I'm not sure how it could be regarded as a three-ring circus. They interviewed a few people and selected one. Even if it's true that people withdrew from the process at some stage, that is pretty normal in any recruitment once candidates get to discuss the opportunity.
I'm sure I'm not the only person that's had an interview and then decided a particular job wasn't for me. Sometimes because of the company itself, sometimes because of the salary, sometimes because I have a better offer elsewhere.
Our club never gives details of the process to the media - quite rightly in my opinion - and for some reason, that leads to a fair chunk of people on here branding us incompetent. Apart from publically announcing the names of every Steelmen Online posters' favourite candidate, I'm not sure what could be done differently to keep everyone happy.