He also confirmed that if Fowler agrees to the move this time then he won’t have to sell Jonathan Woodgate, but that he does have to sell somebody before the end of the week.
"The deal was arranged before and Robbie felt he didn't want to go at the last minute," the perennially tanned former England boss told the BBC.
"But City have said they'd like to do the deal again. It was decided that the board would accept the offer and we're back to where we were before Robbie turned it down.
"The ball is back in his court. There must be a change in his mind to now be thinking about it, whereas before he didn't want to go.
"As much as I don't want Robbie to go, I realise someone has to go at this particular moment.
"I'm assured that if the Robbie Fowler deal goes through, there will be no other players leaving."
So our chances of signing an international defender now seem to lie in the hands of a scally.