Guessing here but I think the January signings were not his, not giving Dickie a chance would of gone against him and he looked to have a poor relationship with the rest of the staff.
With what was happening on the pitch, consistently poor performances that were getting worse and a drop off of results Eales hand was being forced, he stuck by Appleton because he felt it would improve, I am guessing he looked at it and couldn’t see it happening under Clotet.
The right decision for me, his poor signings in the summer doomed him, he will go down as an oddity in our history, the man who signed obscure footballers from around Europe who had played for him before.
Grayson is unlikely, but I would take him in a shot, can’t see it though but no harm in asking.