There was much touchiness around yesterday when Michael Laudrup stated that he would not be looking to manage a 'smaller' club again after his sacking from Swansea back in February.
I'm not quite sure what the touchiness was all about it was simply a manager stating that he would rather not manage what is technically an underdog after his relative success at Getafe, Mallorca and latterly Swansea.
Whatever people think about Michael Laudrup now we should not let that cloud the fact that he delivered our best ever Premier League finish (and 2nd best finish ever) as well as our only major trophy to date on top of victories at the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford and the Mestalla. It may have ended badly but it was certainly not the 18 months of hell that it is made out to be at times.
From what I have heard over the course of time, the decision to get rid of Laudrup in February was right and the reality is that decision could have been taken earlier but wasn't but that - like Laudrup's spell in charge - is now history and we should move on.
Some of the comments that were made after this article (which really is a nothing story) was made make it sound as if we have just relieved this club of Kevin Cullis Mark II with everything that was good about the Laudrup reign consigned to Room 101 to never be spoken about again. And whatever way you look at it, for the large part his first season here was very good right up to around March when it first started to go wrong.
But that in itself is not really that relevant to the discussions around comments from Laudrup which in reality are pretty much spot on. In the league that is the Barclays Premier League we are a small side who are extremely unlikely bar a massive shift in power to be able to compete with the 'powerhouses' at the top of the division. That is not defeatist that is realistic. We should go into games against them looking to win granted but it is a dream to believe that we could gain the extra 30 points needed to secure Champions League football.
What we can hope for is some fantastic results against these big teams and finishes around where we have been for the past 3 seasons with some cup runs and the odd trophy to boot. That, in the context of what was being talked about makes us a small club.
What we can probably assume though is that it is unlikely for Laudrup to turn up at one of the big clubs certainly in this country or possibly even in Europe but he will turn up somewhere and he will probably do a decent job in the short term. Exactly what he did here.
"I've had conversations with clubs in England and Spain — and now I will try very carefully not to sound or seem arrogant, because I'm not — but they are clubs at a level where I have been," Laudrup told Danish newspaper Politiken.
"I've tried the smaller clubs in the two major leagues, Getafe and Mallorca in Spain and Swansea in the Premier League, so I see no reason to repeat it.
"That leaves me with two options - to wait for an offer from a bigger club or say yes to any of the offers that have come from clubs outside Europe."
Laudrup's comments to me are not out of order more of a 'come and get me' plea which may get him an offer that he wants or may not but all he has really said is that he believes he has proved himself at clubs that are at our level and he would like the next challenge to be slightly different. His decision and not one we should overly get touchy about just because he thinks Swansea are a small club.
Of course there will be those that say that calling us a small club shows a lack of ambition but that isn't the case just looking upwards at the teams above us and realising that what is generally needed to join them and be classed as a big club is something we don't and will never have at our disposal.