Michael Reeves
Swansea City confirmed their new Chairman yesterday with Andy Coleman – well known to investors past and present – confirmed as the new incumbent as the behind the scenes shake up continues at the Swansea.com stadium.
New investment, a new Sporting Director, a new Chairman can all be seen as a statement of intent from the club following a season where a top half finish is decent enough but maybe not enough for what the owners have planned for next season.
With Josh Marsh and Julian Winter deemed to be not good enough for what is currently required the new structure of the ownership group has taken very little time since it was confirmed to make these changes.
Of course the reality is these plans will have been formulated over the course of a few months as we are just witnessing the execution (one of the rare occasions when football really does mirror general business) but they are plans nonetheless and, as we head to the last game of the season, we start to wonder now the impact of these changes on the playing side of the club.
Coleman spent no time at all completing his bingo card with his “open letter” to the supporters and the letter had him saying “I am very focused on supporting and strengthening the work of our player recruitment team ahead of what is an important summer for the club. We also know that it is essential Swansea City implements a longer-term strategy, not only for the football operation but also the business side, in order to put the club in the best possible position to achieve promotion and stay in the Premier League.”
He will move his family to the area (surely a prerequisite of any job of this stature?) and Jason Levien, who has worked closely with Coleman at DC United said “I am pleased that Andy will be the new chairman of Swansea City and operating partner in Swansea.
“We believe what Swansea City needs now is a chairman on the ground with the authority to run the club. Andy’s passion for this project is palpable, and his commitment and leadership are exactly what the club needs.”
Coleman’s immediate task list will of course include plugging the gaps that create £13m annual losses and changing a transfer mentality of a club who has often stalled on the deals they want to complete through poor (some have claimed incompetent) negotiation.
That work will have already started in the build up to the negotiations and of course there are many more hands to be shown over the coming weeks as the summer of change ahead of us continues in earnest.
Trying to remain optomistic but it smacks of the Americans sending one of their own to run one of the colonies . Everything will be done on their terms . Reading the new man’s letter to the fans reminded me of some of Levein’s comments several years ago . He also gets a few warnings in first .
I reckon he’ll enjoy a couple of years living somwhere in Gower and then disappear like Pesrlman