The Swansea City conveyor belt benefitting the very best

When you consider the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton and Celtic have all benefitted domestically and Poland and Belgium on the international stage it tells just half a story of an incredible Swansea City conveyor belt that has largely gone unnoticed anywhere outside of SA1.

When Kenny Jackett departed the Swans on 15 February 2007 it bought to an end a three year stint as manager of the club but also started a position where manager after manager improved not only the club but their own CV in the process.

Upon departing the Swans on that February day in 2007, Jackett said that he “no longer has the 100 per cent support of everybody connected with the club from the fans, the media, the players and the board alike”.  Mutual consent was the confirmed phrase but that matters not now.

Roberto Martinez (2007-2009)

The Swans knew what they wanted next and they turned to former manager Roberto Martinez.   The midfielder had been released by the Swans just the previous May and nine days after the departure of Jackett, Martinez was appointed by the Swans.

Fifteen months later Martinez led the Swans to the League One title and a return to the top two divisions for the first time since 1984 and, on the first season there, he led them to the edge of the play offs with a style of football that really was what the “Swansea way” was all about.  It may have ended acrimoniously in the summer of 2009 when Martinez left for Wigan but he had more than done the job he was employed to do and his managerial career was up and running.

Martinez was at Wigan for four years following his departure from SA1 during which time they won the FA Cup for the first and only time in their history.   Shortly after that cup win the Latics were relegated from the Premier League and Martinez moved to Everton where three years followed with the Toffees.

A 5th placed finish was the reward of his first season at Goodison and that was followed by a last 16 appearance in the Europa League but he was sacked in May 2016 before being appointed as Belgium manager in August 2016 – a position he still holds today.  A third place finish in the World Cup in 2018 was the Belgians best ever finish and a quarter final in Euro 2020 went alongside a Number 1 World ranking for the first time.   The Martinez management legacy appears to remain strong.

Paulo Sousa (2009-2010)

When Martinez departed the Swans, Chairman Huw Jenkins turned to Paulo Sousa, a well respected international defender and a former Champions League winner.  For a side that had been so long in the lower divisions this was seen as a massive appointment for the Swans and certainly seen as a statement of intent as the Portuguese arrived in South Wales to try and build on the excellent foundations he inherited although some of those foundations had been lost due to the nature of Martinez departure.

Sousa tightened up the defensive side of the Swans game whilst leading us to a highest league position for 27 years into the process but it was not a marriage made in heaven and in July 2010 he departed by mutual consent to join Leicester City – a position that he held for a little over three months.

Whilst his predecessor in SA1 has had just three jobs in the thirteen years since he departed, Sousa has incredibly had nine jobs in the twelve years since he left.   Domestically Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fiorentina and Bordeaux are on his CV together with an eleven month stint in charge of the Polish national team which included a group stage departure at the Euro 2020 finals.    Sousa is currently without a team but had a managerial career just five short of five hundred games.

Brendan Rodgers (2010-2012)

I think it is fair to say that when Brendan Rodgers was appointed as manager of the Swans on 24 July 2010 there was more than one eyebrow raised at the appointment of a manager who had lasted just six months at Reading after walking out on Watford to take on the job at the Madejski Stadium.

Sometimes though it can easily be the case of wrong time, wrong place and that seemed to be the position with Rodgers and Reading as he led us towards the Premier League, a feat we achieved on 30 May 2011 thanks to a play off final victory over his old club.

Rodgers had achieved what almost seemed impossible for the Swans and a feat that was achieved just over eight years after a last day win was needed over Hull City to keep us in the football league.   Premier League football was coming to South Wales for the first time.

The Swans were given no chance of survival the following season but Brendan and his team had different ideas and safety was assured before the end of the season with Rodgers securely having a new three and a half year contract in his pocket.

That contract though was destined only to protect the Swans and on 1st June 2012 he left Swansea to become the new Liverpool manager following the departure of Kenny Dalglish.

In his first season at Anfield it was a 7th placed finish although his new side was knocked out of the League Cup by his old one on our route to winning the trophy but it was the following season that Rodgers became so close to legendary status at Anfield.   A Steven Gerard slip and a second half capitulation at Crystal Palace cost them what would have been a deserved league title although Rodgers was recognised for the season with the LMA manager of the year award.    The following season Rodgers became the first Liverpool manager in 60 years to not win a trophy in his first three seasons in charge and despite staying for the start of a fourth season he was sacked soon after it started after a 1-1 draw at Everton.

In May 2016, Rodgers was appointed as manager of Celtic a position he held for a little over two and a half years and during which he won all seven domestic trophies available.   He departed in February 2019 with Celtic eight points clear in the league and returned South to Leicester City.

A FA Cup and Community Shield win have followed at Leicester and Rodgers is still there today – his longest managerial spell to date.

Michael Laudrup (2012-2014)

The name of Michael Laudrup did not need any introduction when he was appointed as Swans manager on 15 June 2012.   A playing career that took in Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Ajax tells its own story together with 37 caps for his native Denmark.  A European Cup winner in 1992 and a domestic league winner at all four of his league clubs gave him the most impressive CV of any Swans manager of all time.

He was also a domestic winner managerial wise with Brondby and of course bought a host of talent to Swansea as they produced a scintillating first season that saw us win at Liverpool and Chelsea on the way to a League Cup title and a return to European football in the Europa League.   The Swans were not there to make up the numbers and they came through the group stage to qualify for the last 32 with a 3-0 win in Valencia the highlight of that campaign.

It wasn’t fully working for Laudrup at Swansea though and he was sacked in February 2014 when we were just two points above the relegation zone.

Laudrup’s managerial career has never been the same since with two jobs in Qatar – Lekhwiya and Al Rayyan – being his only destinations since his departure from Swansea.

Those four appointments since the departure of Kenny Jackett had all been inspired appointments by the Swansea board led by then Chairman Huw Jenkins.   Each had (as had Jackett and Brian Flynn before them) pushed the Swans forward in their own way and many had – and still have – gone onto better things following their departure.

As the Swans turned to Garry Monk – a player (and captain) who had seen it all through these managerial appointments was that inspiration due to carry on?    With a first game against Cardiff City around the corner, what could possibly go wrong?

Garry Monk (2014-2015)

Monk’s reign started in the best possible way with a 3-0 win over Cardiff City at the Liberty Stadium as he steered us away from the relegation zone and very unlucky to depart the Europa League at the hands of Napoli.

His stock was high the following season as the Swans finished a Premier League high of 8th place which included league doubles over Manchester United and Arsenal and a three yeard contract followed in July as a result of that season.

However, just five months later it was over for Monk as he was sacked in the December after just one win in eleven and it ended a twelve year association with the club.

Since his departure from the club, Monk has had stints in charge at Leeds, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday none of which lasted more than fourteen months and he has now been out of management for two years.

A series of changes (2015-2018)

The 8th placed finish of 2014/15 was the high of the Swans Premier League era and the next three years were spent heavily looking over our shoulders as we fought to retain our status in the top flight.

A regular changes in management did not help that and the records will show for many teams that frequent changes in charge rarely end well and that proved to be the point as our excellent record of managerial appointments appeared to disappear with a series of disappointments instead.

Francesco Guidolin lasted just nine months in 2016 and before the year was out Bob Bradley had been and gone lasting a total of just 12 weeks in charge of the club.

Paul Clement arrived in January 2017 and was gone before Christmas whilst Carlos Carvahal was appointed a little over a week after Clement left but he went after failing to secure the Swans Premier League survival in May 2018.

Four managers in twenty eight months tells its own story and with the Swans seven year stint in the Premier League over it was time for a reset in more ways than one with life in the Championshp bringing extra challenges both on and off the pitch.

Despite the frequency of the changes, all four of those managers remain in football with Guidolin a pundit with DAZN, Bradley managing in MLS, Clement on the coaching staff with another former Swan, Frank Lampard at Evrton and Carvahal in charge in La Liga at Celta Vigo.

Graham Potter (2018-2019)

On 11 June 2018, Huw Jenkins turned to Graham Potter as the man he wanted to spearhead the Swans first Championship season after seven years in the top flight.

The Englishman had been in charge at Östersund in Sweden for all the Swans time in the Premier League and his achievements had not gone unnoticed with a 51% win rate which saw two promotions and a cup win for a very unfancied side in Sweden.

It was a record that seemed to fit nicely for a Swansea side who needed to rebuild and get back to the mantra that had served us well for so long.

Potter worked well at Swansea and a good style of football took the Swans to 10th place in that first season back in the second tier and very close to a first FA Cup semi final after taking a 2-0 lead over Manchester City at the Liberty.

It was a season that saw Potter’s stock rise and in the summer he moved onto Brighton who appointed him after the departure of Chris Hughton from the Premier League side.

Yet another Swansea manager was on his way to a higher plane job and in three seasons he not only kept the Seagulls in the Premier League but he did it with an apparent ease.

Potter’s stock had risen and he was appointed as Chelsea manager earlier this summer following the departure of Thomas Tuchel.

Steve Cooper (2019-2021)

Steve Cooper was a World Cup winner with the England Under-17 team before he was appointed as manager of the Swans on 13th June 2019.

It was to be the start of one of the strangest seasons in history as the Covid-19 pandemic shut down football before the season ended and a delayed season behind closed doors saw the Swans somehow reach the Championship play offs where a two legged semi final defeat to Brentford ended our season shortly before the Bees lost the final to Fulham.

The following season was largely played completely behind closed doors but Cooper took the Swans one step further and to a second Championship play off final but it was Brentford again who shattered the dreams of promotion with a 2-0 win at Wembley.

Cooper’s time was seemingly up as he hinted at a departure in his post match interview and that departure was confirmed in July 2021.

Two months later he was appointed at Nottingham Forest with the twice European cup winners bottom of the Championship.   Eight months later incredibly Cooper was back at Wembley and this time celebrating play off success as Forest beat Huddersfield to return to the Premier League after more than a twenty year absence.

Another former Swans manager was about to join the top flight.

Russell Martin (2021-Present)

Russell Martin was appointed Swans boss on 1 August 2021 after a twenty one month stint in charge at MK Dons.   A former international defender he became the first manager in South Wales Derby history to lead a side to a league double as the Swans beat Cardiff 3-0 in SA1 before going one better to win 4-0 in the reverse fixture.

The Swans ended Martin’s first season in 15th place.

Nobody knows what the future holds in terms of Martin but one thing is certain that he is following in the footsteps of many managers who have gone onto stronger things when leaving SA1.   In many cases the Swans have seen managers approached to move onto those better things and full credit must go in these instances not just to the manager but to those who appointed them in the first place.

Russell Martin is the 12th manager to be appointed in the almost 16 years since the departure of Jackett.  Three of which are currently managing in the Premier League and one currently at the World Cup.   That tells its own story.

Its a fairly remarkable conveyor belt and one that we should be proud of as should everyone who has been a part of it.

Swansea City’s Managerial Dozen