Planet Swans ArchivesEveryone seemed to know that it was coming and after a weekend of talks, Potter was officially announced to the waiting press this afternoon with some of his backroom staff also exiting the Liberty to join him in the Premier League.
Less than twelve months after his appointment at the Swans, it is disappointing to see the manager move on so quickly and now the search for a new manager must begin in earnest.
Leon Britton is one of the early names linked with the job but whilst he undoubtedly holds the title “legend” at the club you have to question whether he is the right man for the job given his lack of experience although his understanding of the philosophy of the club would be a positive.
Of course that was a philosophy that Garry Monk understood when he was appointed but that didn’t bode well for us as our playing style completely changed as did the transfer dealings that had served us so well.
Undoubtedly the new manager – whoever he is – will have to work with some severe limitations within the club with black holes of financial concern needing to be filled largely thanks to some dreadful transfer dealings of the past that sees us offloading tens of millions of purchases for next to nothing.
Then there is the lack of investment into the club that sees us needing to be operating on a shoestring and likely to see more departures this summer of players that Potter himself bought into the team last year and who performed so well as we ended the season in the Championship top 10.
Swansea City are a club again in transition in a summer where we hoped continuity would shine through and that Potter could build on that excellent work and start repairing the damage that was created in the last few years in the Premier League.
Trevor Birch had arrived with a job to bring the club back under control financially but he will now have to balance that with the hunt for a new manager but working within the budgets of our owners who have been totally absent from the club for the last 12 months – ironically the same amount of time we have been out of the Premier League.
Offers will be discussed no doubt for several managers but the harsh reality is Swansea is not the attractive proposition it once was for managers thanks to a revolving door of managers that has just changed the philosophy here.
Birch can expect to probably get more knockbacks than acceptances but he must stand firm and stick with the philosophy that Potter was bringing back to the club despite his relative short tenure.
Last season was a breath of fresh air in terms of the football we were playing that was slowly getting us back to be a team that was good to watch and our form since Christmas gave us all hope that we could push on from that 10th place next season.
After the last game of the season – a 2-2 draw at Blackburn – it was simple to look at. We just needed to steady the ship financially, strengthen the squad in a couple of places and keep with the style that had seen us – as an example – unbeaten at the Liberty since Boxing Day. If we could carry that into next season then things could go well and we have seen in recent years in the Championship momentum can be a great thing if you can pick it up early season.
Maybe we will be able to find the right man to replace Potter and to continue that rebuilding exercise but we should accept that it is not going to be easy and against the backdrop that we are unlikely to be able to attract a successful manager from elsewhere which could restrict our options of who we can discuss.
Ending that search early is also key so the new manager can have as much time as possible over the course of the summer.
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