Swansea City: Incompetence reigns through yet another window

Yesterday morning we opened the day by sharing a few articles form previous years the day after the closure of the January window.  They were from 2022, 23 and 24 where the reports (linked at the end of this report) talked about the nature of the window just passed and the poor activity from the Swans.

It set the tone for what we always believed was going to be a totally underwhelming day in SA1.   After all, the evidence pointed to that being the case and the fact that everything was being left to the last minute told us all we need to know that we had no coherent plan and the only real hope was that we did not do anything monumentally stupid in the closing stages of the window.   Thankfully we don’t appear to have done that last part so we have to – given the nature of the way we approach things – be grateful for that small mercy at least.

About halfway through the day it was a BBC article that caught our eye – it was from November 2023 where Andy Coleman – master of the “plenty of bluster but no action” mentality – talked about the ambition of a Premier League return.    Andy talked then and said “We have the ability here to move very quickly and make those decisions to improve this football club.

“I have told you before: don’t tell me what you are going to do, show me what you have done. The summer was a great success.

“One of the things we needed to learn from [experiences at] this football club and others, was looking at windows in a very narrow band.

“We have changed our mindset now to think three windows out. We are planning not only for January but for next summer and the next January.

“That’s the only way we can build a consistent pipeline of players coming through that improve the football club.”

The summer he talked about being a great success unwound just days later when he sacked Michael Duff and most of those “great success” summer signings now ply their trade elsewhere.   The planning for the following January (24), summer (24) and this January (25) have been pretty much lacking in any evidence of being in place ad we are where we are.

We can talk much about yesterday being a disappointment, which of course it was, but we have had months to prepare for this window since the last one closed and you cannot even start to try and convince me that the signings of Hannes Delcroix and Lewis O’Brien were anything other than pure reactions to the suspension (and potential departure of Harry Darling) and loss of Matt Grimes in the closing stages of the window.   Jacob Wright made it to Swansea but ended up in Norwich but again was he really a long term target for us?  I have my doubts.

Indeed go back to Delcroix and the story goes that our first enquiry to Burnley was for Hjalmar Ekdal who ended up at Groningen on loan and we were left with a second choice.   Whether that was just grabbed with both hands gleefully so as not to be empty handed again we don’t know but again it shows the lack of a plan.

Andy Coleman’s late dealings in every window convinces us that he also spends all his time walking round Tesco looking for the yellow stickers ending up with value beans on toast for tea, having targeted a rump steak with the budget of a tin of spam.   It is not just sufficient any more to talk about how difficult it is to do business in January as you admitted yourself we were three windows ahead in our planning yet fifteen months later we are left with a squad weaker than we went into the window with.   That’s not unfortunate, that’s not difficult, that is just plain incompetence.

Coleman now has to deliver on his promise from last week to hold a fans forum post the closure of the window and if he thought the anger directed at Paul Watson last time was harsh then he will be shocked by what comes his way this time especially as he doesn’t have his mate to hide behind.   Coleman has overseen in two years a total destruction of our squad and we have gone from a squad that was looking upwards at the play offs in May 2023 to a side that is very nervously looking over its shoulder in these early days of February 2025.

Look at the departures in his time in the Chairman’s seat and then look at the transfer dealings in his time here.   There has been the occasional promising sign but nobody can argue that we are weaker in that time.   Coleman has said on numerous times to judge him on his actions but his actions are so far short that in some corners they are even wishing for the return of Jason Levien or Chris Pearlman.   That is where we are on this post transfer window review.

On the pitch now we have Luke Williams – with many calls for his departure – trying to navigate a way to us to get the points that we need to retain our Championship status, that is where we are now.   I don’t believe that Luke is the answer but right now which manager with any level of pride would come here to work with a Chairman who cannot complete a transfer deal, talks about plans when they are obviously missing in action and seemingly carries on without any accountability at all.   Oh, if only there was a group set up to keep the governance at the club under question.  If only…

There are no surprises this morning at all and there will still be some that defend the actions of the man in charge but I know right now if I was a fellow investor of Coleman I would be demanding answers this morning as to just how we made the same mistakes of previous windows once more.

Ambition is critical?   Not sure Andy even knows what the word means.

And those articles for reference:

February 2024 – https://jackarmy.net/2024/02/02/the-months-of-preparation-came-down-to-the-last-48-hours-of-action/
February 2023 – https://jackarmy.net/2023/02/01/absolutely-no-ambition-transfer-window-shambes-in-sa1/
February 2022 – https://jackarmy.net/2022/02/01/the-harsh-reality-check-of-the-january-window-at-swansea-city/