One Down: How many to go?

Don't blame Howe for declining our bid (at least he had the sense to discard the palace offer as well).
He seems comfortably settled on the south coast and is young enough to bide his time for the big opportunity (the current high profile PR certainly won't hurt his case).
Quite apart from obviously having his terms improved with the Robins, he may also have an element of the old fashioned about him:  loyalty! Good luck to him, but not at our expense.
One hopes that he was not in any way disenchanted with what he has heard and seen at the Valley of the club, the owners, the general set-up and terms. There was something that Billy Davies did not like about the old regime and one hopes that this will not be a problem in respect of the new set up in ongoing recruitment.
The general feeling amongst supporters to date was that the new owners had a man lined up before being so bold and decisive to drop Parkinson and his team. If that was the case (and Howe was the intended) then the wider options may not as yet have been assessed or sounded out to any extent, and could therefore take some time).
Of course, there have also been rumours about longer lists of candidates and if that has always been the case perhaps things were not that advanced before Parks went: who knows.
What is apparent is that we have missed out on getting an extremely high calibre young manager who could have grown with us. Others who might be available amongst the lower leagues and some of the old hackneyed names that are bounded about at these times of managers who are full of wind and have not scored elsewhere seem somehow much less exciting at this stage. I have that general feeling about the likes of Coleman (and include Wise in that category). I don;t think we are in the league for one of the chewing gum, available ex Premier League managers like Allardyce (and one must remember his sterling service for Millwall!).
Similarly, the prospect of the ex Peterborough manager does not excite me.
Obviously, Poyet would be a coup which most would go along with, but surely this is a massive bridge too far? He is milking his current success and promotion and a new ground with the vast potential around Brighton to increase support is surely more to his liking, even if we could afford him?
I am not an enthusiastic exponent of the 'bring back Curb's brigade'.  I felt that his cautious brand of football towards the end of his time with us (and a few questionable signings) are not what we need and do not excite. However, given the potential paucity of choice and Curb's fast running out prospects to make a return to management, maybe "cometh the hour, cometh the man" may yet apply. He certainly knows his way around the Valley.