Phil SumblerIt seems almost certain this week that the Swans will be on the search for a new manager with Steve Cooper expected to move on with Fulham now emerging as the most likely destination for the manager who has led us to successive play off appearances.
Cooper has been linked with several jobs in the past 12 months but it was the names of Crystal Palace first and, more recently, Fulham who seemed to become more likely destinations for the man who replaced Graham Potter at the Swans back in the summer of 2019.
Last night it was reported (link here) that Fulham are “extremely likely” to be appointing Cooper this week and with additional stories of his interviews with Crystal Palace if one doesn’t come off then surely the other one just has to. And it is believed that will happen this week.
The Swans are already reported as having lined up Michael Appleton as a potential candidate to replace Cooper. Appleton guided Lincoln to their own play off final last year where they lost out on a Championship place to Blackpool and he does tick many boxes for the Swans especially as he has reduced the average age of the squad at Lincoln from 30 under Danny Cowley to be just 23 last season. That fits in with a philosophy that will be needed at Swansea although a decent transfer budget could be available depending on compensation packages for Cooper and the potential sale of Matt Grimes this summer.
“To reduce the average age of the playing squad from 30 to 23 clearly takes a lot of effort,” Appleto said ahead of the play off final in May. “The style of play was a big thing because the reality is all of a sudden all the top clubs are really keen to loan their players out to Lincoln.”
Last summer Appleton leaned on his web of contacts to land the twinkled-toed Morgan Rogers on loan from Manchester City, the Wales forward Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest, Timothy Eyoma from Tottenham and the West Brom pair Alex Palmer and Callum Morton. He added to that permanent signings of players with a Premier League pedigree in Regan Poole, Tayo Edun and Anthony Scully and gained much credit as a result. Credit that was repaid as he took his team to the brink of the Championship. All of this suggests exactly why he is seen as a potential replacement for Cooper.
Appleton certainly has his contacts within the game and, ahead of his move to Lincoln, he sought the advice of Sir Alex Ferguson nonetheless of which he remembers: “We spoke about coming into a club where they’d had a bit of short-term success.
“It was a club that a lot of people were talking about being big boots to fill with Danny and Nicky [Cowley] being here previously. That did not worry me too much because I went in at Oxford after Chris Wilder who did a very good job at getting them promoted from the Conference into League Two.”
Appleton is 45 but has been in management for more than a decade. While in charge at Oxford he enrolled on a master’s in sport directorship – “a lot of 3am and 4am reading to hit deadlines” – with a view to taking a role upstairs later in his career. He has learned lessons, via a ticking-off from Fergie, and while he is not one to get carried away – his wife, Jess, nicknamed him “flatline” because he can be tricky to read!
There is much about Michael Appleton that makes sense as to why he is being linked. His connection with good football, his contacts within the game to attract strong loan players and his belief in a younger hungry squad all tie in with how people outside of Swansea view Steve Cooper. The attraction of being in the Championship will be a pull for him as will an additional budget and the fee for Appleton will be less than the one we will receive for Cooper. You can see the link and you understand why it happened.
Appleton has already reportedly turned down West Brom this summer which makes you wonder if he feels there is still work to be done at Lincoln. His natural links with the Baggies would suggest this to be the case as he looked almost a “shoe in” for the job before they plumped for Ismael from Barnsley.
The question therefore is perhaps not so much as to whether Appleton fits Swansea but whether Swansea fit Appleton. Are we a more attractive proposition than Lincoln and does he feel that he could be the man that builds on the work of Steve Cooper and becomes the man who can guide us back into the Premier League.
Of course when Cooper does go there will be other names linked. We are already there with both Eddie Howe and Cameron Toshack being banded about as potential candidates but with the early reports saying Appleton it does seem that he will be top of the list when the news we expect to happen on Cooper happens. But as the Crystal Palace saga tells us that means nothing in a managerial search!
