Jack Butty continues to haunt us, even a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past saw a reaction of spitting rum and loud laughter. His rotten teeth bent inwards from biting the glass off one hundred year old bottles of dark rum from Jamaica. He laughs in the face of terror, his glazed underpants rotten from years of use as a towel and to wipe away the detritus that lives within his very soul.

What have we lost, and how far gone is it ?

Our club’s identity and passing style of football are being sacrificed because of ignorance, greed, and awful business acumen. We were once a widely admired club for having a clear identity in how we conducted ourselves and chose to play football. During our seven years in the Premier League, I met people across the country who loved what we were doing and how we were doing it. We were renowned for making left field appointments of coaches who respected the ‘Swansea way’ footballing style and burnished it in their way. The club used to keep a close eye on the football environment to be aware of coaches that could complement our style and be ready should it be necessary to make a new appointment.

We provided an opening for young and ambitious managers who respected the club’s identity, contributed to our style, and gained experience. The names trip off the tongue – Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers, Laudrup before a few blips, and then Potter, Cooper, and Martin. Eventually, bigger clubs came with more significant offers to entice them away. These clubs admired our style – imitation being the highest form of flattery. Our model was so well regarded we could attract the type of coach who would fit into this and enjoy the challenge. Ambitious coaches would always be interested in working at Swansea because of the reputation for playing football and being viewed as a pathway to bigger things.

Michael Duff was sacked on December 4th.

We are still working on his replacement. The club was clearly not ready to recruit a replacement. This begs the question, why didn’t the hierarchy wait until they were ready?
During this time, Nuno Espiritu Santo replaced Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest. Stoke has appointed Steven Schumacher, and Michael Beale appointed at Sunderland. They’ve moved quickly and decisively while we dither.

One name mentioned was Chris Davies at Tottenham, who has an impressive coaching record from working with Brendan Rodgers. This excited fans and indicated a continuation of Swansea-style appointments. It appears that Davies was interested, but if stories are to be believed, discussions broke down over the backroom staff that the club was prepared to allow him to bring in and the level of support he could expect in the January transfer window. If there is any truth in this, then those involved should hang their heads in shame. How can that be reconciled with the statement on Thursday from chairman Andy Coleman, “We will not compromise on the quality of the person in that role to save a few days, and we are willing to accept the challenges that come with that.”

They should have persisted with their first-choice candidate and worked on a deal. The hard-headed style of our American owners may serve them well in their business dealings. However, it doesn’t work for a football club 3,000 miles away with a unique history that, despite claims otherwise, they’ve never understood. As custodians of the club and its history, they have been careless. Nor does whatever ambition they have for the club marry with its history. The appointment of the ‘winner, winner’ Duff testifies to that. The owners can only recover their investment by promotion, and they don’t care how they achieve that, even if it means trampling over our club’s footballing philosophy.

The lack of support for Steve Cooper and Russell Martin contributed to their leaving. How they were backed, treated, and supported will have been shared far and wide across the football world, adding to the sense that Swansea no longer provides such an attractive proposition for up-and-coming coaches or players. This is a shift to becoming a bargain basement club with all the signs that we have lost our way. The bookies’ list of candidates and their odds is generally uninspiring. Worse than that, the chairman and owners seem utterly clueless about where to look. Not understanding the club and our history means they have no sense of what is needed to fit our identity.

Andy Coleman says the right things in his recent statement recognising the importance of the next coach appointment, “I also understand how important it is to get the right head coach to lead this squad, implement a playing style that respects our identity, establish a bond with supporters, and take this club forward.” However, delivering on these fine words is another thing, and Coleman will know that this is make or break for him and arguably for the entire ownership.

Our club should not be so lost in our identity and struggling against the risk of relegation. Everything is on the line now. The owners must decide on our next coach and back him to the hilt in the January transfer window. Our fans expect nothing less. What have we lost, and how far gone is it ?

This is the test for Coleman and the American owners.

Photo: Action Images

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