"Fool me once, shame on you," US presidential transfer flop George W Bush once said. "Fool me ... you can't get fooled again." A quick glance at the Chester City messageboards, though, leaves you with the feeling that many Seals fans believe their club has been fooled all too easily by their new manager, Mark Wright.
It doesn't take too long to figure out why his appointment last week was generally greeted with a sentiment somewhere between shock and ire – according to a poll on one website, 34% of fans said they won't attend matches while Wright is in charge - as this is his third spell at the club in seven years. Wright initially took over in 2002 with Chester in the Conference and his brand of what could be charitably described as pragmatic football won them promotion in 2003-04. However, Wright left the club on the eve of City's return to league football.
Chester's owners obviously weren't too badly scarred by that incident when they re-employed him in February 2006 and to Wright's credit he didn't quit. Although that might have something to do with the fact that he was sacked after a run in which the team won just three games in 20.
In Wright's defence, his appointment does have a certain logic. Worries over Chester's defence had started before the season had even begun. A quick glance at their squad reveals just six defenders – only one of whom, Paul Butler, is over 25 – and one goalkeeper. It's a paucity, along with a physically small squad in a division of bruisers, that's cost Chester dear so far: they're conceding more than two goals a game and sit 19th in the League Two table.
It's a situation that Wright, with his history of tightening up Chester's defence, would seem suited to. Indeed, when he was appointed last week Wright said the defence is something he wanted to concentrate on. "We do need to find some big, strong boys defensively, and if Paul Butler is that player then fantastic. But I still think we need to get another centre-half in there, maybe two. The side we have at this moment may not be able to get the club out of trouble. We need to stamp our authority on it and bring people in who we know will be strong and who will refuse to surrender."
It won't be simple for Wright though. Wage limitations mean that he will have to get rid of players before he can bring any in – he could probably start with one of the 13 midfielders the squad boasts – while Butler might be a, shall we say, meatier problem: as one poster on the Chester messageboards put it, Wright could probably get two centre-halves out of him.
On the plus side, there have been positive developments of late off the field, with the team finally getting a decent training ground and the opening of a club shop in the town centre seen as a sign that the club's commercial affairs are being developed.
But Wright's appointment feels like a wasted opportunity in many ways. Yes, he will probably steady the ship, but with Luton and Bournemouth labouring under massive points deductions at the bottom of the league there was probably room to gamble on a fresh face: perhaps one whose appointment felt less like a move towards the past.
For now, though, Chester must hope Wright can bring a degree of stability to a club that has had 12 changes of manager since 2000. After all, even Wright probably doesn't want to come back for a fourth time.
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