Swans await next pieces as the optimism increases

It was several weeks back that we talked on these pages about a summer of change at the club.   Well, it is proving to be exactly that with a new Chairman at the helm, a new manager and new investors already confirmed.

That summer of change was added to yesterday with the departure of CEO Julian Winter (a very badly kept secret) and should continue this week with the formal arrival of Paul Watson from Luton Town and soon to be confirmed investment from Brett Cravatt.

In the article (May 10 – Summer of change ahead) we talked about the things that were likely to happen during the summer and whilst much has taken place slower than maybe most of us would have liked we are now very much in the middle of the official confirmations that were anticipated.

Back on the date of that original article we didn’t really anticipate that the contract discussions referenced in regard Russell Martin would really mean his departure from the club but we have navigated that with the appointment this week of Michael Duff and he will take his squad to Spain today for a training camp which, as he says, is as much about getting to know each other as anything else

“The work in Spain will be about fitness,” said Duff. “It’s not about dropping in tactical information or anything like that because the squad is thinner than it will be come the start of the season.

“It’s about getting fitness levels up and meeting the players as much as anything.”

But back to the summer of change and we have seen the filings of shareholdings recently that shows that Nigel Morris has a 20% shareholding in the club and, as we have said before, we still have the belief that Brett Cravatt will have a bigger shareholding than this means that we have a larger change off the field than we have experienced for several years now.

There is little doubt that Morris and Cravatt have had a big influence over the events of the summer so far and whilst we await EFL ratification to confirm Cravatt as a shareholder you know that he has an input and impact behind the scenes already.  One of the differences I believe that we will see with both Morris and Cravatt being more present in the city and the club, something that cannot be said of either Kaplan or Levien since we were relegated from the Premier League in 2018.

Both these investors – along with Andy Coleman – are said to have a desire to see us return to the Premier League and I believe that this is one of the reasons why we have seen some of the changes we have already this season with yesterday’s “official” departure of Julian Winter the latest of those changes.   What is it they say about a new broom sweeping clean?

That desire is added to with the imminent (again, official) appointment of Paul Watson.   We should not lose sight of the fact that Watson agreed to join the Swans knowing that he had the chance to continue his work at Luton Town.   His agreement seemed to be there way before the season ended and whilst his former employers may now be a Premier League club he has chosen to bring his skills to Swansea which would tell you much that someone has sold him the ethos of the club and he likes what he has heard.    There can be a host of reasons why so long has passed since it was first suggested he was joining but surely it can be written off as simple as a period of gardening leave and the small matter of the Swans needing to close matters off with Julian Winter.   As a CEO departs, Watson can now be confirmed and we do expect that to happen on Monday or Tuesday of the coming week.

What we see here is the next pieces of the summer of change at the club – Cravatt and Watson will soon be official in their capacities at Swansea City (still making no mistake they are having influence already) and with Duff and his squad in Spain we can all start focusing on what is needed to be done on the pitch.   Or at least in preparation for us to get on the pitch at the start of August.

We know – and have long since accepted – that we operate a player trading model and that is almost likely to see at least one high profile departure this summer.  All thoughts seem to suggest that it is most likely to be Joel Piroe who fits that particular model this time around.   Joel certainly wants to test himself at a higher level and it is very conceivable to believe that there will be Premier League interest this season.    It has been suggested that he may consider a Championship move if he believed it would lead to Premier League interest so never completely rule out Leicester City here when considering that but Premier League is always his preferred option.

Elsewhere the Swans will be aware that there could be transfer interest in Matt Grimes but we know that Matt has never expressed an interest to leave Swansea and if Michael Duff can convince him that his career will be better off by staying here then I genuinely believe he will stay.   We have seen for the past few seasons just how important Matt Grimes can be to Swansea City and that should help us fend off interest from elsewhere.   Of course part of the links are based on suggestions that Russell Martin will want him at Southampton but there is nothing concrete to suggest that this is the case.

Piroe and Grimes are not the only saleable assets that the Swans have.   Nathan Wood remains one that caught the eye last season but I think the Swans have at least one more year with Wood before interest becomes more concrete.   It is difficult to see anyone moving for Wood now where first team football and progression would be more likely.   Michael Duff will know all about what he wants and I firmly believe that Wood will be someone he will work hard to keep hold of.

So then we have transfer targets.  It is too early to suggest too many targets on this front but Duff will not be oblivious to the fact that his squad needs width.  With Manning and Latibeaudiere seemingly gone (is it too late for both of them?) he will need to look to add width to his squad particularly as I can see a place where we play a much wider game then we did for large parts of the Russell Martin reign.

Beyond that we know we may need some firepower up front (and this goes back to the Piroe discussion above) but much of the rest will depend on what Duff sees and learns from his squad this week in Spain and you can guarantee that he will be in regular contact with the other backroom additions this summer as the week unfolds.

The final piece of the jigsaw is expected to be revealed within the course of the next few days as Duff finalises his backroom team and then we can really see how the work of the summer so far will take pay off.

As we saw with the managerial change although the deal that took Martin to Southampton seemed to take forever the Swans team were busy in the background working on his replacement and they should be applauded for announcing this a little over 24 hours after the departure of his predecessor.

When you look back it is incredible to think it is only seven weeks since the season finished as so much has happened but when you look ad think about what has happened it feels that everything has happened to improve the football club.   I like the vibe of the new investors who seem to be showing a desire to make things better at the club and I like the vibe of the new manager who seems to have the backing of the fans already and that can only be a good thing.

And that for me is why the optimism is rising, let’s see what the next few weeks bring to hopefully keep that increase.