David Wetherall is pleading to be put out of his misery about the City job.

The caretaker-chief is urging chairman Julian Rhodes to make a decision on the permanent post "as soon as possible."

Wetherall, who has already publicly backed favourite Stuart McCall for the job, has been involved in this week's discussions with the club's clutch of out-of-contract players.

But he admits his hands are tied to a certain extent because of the uncertainty of his own role in the future.

Four players - Steve Schumacher, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Richard Edghill and Xavier Barrau - have been told to wait on an appointment before finding out if they are still in the club's plans.

Wetherall said: "I'm doing a degree of planning for the eventuality that I am in charge next year but I always know in the back of my mind that I may well not be.

"No decisions are particularly straight forward because obviously things could all change. It's just the not knowing what's going to happen that makes things a little difficult.

"The chairman's not said anything to me from that point of view.

"I've spoken to a couple of agents about players and the first thing they ask is if it's sorted and I'm in charge. When I say no, you can tell they are thinking what's the point talking when a new manager may come in and have very different opinions'.

"You try to prepare and firm up some ideas but obviously you can't go very far down the line.

"I don't know what the time-scale is with the chairman but, from my own personal point of view, I'd like a decision to be made as soon as possible."

The picture will become much clearer after Sunday when Sheffield United play their final game against Wigan. That will open the door for Rhodes to officially approach McCall.

Wetherall still harbours strong managerial ambitions even though his 14-match reign was unable to halt City's slide into League Two. But at 36 and still looking to play on for at least one more season, time is very much on his side.

"What we've tried to do has only given me confidence to go and do the job again," he said. "I look back at games and have seen a big improvement, even if the results didn't always suggest that.

"I would hope people will look at my own personal situation and see that when I took charge we were a club on the slide. It's very difficult to come in and alter that, although I think we've had a right go."

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