Swansea City Chairman, Andrew Coleman has cleverly put his own words to the current search for a new head coach. In a recently published press release he made it clear the club were still looking for the right person to replace Michael Duff.
It may be looking a bit like shutting the stable door after the manager has bolted with the likes of Chris Davies, Shaun Maloney and John Eustace either turning the role down or distancing themselves from it. The inexperience of the current Swans hierarchy in these matters remains a concern. They clearly have majority share gatherer Jason Levien holding the purse strings, no matter what Coleman says about him being the main decision maker. And that will come to light in January we are sure.
A late appointment will mean any new head coach won’t have the jurisdiction to make too many decisions with Sporting Director, Paul Watson apparently progressing three potential signings for January. The situation though for Coleman isn’t all bleak, he clearly now realises what money he does have to acquire a new Swansea City manager, and he now understands very clearly how the supporters feel about his efforts so far. With the likes of Sunderland acting quickly to get Michael Beale in and Stoke City immediately reaching a financial decision with Plymouth Argyle for Steven Schumacher. In fact that took them just three days, it shows up the main issue.
For us that is an immediate declaration of intent by Stoke and Sunderland, these clubs have sourced who they want and paid the right salary to get them in, and in Steven Schumacher‘s case, a decent wedge of compensation. This should tell Swans fans that the club hasn’t got the type of finances to secure the high quality of manager they desire, or Swansea City are persona non grata. It’s a mixture of both for us. And that’s been widely reported.
Yes, there are are some decent candidates out there, and this is where Coleman is stuttering to an extent. Move quickly with the right sums of money and you get your man. Offer proper money and they will come. Luke Williams at Notts County is rumoured to have been seen in the Swansea area, however he has replied to that. "It’s natural because I worked there. Maybe somebody saw me in a coffee shop in Wales and put two and two together. But I actually live there and have lived there for nearly five years. It’s very flattering, but I need to concentrate on doing my job here. If there is an official approach that is one thing, but people talk. I'm concentrating on Notts County, this is the club that embraced me, the club that gave me an incredible experience” That sounds like - a confusing no, but maybe. Wasn’t his reason for leaving Wales that he needed to closer to his family ? That was the original talk after Russell Martin stated Williams was leaving ?
So, we turn to the next potential appointment.
Kjetil Knutsen (below) the current Bodo/Glimt Head coach is allegedly in the frame but no approach has been made, so we are not really sure where this came from. If nothing else there’s a few songs that can be constructed from his name for sure by the noisier parts of the Swansea.Com stadium. Knutsen, was suspended by UEFA last season : Reuters : Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt's manager Kjetil Knutsen has accused an AS Roma goalkeeping coach of grabbing him by the throat after an ill-tempered Europa Conference League match in Norway on Thursday. After their 2-1 quarter final first-leg defeat, on the ground where Roma suffered an humiliating 6-1 loss ( to Glimt) in the group stages back in October, the Italian side's captain Lorenzo Pellegrini said goalkeeping coach Nuno Santos had been attacked. Glimt responded "A proven violation of the rules of the game is that the goalkeeping coach of Roma positioned himself illegally outside the coaching staff, where he continuously verbally and gesturingly harassed Knutsen," the statement read. Glimt made the fourth referee and UEFA's delegate aware of this on several occasions. The complaints were not heeded and Roma's goalkeeping coach was allowed to continue his behaviour unhindered."
So what would the Swans be getting ?
Well, clearly a passionate man who likes a bundle, and someone who has taken his teams on an upward trajectory for years. As well as three league titles in 2020, 2021 and 2023 he won the Eliteserien league manager of the year three consecutive times from 2019-2021. Not bad. Plus his European journeys have been considered a success. Knutsen is considered a tactician who employs similar strategies to that of Graeme Potter and De Zerbi currently at Brighton. When he was linked to Glasgow Rangers it was said in a report from Kai Watson. ‘They press high and relentlessly, looking to win the ball back as soon as they’ve turned it over. They look to consistently put pressure on the opposition defence by holding position in attacking areas of the pitch. Knutsen heavily relies on his wingers to help create in the attack. He’s another who is a fan of inverted wingers with overlapping fullbacks who help to cause overloads.’
Of course as people have pointed out many times this season following Swansea, you need the players to do this. The one concern Kai has raised is the following : Details around his Ajax move falling through suggest it’s because he gets a percentage of players sales at Bodø, something Ajax weren’t willing to offer. Something I also doubt the Rangers board would offer. For us that’s a real issue, and not really something the Swans should be discussing, its fraught with problems. Knutsen is now fifty five, not too old of course, but he is yet to be tested outside of Norway. That isn’t so much of a gamble, but he is strong minded and normally gets what he wants from his Chairman. We can see that being an issue as well.
Having said that Knutsen has a nigh on fifty nine percent win rate over five years at Bodo / Glimt. He clearly knows how to implement his coaching beliefs, and this is proven. He is a strong character and he won’t be cheap, but maybe this could have some legs ? We think the Swans may well have decided he isn’t the man for them.