I think it will be a real struggle to attract quality this time around. What player would want to sign for the team currently bottom of the league and have a potential relegation on his CV. The other problem could be clubs holding us to ransom with all the John Stones talk.
I wouldn't trust Johnson with a barge pole to do business when the window opens. I hope that a new man has the remit to wheel n deal.
Whoever is in charge come January (whether we sack Johnson or not) the manager is going to need new players if we want to survive relegation, so you better hope your predictions are poor ones. We're not waiting until January as such, we keep signing loan players, it's just that January offers us some hope, where as with the current squad, I don't see any.