What a week for Swansea City, a year on to the day from our Wembley triumph, tears (of joy) turn to fears.
This week has been hard to swallow, the reality of ‘our’ Brendan facing the world media at Anfield hit hard how deep our loss is and their gain will be, once again he was exceptionally polished with the media at the Liverpool press conference. He will help to change the game of football in this country in a way that Arsene Wenger did in the late 90’s, Liverpool will provide the profile to achieve this, Swansea couldn’t. This studious Ulsterman insists that players rest in possession, only working in bursts with the ball, exerting their effort when they have lost the ball. His methods are unique in this country.
The triangles, the possession, the accuracy, the pace out wide, the control of the game are all hallmarks of our past two seasons, no club has enjoyed playing against us and have stated so. Their pain has been our joy.
Off the pitch his man management resembles Jose Mourinho who he worked under for a few years, most comment on the confidence he instils in their mentality and no former player has yet to criticise him.
In the boardroom it has been suggested that his actions represent the interest of the club ahead of himself. It was Brendan who suggested to the club that they tie him in for a three year contract, adding that a £5m compensation should be inserted and that he would leave the club some-time in the future and that the club should be rewarded accordingly. This must be a world first and on a day when Paul Lambert simply storms out of Norwich leaving them with nothing, this again highlights the integrity of the man.
I have seen thousands of very critical comments towards him on Twitter and hope that this eases the pain, a pain that I too felt with my son @ejswans commenting as to ‘how could he do this to us’. A perspective is required.
His departure cannot be compared to that of Martinez, he believed that he had delivered us to our peak and left for one of the biggest clubs on earth, Martinez left us in the championship for fortune and glory at a village team with a sugar daddy. Comparisons are delusional.
So who next? Laudrup, Di Matteo, Vialli, Bergkamp, Zola, Benitez? That’s my short list and in that order. Poyet would certainly make that list but having spoken to him a few days after his rejection from his previous application at Swansea, plus given his current position I believe we can eliminate him from this process. All are foreign sadly but continuing with the rich vein of total football instilled in the fabric of the team and with the expectation of the Jackarmy.
Why Swansea? All of a sudden we have deep pockets, no debt as a premier league club, momentum, a young squad under long contracts, passionate fans that sell out and a vociferous away following. Can we survive in the Premier League? Absolutely. Can we prosper? The foundation is there and it now rests on Huw Jenkins finding another mercurial leader.
Our last four managers have progressed the club’s standing and their own personal careers at Swansea, change has become normal and the appointments to date under Huw Jenkins have been prudent and brave each time. Flynn, Jackett, Martinez, Sousa and Rodgers.
This is the biggest appointment of them all, we have a privileged position in this great league and I see no reason that with the right appointment why we can’t become the next Fulham or Stoke, the Jacks are here to stay and so are the hymns and arias.
Alec Johnson @71_alec
