championship, Roy Hodgson is not expected to be there with them.
With left-field appointments such as Xisco Munoz, Vladimir Ivic and the return of Quique Sanchez Flores made in recent years, predicting who could be in charge next season is difficult, with the club's chiefs currently assessing options presented to them by their extensive global scouting networks.
However, there are some names who are known to have been considered in recent years, and who remain under the gaze of the club's chief decision makers.
The first of which is Diego Martinez, the former Granada man with links to the Pozzo family.
He has spent time in England very recently working on his language skills and developing an understanding of the game in this country, and is known to be someone that the owners have considered in the past.
The Spaniard has also held positions at Sevilla and Osasuna.
Sources close to the coach have said he is interested in a job in England, but that currently he is yet to have held any talks with the club ahead of this summer.
That does not mean he is not in the running however, with the Hornets' chiefs understood to be taking their time over their next appointment, with whom they hope they will be able to build some stability after too many changes in recent years.
Someone Watford have made contact with in the past, and who is also understood to be seeking a job in England, is Italian World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro.
The former China and Guangzhou Evergrande boss was approached before the Hornets elected to hire Claudio Ranieri earlier this season.
While his playing career is no doubt impressive, his level of experience at a managerial level is still relatively low, with his CV comprised of only stints in China and the Middle East.
He remains a candidate that the club have an interest in and, if Watford are to go down this season, the Championship may be seen as the place to test his skills.
A third option who has been considered in the past is Anorthosis Famagusta boss and former Newcastle United forward Temuri Ketsbaia.
Sources close to the manager have said he would be interested in a move back to England where he hopes to manage in the future, as he continues to build on his experience.
Currently in Cyprus, the Georgian has previously managed Olympiacos, AEK Athens and the Georgian national team.
He previously led Anorthosis to the Champions League group stages, making them the first Cypriot team to reach that point of the competition.
It is understood that he was suggested to Watford as an option by the same scouts who alerted them to Xisco Munoz's potential.
The highlighted candidates in this list are not exhaustive and the club will be considering plenty of other names too.
However, what it does show is that there are a lot of options from which to choose, making a difficult task even harder for those making the decisions.
Now more than ever, it seems important for them to get the right coach in to start to build a club that is forward-thinking and upwardly mobile, instead of reactive and fighting the effects of poor decision making.
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