Bristol City coach Sean O'Driscoll is calling upon the club's board of directors to bring an end to the long-running Albert Adomah saga.
City and Middlesbrough officials have been locked in negotiations since the Teesside club tabled a bid of close to £1 million for the 25-year-old Ghana international last Thursday.
Adomah was set to start Saturday's League One opener at home to Bradford, only to be pulled out hours before kick-off with the two clubs close to striking a deal.
His withdrawal forced O'Driscoll to alter his starting line-up, and the head coach is losing patience with a situation now beyond his control or that of director of football Keith Burt.
"I'm the wrong person to ask really, but it has been on, off, on, off, on, off," complained O'Driscoll, who has left the matter in the hands of the board.
He fumed: "At five o'clock on Friday it was off and by Saturday morning it was back on again. What happened was the worst-case scenario.
"Albert trained all week and was included in everything, and I would have played him. If he was definitely going to still be with us, he would have started the game.
"I had him in the team and then had to pull him out. It was not the best preparation.
"Although it would have been nice to have at least had him on the bench and brought him on, that would not have been fair on the boy. We took the decision out of his hands.
"But for all I know, he could feature against Gillingham (in the Capital One Cup) on Tuesday."
Adomah is in the final year of his contract with Bristol City