the more things change...
by andy godden
It’s been a rough old season, made all the worse by the amount of money spent in the summer reshaping the squad and management team. It’s hardly a surprise though when our owners are experts at not only shooting themselves in the foot but reloading and blowing the other foot off too. They keep promising that thing will be different but as ATFV’s Andy Godden laments, the more things change the more they stay the same…
The summer of 2018. After a couple of close shaves, the Swans finally succumbed to gravity and were relegated from the Premier League. The reign of Carlos Carvalhal and his (not very) functional brand of football was over. In came Graham Potter, who promised a return to the style of play Swans fans enjoyed during our rise to the Premier League and those glorious early years in the top tier.
The summer of 2021. After a couple of promotion near misses, the Swans parted company with Steve Cooper and his (very) functional brand of football. In came Russell Martin, who promised a return to the fluid, possession-based style of football Swans fans craved.
January 2024. After a move to a more functional brand of football under Michael Duff, which mercifully ended after a few months, the Swans recruited Luke Williams to the Swans hotseat, who promised … yep, you guessed it.
Potter to Cooper. Cooper to Martin. Martin to Duff. Duff to Williams. The only thing consistent about these appointments are their inconsistency, trading one style of football for another, usually the polar opposite.
the swansea way
It’s no surprise these years have seen a general downturn in the fortunes of our club. Managers will look to recruit players that suit their preferred style of play, moving on those who don’t fit that template.
Ryan Bennett was the mainstay of Cooper’s defence, but never looked comfortable under Martin. Without a consistent approach, the first months of any new manager’s tenure are going to be difficult as he tries to fit square pegs into round holes.
In fairness to Duff, he was always onto a loser especially when looking to bed in a dozen new players into a legacy squad unsuited to his preferred style of play.
As Swans fans we can be guilty of eulogising “The Swansea Way” but there are two characteristics that really stand out from our rise. The style of play – possession-based, fast, fluid – but also a succession of managers who bought into that mindset and added to it.
Paulo Sousa was often criticised for not being as fluid as Martinez’s swashbuckling side, but he added the defensive steel that was the bedrock of Rodgers’s promotion winning team.
colemanballs
None of this is news to any Swans fan, and neither is the wish of fans to see a return to that style of play. It’s why I believe Russell Martin was granted so much goodwill by the majority of Swans fans, despite some desperate runs of results. We agreed with what he was trying to achieve, even if there may have been some grumbles about results or how fluid or exciting it was at times.
Winning four derby matches on the bounce also helped!
Which is why I found the appointment of Michael Duff so odd, but not as odd as Andy Coleman’s comments after sacking him, stating that “my appreciation for how critical the Swansea identity is to this club has grown since the summer and it will be high in my mind as I make the decision on our new head coach”.
Not being funny, but if you’re going into a leadership role and making a critical appointment, isn’t the first thing you do to research such things? Speak with people who know our club to get their views? Surround yourself with them?
Too Many Cooks
If we look at the ownership of the club, and the senior execs, there’s not really a “Swansea” person amongst them. I’m not one who’s got any issue with where somebody is from, but it has soft impacts that may not be obvious, such as knowing the history of our club not just what you can glean from watching the fiction of Jack to a King.
Not that I think Coleman has as much control over key decisions as he presents. The appointment of Luke Williams took an entire month to complete, which is longer than pretty much any other mid-season appointment I can recall, for any club. We saw many of our rivals both sack and appoint managers during that period.
Williams’s appointment has been presented as the result of a “thorough and extensive search” but it’s an open secret that Chris Davies was offered the job weeks before but turned it down. Hadn’t they already undertaken that search before offering the role to Davies?
Why did we take so long?
Clearly there was no Plan B. That doesn’t reflect well on the likes of Coleman and Watson, but I think the main reason for the delay in appointing Williams is due to the number of stakeholders we now have.
more colemanballs
Things were never done quickly under Levien and Kaplan, as we saw in the last two January transfer windows. Now we’ve got the likes of Cravatt, Morris and Coleman himself having a big say in things. An inefficient ownership group has got bigger, but not necessarily better.
I believe the attempts to portray Coleman as the man in charge is a direct response to the criticism the club suffered after last January 23’s shambolic transfer window, but I don’t think it’s quite the reality.
I can’t believe Levien and Kaplan aren’t still heavily involved in the decision-making process. The time taken to replace Duff would seem to back that up. If it was only one man’s decision, then it would surely have been quicker. And if not, why not?
It’s good to see Coleman saying that lessons have been learned, but we’ve been here before. Fans are sceptical and his actions around the January window won’t have helped. If you spend months talking about your data-led approach and loads of preparation, you look a little silly when we only sign one player permanently late in the window and bring in a couple of short-term emergency signings at the last minute.
Give it a rest Andy, you’re setting yourself up for a fall.
time
As for Luke Williams, fingers crossed but he’s got a difficult task ahead of him. You can tell what he thought of the summer recruitment based on who he tried to move on, with limited success.
I do wonder, after last summer’s spending spree, is there even the money to make big moves next summer? I have my doubts, especially under the EFL’s P&S (a.k.a. FFP) rules. The club needs to be more honest with the fans about the financial realities we’re facing.
Most importantly, Williams needs to be given time and support. He’ll need it from the fans, as it’s likely to be a bumpy ride to retrain the players after Duffball.
He’ll especially need it from the board. They need to understand it will take time to see positive results, and a move back to “The Swansea Way” needs to be for life, not just for this latest manager.
I hope there are no delusions amongst the board how quickly success can be achieved. Avoiding relegation is obviously the main priority this season, then build for the future. It will take time.
And for us to have the best chance of success…
...we need to look at how we made consistent decisions under the previous ownership, and put an end to the inconsistent ones so far under this ownership group.
