It’s long been said in football that the time a chairman publicly says he has faith in his manager then the manager should become very worried. If that is true then Kenny Jackett will not sleep easy tonight as Huw Jenkins issued the dreaded vote of confidence in his manager in tonight’s Evening Post
After a poor run of post that has seen his “top two only will do” team sitting in 12th place in League One it was inevitable that this kind of statement was on the horizon, especially with so many fans showing their discontent at, not just results, but performances as well. Three defeats in the last four games have seen the Swans drop from a play off position to mid table with a Friday night fixture at one of the divisions current leading lights looming on the horizon.
It was reported last week that Jenkins had offered Kenny the chance to bring in an experienced number two – an opportunity that was flatly turned down the man who has worked for over two seasons with Kevin Nugent along side him. Backed by Colin Pascoe, Richie Evans as well as Nugent, Jackett believes he can turn it around and himself says “I understand thats ome of our supporters are feeling a bit restless. What do I say to them?
“Whatever words I used, the fans want to see results and they want to see performances. That’s the big thing I have to do something about – consistency of results and performances – and Friday night against Tranmere is where I’ll really be able to do my talking”
Jenkins vote of confidence read “I don’t think the manager’s position is an issue. Obviously things are not going as well as we would have hoped, but we have to make sure the club remains strong and we don’t panic or make any rash decisions. In the past Swansea have been renowned for being on a rollercoaster ride, for continually changing things round every six months or every year. That’s got us nowhere.
“I am not a patient man but it’s not always about what I think it’s about what everybody thinks collectively We haven’t sat down as a board of directors and thought about anything along the lines of changing the manager, Everybody’s disappointed but we have to keep our heads down, hold on in there and see how things develop over the next few weeks”
Between now and the end of October the Swans find themselves in opposition against Tranmere (H), Chesterfield (A), Millwall (H) and Northampton (A) – whether those games are enough to test the patience of Jenkins remains to be seen.