Eustace stays at QPR – are we in for a Winter of discontent?

Sunday, 25 July 2021, 21:41
3 mins read

Swansea City’s shambles of a summer took a turn for the worse this afternoon when Number 1 managerial target John Eustace elected to remain as assistant manager at QPR rather than taking the reigns at Swansea City which feels like a particularly damning assessment of where we sit at the moment.

This leaves the Swans in a position where the new season is just thirteen days away and we have no new manager and are effectively going to be forced to turn to at least a Plan B and that is on the assumption that those in charge of the club actually have one in their heads already.

From the moment Steve Cooper was clear that his future lay elsewhere we should have been planning not just our preferred outcome but our contingency plans as well on the basis that Plan A may not work out as we planned.

Cooper pretty much said on the Wembley turf that he was off and whilst there may have been a suggestion that he may stay after missing out on the Palace and Fulham jobs the reality was his time here was up, something officially confirmed this week after it was revealed via this site last Saturday.

But all seemed OK as the official club statement said when Cooper was confirmed as off that we had reached that decision two weeks back and expectations were that the appointment would be swift and clear in its intention.ย  ย John Eustace was revealed as the number one choice and all expectations were that he would be confirmed possibly before this weekend but certainly very soon after it.

The warning signs could have been yesterday when he took a seat on the bench as QPR faced Man Utd and today came the confirmation that he has decided to stay at Loftus Road and leaves us in the place of maybe not starting again but wondering where to turn next as we face the final two weeks of pre-season without a manager in charge.

This is incredibly poor management from the club as a whole who have played this out dreadfully.ย  We have discussed via these pages before the poor negotiating skills of our owners who really do not understand the workings of football in this country and have cost the club money before with the way they approach these discussions and I have little doubt that they have been heavily inputting into the negotiations with Cooper that have seen his exit dragged out unnecessarily.ย  And it may well be the case that part of the deal placed in front of John Eustace was enough to make him decide that it was just not sufficient to turn what is looking an increasingly weak squad into one that can make a decent fist of the Championship this season.

Of course whilst the interference from the majority owners will be there, it is the man in Swansea in Julian Winter who is overseeing the shambles of a summer and he has to take his share of the blame of where we are now.ย  This has been his first real footballing test of note since he took over and he has failed in the way it has been handled.ย  ย We have allowed a manager seven weeks to dictate his own future, dithered over two weeks over final negotiations and then failed miserably in landing first choice despite clearly telling those in the local media who that first choice is (we know that it will not be their investigative skills that allowed them all to pluck the name out simultaneously.)ย  This responsibility lands solely with the man tasked to make these things happen and now we are facing a very uncertain start to the season and (with no apologies for the pun) a winter of discontent.

With no manager in place it is difficult to see how we can conduct effective transfer business and – with no disrespect to a Swansea legend – facing the start of a new season with Alan Tate taking charge of first team affairs.ย  A position that neither club nor Tate should have been put in.

We should also not forget that last summer, Winter’s first football test was to let Joe Rodon go for less money than Spurs had available (Trevor Birch admitted this to people close to him.)ย  Worrying trends and ones that have to sit firmly at the feet of our CEO.

Julian Winter (and our majority owners) will be facing a worrying period now this week as they look to secure a new manager safe in the knowledge that they will be going for someone outside their first choice and, and possibly more worryingly, those that we do go for will be wondering what was it that caused Eustace to decide to stay at QPR and will it be a similar ‘red line’ for them as well.

Either way, Julian Winter is a well paid CEO and now needs to earn the money that we pay him every month otherwise the discontent could be of Winter rather than the other way around.

Images courtesy of Getty Images, Athena Picture Agency and Swansea City Football Club.

Phil Sumbler

Been watching the Swans since the very late 1970s and running the Planet Swans website (in all its current and previous guises since the summer of 2001 As it stood JackArmy.net was right at the forefront of some of the activity against Tony Petty back in 2001, breaking many of the stories of the day as fans stood against the actions where the local media failed. Was involved with the Swans Supporters Trust from 2005, for the large part as Chairman before standing down in the summer of 2020.

League Table

Next Up

Forum Latest

Threads: 18,888

Messages: 264,299

Members: 4,699

Latest member: Scro

Next Up

League Table

Last 6 Results

Latest from Blog

Swans TV: ลฝan Vipotnik on Oxford United | Reaction

. . .ลฝan Vipotnik talks to Swans TV following Swans' Championship clash against Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium. For more information, as well as all the latest Swansea City AFC news, log onto the club's official website at http://www.swanseacity.com Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SWANSPLAYER Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SwanseaCityFC Follow…

Swans TV: Oxford United v Swansea City | Highlights

. . .watch some of the key moments from the Swans' Championship clash against Oxford at the Kassam Stadium. For more information, as well as all the latest Swansea City AFC news, log onto the club's official website at http://www.swanseacity.com Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SWANSPLAYER Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SwanseaCityFC Follow…

Swans TV: Oxford United v Swansea City | Extended Highlights

. . .watch all of the key moments from the Swans' Championship clash against Oxford at the Kassam Stadium. For more information, as well as all the latest Swansea City AFC news, log onto the club's official website at http://www.swanseacity.com Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SWANSPLAYER Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SwanseaCityFC Follow…

Swans TV: Luke Williams on Oxford United | Reaction

. . .Luke Williams talks to Swans TV following his side's Championship clash against Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium. For more information, as well as all the latest Swansea City AFC news, log onto the club's official website at http://www.swanseacity.com Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SWANSPLAYER Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SwanseaCityFC…

Don't Miss

Duff believes draw fair as Eustace argues Blues case

There were contrasting views on the touchline yesterday afternoon as

Winter departure confirmed but cold club statement tells you much

The club confirmed the departure of CEO Julian Winter yesterday