AND then there was one.

On the day that Nahki Wells was completing his full transformation from League Two to Premier League striker at Wembley, Millwall announced the capture of James Meredith.

Coming less than a week after Stephen Darby’s five-year loyal service was brought to a reluctant end, the history-making team of 2013 have just one sole occupant remaining at Valley Parade.

And with a new deal on the table still being scrutinised, there are no guarantees that Rory McArdle will still be sporting claret and amber come August.

These appear to be unsettling times for City fans seeing some of the most established figures in the side moving on to pastures new.

In the transient world of football, certain names on the team sheet have provided a comfortable and confident consistency through the seasons.

A City line-up without James Hanson seemed strange for a while, likewise when someone other than Meredith dons the number three shirt.

While hopes remain that McArdle will put pen to paper among the out-of-contract group currently chewing over their options, the evolution within the dressing room continues.

But it’s the same at most clubs in the lower reaches.

The climate in football being how it is – with the money so ridiculously top-loaded – it is becoming the norm for those in Leagues One and Two to clear out and start again. If not every year, then certainly every other.

City, of course, reshuffled the decks at all levels 12 months ago with major changes on and off the field. The result, as we saw, was not too shabby.

A fortnight on from the agony of Wembley, supporters are naturally fretting about the potential break-up of a squad that lost the second fewest games in the entire Football League and were unbeaten at home.

Conversations are dominated by the phrase “will he stay?” as they wait for concrete news on the likes of McArdle, Tony McMahon and Mark Marshall.

The absence of any early incomings just add to the stress levels.

Yet it’s perfectly normal behaviour for this time of year. Turn the clock back 12, 24, 36 months and many similarly concerned comments were being echoed.

City, traditionally, don’t do their business straight off – and, other than busy Bury, they are far from alone. But the first into the shops don’t necessarily get the best bargains.

In an ideal world, every manager would have their squad in place for the start of pre-season. It rarely works like that.

Sides evolve as the build-up to the first game accelerates. Rewind to last summer as an example.

Of course circumstances dictated to a major degree because of the managerial comings-and-goings. Stuart McCall was not in the building until the third week of June.

By the time pre-season kicked off ten days later, the reinstalled City boss had made two signings – Nicky Law and Nathaniel Knight-Percival.

Colin Doyle and Timothee Dieng followed after the opening friendly at Guiseley; Romain Vincelot was unveiled on the day City hosted Burnley, just a fortnight before the curtain-raiser against Port Vale.

Matt Kilgallon appeared on the Monday of that last pre-season week – and Josh Cullen’s return from West Ham was only confirmed after the campaign got underway.

Two years ago followed a similar pattern. Phil Parkinson snapped up Steve Davies and Josh Morris in June, having made McMahon’s loan move permanent.

Marshall joined on the day City were heading for Scotland, Nathan Clarke, Paul Anderson and Greg Leigh in the final ten days of pre-season.

In 2014, Parkinson did a bit more early business to bring in Gary Liddle, Alan Sheehan, Billy Knott and Billy Clarke.

Even then, it needed a flurry of late short-term deals to beef up the squad for opening day as Ben Williams, Filipe Morais and Chris Routis were hustled in as August began.

City’s first term back in League One saw only Jason Kennedy and Mark Yeates sign in time for pre-season.

You have to go back to 2012 for the last frenetic influx before training kicked in.

Parkinson signed eight ahead of July 1 and McArdle was the first arrival. Now he remains the last man standing from that era.

But recent history indicates the apparent state of flux at Valley Parade right now is nothing unusual.