The Tumultuous Reign and Unfulfilled Promise of Andy Coleman: A Swansea City Chairman's Downfall

[swansnews]

The Tumultuous Reign and Unfulfilled Promise of Andy Coleman: A Swansea City Chairman's Downfall

Things are progressing well at Swansea City at the moment. New owners, some seemingly good appointments off the pitch and some potentially excellent transfers

jackarmy.net

 

[Dr. Winston]

The appointment of Michael Duff as head coach was arguably an even more significant error. Duff, known for a more direct, pragmatic style of play, was a radical departure from the possession-based, ‘Swansea Way’ philosophy that had defined the club’s identity for over a decade. While some argued for a more robust, results-oriented approach, a significant portion of the fanbase felt that Duff’s style was fundamentally incompatible with Swansea’s DNA.

Duff was the wrong fix for a problem correctly identified. We badly needed to move away from the "Swansea Way" approach as utilised by Russell Martin. Coleman's biggest mistake in this whole business was not trying to find a more capable candidate in a similar vein and ultimately wasting another two years by panicking, doing a complete 180 and appointing Russell Martin II.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

Duff was the wrong fix for a problem correctly identified. We badly needed to move away from the "Swansea Way" approach as utilised by Russell Martin. Coleman's biggest mistake in this whole business was not trying to find a more capable candidate in a similar vein and ultimately wasting another two years by panicking, doing a complete 180 and appointing Russell Martin II.

Correct, but the bottom line is Coleman was always part of the problem and eventually became our biggest one. January did for him.

We've had quite a few executives in the last ten years and most have not been very good, but this guy was the most out of his depth. Woefully unqualified to have been doing the job he was doing. I hope we never find ourselves in that predicament again.

 

[Ringwood]

Judge me by my actions he said...

Indeed...

 

[bakajack]

Coleman might be a fine businessman (I know little about his business dealings) but he never understood that football simply works differently to most financial institutions.

He compounded that problem by recruiting badly in terms of staff beneath him who ultimately turned out to be yes men and as badly out of their league as he was. This led to several catastrophic transfer windows and while Kaplan and co were so far detached from the club that they simply didn't care the new ownership made a brave (but no less difficult despite that) decision to demand the man that played a huge part in bringing them in and ending the old regime step down.

I never doubted his desire to succeed at the club, that came across plenty and he gave the fans more time of day in his two years or so as chairman than the owners had in the (what? Eight? Nine? Ten?) years that Kaplan and co had owned the Swans.

He was sadly simply out of his depth and the people he recruited to aid him similarly so. Ultimately the buck for off field circumstances ended with him and his departure became inevitable after the last January window.

 

[Cinio Dydd Sul]

He was a clown from start to finish.

Those bizarre tweets denying staff were leaving (they did) at the very start to trying to lie about when he was appointed to avoid blame for poor financial results at the end.

 

[Swansea93]

Meant well but hugely out of his depth, our very own Ronald McDonald.

Glad he’s gone and we have proper football people in the club what a difference it makes.

 

[Dr. Winston]

Correct, but the bottom line is Coleman was always part of the problem

Oh yeah, not denying that. Just think it's interesting that one of the few things he got right even now some of our own supporters are unwilling to accept.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

He was a clown from start to finish.

Those bizarre tweets denying staff were leaving (they did) at the very start

Forgot about that. I picked up on that as a red flag very early on. Plus the fact he used the club Twitter account to start a fight with those reporting the departures was also plain weird, considering he had an account of his own. At the time I gave him the benefit, but with hindsight it was a sign of many pratfalls to follow.