Football News: Swansea Show The Way

Image from: zimbio.com

In recent years Swansea City have become well regarded in the football world for the way they have gone about their business. After nearly going out of business, they have gradually climbed back up the English leagues and established themselves as a fixture in the Premier League in recent years.

Unlike some other teams, they have done it by a steady growth of the club, clever recruitment and not just by simply throwing money at everything to get better. Stability is a very big part of their success, which their chairman, Huw Jenkins, deserves recognition for.

Everything they have done has been well thought out, even if not always correct, they have weighed up the options before making their choices, even the recent appointment of manager Gary Monk showed a refusal to panic after the Michael Laudrup experiment failed. This summer is again showing a calm, well thought plan to move the club forward for the long term, rather than just next season.

First order of business was fixing the weakest link of the team, the wing, as neither Wayne Routledge nor Nathan Dyer were truly good enough for the side. Free signing Andre Ayew should fix that hole nicely, all being well, while leaving funds for other holes in the squad to be patched.

Then the Swans brought in another coach, one to specialise in the attacking area, James Beattie, the former England striker to help out. One thing British clubs have rarely done is have enough coaches involved, but this appointment shows that Swansea are looking and learning from successes, such as the time of Teddy Sheringham at West Ham United as a striker coach.

Now Swansea need to add something else to take the club forward, a cup win for instance, to really lift the club up to the next level, that of regular European competition. They are close, but the battle to clinch those top few places is fierce, full of clubs spending much more money than the Swans will.

They will need that stability that has built up to give them an edge over the teams around them that seem to be constantly in transition or face stagnation. While the club's public statements about standing still is not a bad thing, we all know that if you are standing still while all around you are moving forward, you end up behind them.

Written by Tris Burke June 17 2015 08:02:54