For the first question, the only fair way to look at it is to ask if anyone who applied for the job and got rejected has done better somewhere else. We could maybe add those who were mentioned in the media as serious candidates, even if they didn't formally apply. But the vacancy was open for a long time, they had every opportunity to put themselves forward.OK. But who of the available and realistic options would you have appointed?
Or, of those potentially available now, who might it be if GC were sacked today?
(I realise that Jurgen The German is out of our price range but "Siuper" Gary Johnson and Joey Barton are currently free)
So who did the club miss out on? Artell, now at Grimsby, and hoping to stay in L2. Holden, sacked by Charlton. Who else did City (supposedly) miss out on?
The only other option was obviously an internal appointment, where no results comparison is possible because he's here. So realistically, if we say that Caldwell should not have been appointed then it's basically Kevin Nicholson, who might have done a good job, but we can't know (maybe one day we will). And that's all.
Inventing other fantasy managers who would have been great is harmless fun for us, but it wasn't an option for the people who appointed Caldwell.