Paul Lambert already has a short-list of names he wants to sign in the summer and insists he, as manager, will have the final say on who comes and who goes.
Lambert looks set to be far more pro-active on transfers than predecessor Mark Hughes and so should have more input when it comes to the hiring and firing of players.
Not that he is expecting any resistance to his plans from the club’s hierarchy - chairman Peter Coates and vice chairman John Coates - once he starts re-shaping and rebuilding a squad requiring better ability, certainly in front of goal, and better character.
Whether it be in the Premier League or the Championship.
“I’ve no doubt I have a core (of good players) allied to a massive support behind us which will drive us on,” he enthuses.
“My job is to balance the squad out better than it has been and get ones in that I know are going to work – that’s the big thing.
“But I have a core of boys there that will do me and hopefully we will stay in the league and it’s the same format.
“You have to have the last say as the manager. To be fair. I don’t think the chairman and John have ever hindered any manager.
“I will have the last say on who is coming in and who’s not. As a football manager, you have to have the last say or there’s no point.
“You have to know who you can look at and who you can’t and you work within the financial guidelines, that’s not a problem, but the manager has to one hundred per cent have the last say on who is coming in.”
And get off his backside and actually watch a few players live, if at all possible?
“You’ve got to see them if you can,” he continued. “There are players in my head that I’d like to bring in and I have no doubt there will be ones that the scouting team have flagged up.
“Now I will try to get to games to see them. Ideally, yes, you have to see them.”
He says he has already spoken with the owners and acknowledged there has to be a Plan A for survival and a Plan B for relegation.
“We spoke about it a couple of weeks ago – Plan A and Plan B – as you would expect. It’s up to us to get them in.
“We have to get guys in here that want to play for the club first and foremost, who want to be here and want to work and do the right things. That’s paramount for us.”
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He acknowledges the widespread concerns over losing the likes of Jack Butland, Joe Allen and Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke City this summer, with or without relegation, but reveals: “That’s one thing we’ve not spoken about - who are we going to lose. It’s all been about who is going to come in to help.
“We need help, the squad needs help, there’s no doubt about that. Regarding letting people go, I’ve not spoken about that.”
But will he be forced to sell?
“I don’t know and until the lads say, I don’t know. Financially I don’t know. It’s not something we’ve spoken about, who’s going and who’s staying.”
But he adds (and we can guess at one or two he might be referring to here): “I know in my own head who I’d love to stay and I know the type of players we’d like to get in.”
He says that the owners themselves have acknowledged the club’s errors this season.
“The chairman and John have been great with me. They’ve been supportive and right behind us.
“The good thing is that everybody recognises what’s gone wrong. If we’re sitting here and nobody recognised what was going on and why it went wrong, there would be no point.
“But there’s no point holding onto the past. We have to rebuild and that’s the positive thing.”