I think we need to not worry so much. Martinez was one of the managers on the list. Like Bubbadogs post above (or probably 50 pages back by the time I get round to pressing send), I think he chose not to antagonise his chairman, and enhance his reputation for decency by not jumping at the chance of an interview for a job he probably wouldn't get anyway. No ITK knowledge at all, but I just don't think our board are idiots.
I don't think we are an unattractive club to go to, it wouldn't take too much to get us back where we were under MON and hopefully get into a position where we are one of the challengers for the top 4 at some point in the future. We underachieved badly last season, which was always on the cards once MON had left the way he did, and I think it is broadly similar to the Spurs situation when Redknapp came in. I don't think we would have let managers like Jol (who I would have been happy with), and to a lesser extent even Sam Allardyce (who I would have been less fussed on) slip through our fingers if we weren't confident that we would be bringing in someone more suitable. I also don't believe these managers would go to Fulham and especially West Ham if we were seriously interested. We have demanding fans and high expectations it seems, however I seriously doubt any more so than any of the big clubs in the PL. We are a big club - we are capable of being one of the Champions League challengers, we just need the right people.
As others have said, the way we are run, means we don't feed info to the media and they go on a total BS free for all about what is going on at our club. Maybe that is something we can address in a positive way, while maintaining our own high levels of business decency. One of the things levelled at Liverpool with the Barry saga was that they had lost that attribute in their dealings and become classless. I think they are trying to address that with their new owners and Dalglish and I think we have it in abundance.
I am confident that the right person will be found and we will be able to move on and rebuild for the future. Never any guarantees of course, but I certainly still have my faith in the board to find a positive solution.
Bizarrely last week while we were all caught up in the Ancelotti stories (which would have been a magnificent appointment if we could have pulled it off) I dreamed that we got Moyes and Hughes went up to Everton. I would take that