OUR NEXT MANAGER?

[Yankee_Jack]

Still no announcement. Whatever we think has or is happening the deal is not yet closed. Not to the point where parties want it to be public. Considering that Birch has been pretty out front with his communication, this delay when we’re all so sure that Cooper’s the man, is significant. Is the delay about his wife, his comp, his buyout at the FA, his staff.....?

 

[Jackflash]

Still no announcement. Whatever we think has or is happening the deal is not yet closed. Not to the point where parties want it to be public. Considering that Birch has been pretty out front with his communication, this delay when we’re all so sure that Cooper’s the man, is significant. Is the delay about his wife, his comp, his buyout at the FA, his staff.....?

Good point Yankee, is it possible fan reaction to the supposed appointment has given Birch second thoughts? If it is to be Cooper, then I hope Birch has the balls to front up and give his reasons for HIS appointment.
Maybe as in politics a leak as to an appointment was just to test the water.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Before coming to us Potter had a proven track record of building something that could challenge in Europe. Whatever the similarities and differences between Sweden’s league and the Championship, the ultimate measure and test was met.

And in our most successful period, all of the managers / coaches, regardless of their cache or pedigree, added value to what came before without the need to chop, change, disrupt, reinvent or anything else that disregarded the previous cycles of investment and development. It was that degree of continuity and incrementalism that made the whole greater than the sum of its parts over many seasons. It was only when that process was not adopted did the spiral down begin and those that followed failed to recognize and respond.

We are building a new house on a new but familiar foundation, one forged from within over many years of investment, continuity, and development. Managers / coaches come and go but our future depends on applying the same principals and approach that we had with Martinez through Laudrup.

I stand by my earlier statements.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Good point Yankee, is it possible fan reaction to the supposed appointment has given Birch second thoughts? If it is to be Cooper, then I hope Birch has the balls to front up and give his reasons for HIS appointment.
Maybe as in politics a leak as to an appointment was just to test the water.

If Birch, Britton and Curtis are that insecure in their decision making then we are truly in the shit. Same with ownership. I’m thinking that either we have jumped the gun on Cooper and no decision has yet been made or there are
logistical / financial issues yet to be ironed out.

 

[Jackflash]

Just had a call from my son, he was talking to Britton in the club shop this morning, they're actually on good speaking terms, my son brought up the Cooper question, to which Leon replied "You know as much about it as me " With him supposedly on the selection board they seem to be very tight lipped about things.

 

[ivoralljack]

Leon obviously knows but ain't saying! Looks like we have a new version of 'man in pub' ours being, 'son in shop'.

 

[CroJack]

I think Potters system is there to be improved on, not changed.

I wrote in my post that we need a significant upgrade (improvement), a change to a better style, not a change of what was good in the Potter's style. But the list of needed improvements is long and that's why I called it a change. I think we both talk about the same thing, though I want more radical changes, not only tweaks.

In the short time he was with us there were continuous improvements, and taking what he had to work with did amazingly well.

No doubt about it. Totally agree.

, I for one hope the present system stays, and is worked on. Yes, there is room for improvement if he's the right man to improve it.

Agree again, but I would change "there is a room for improvement" to "there is a big room for improvement."

I doubt if Man.City have all the qualities you list above, even if they do we proved we could match them equally in all departments at the Liberty.

Manchester City are the only team that has all the qualities I listed above and more. They master all aspects of the game. But football is unpredictable and they can be beaten.

We didn't match them in all departments at the Liberty, far from it. But we were worthy opponents.

You can see they totally dominated us in shots, possession, passing accuracy and corners.

We defended well with all we had:



This heatmap shows how much they played in our half and how busy our goalkeeper was:



And this picture shows how much they dominated us:



49% of time they attacked us in our own third.
​

So, no, we didn't match them in all departments. We defended well and we were fantastic at quick transitions and counter-attacking. But 99 out of 100 times Manchester City would win this game.

I am not stupid to think we can play as good as Manchester City can. We simply don't have so many top quality players as they do. But I do believe we can replicate what they do at the Championship level. We replicated last season under Potter some of the things Manchester City are good at. Keeping possession, playing from the back, passing accuracy, quick transitions and counter-attacking. Now we need to improve things we were not good at, and that's mostly off-the-ball things. Like being more aggressive, recovering the ball quickly etc.

Swanselona were once a poor man's Barcelona, now it's time that Swansea City become poor man's Manchester City.

 

[Jackflash]

I wrote in my post that we need a significant upgrade (improvement), a change to a better style, not a change of what was good in the Potter's style. But the list of needed improvements is long and that's why I called it a change. I think we both talk about the same thing, though I want more radical changes, not only tweaks.



No doubt about it. Totally agree.




Agree again, but I would change "there is a room for improvement" to "there is a big room for improvement."



Manchester City are the only team that has all the qualities I listed above and more. They master all aspects of the game. But football is unpredictable and they can be beaten.

We didn't match them in all departments at the Liberty, far from it. But we were worthy opponents.

View attachment 727

You can see they totally dominated us in shots, possession, passing accuracy and corners.

We defended well with all we had:

View attachment 728

This heatmap shows how much they played in our half and how busy our goalkeeper was:

View attachment 729

And this picture shows how much they dominated us:

View attachment 730

49% of time they attacked us in our own third.
​

So, no, we didn't match them in all departments. We defended well and we were fantastic at quick transitions and counter-attacking. But 99 out of 100 times Manchester City would win this game.

I am not stupid to think we can play as good as Manchester City can. We simply don't have so many top quality players as they do. But I do believe we can replicate what they do at the Championship level. We replicated last season under Potter some of the things Manchester City are good at. Keeping possession, playing from the back, passing accuracy, quick transitions and counter-attacking. Now we need to improve things we were not good at, and that's mostly off-the-ball things. Like being more aggressive, recovering the ball quickly etc.

Swanselona were once a poor man's Barcelona, now it's time that Swansea City become poor man's Manchester City.

I take your points CJ, but will it ever happen, I think we're both aware that once a player shows promise he'll be gone.
Possibly the reason Potter was offered more money, rather than more control as to who stays, also for Cameron to stay at the academy, between them in the eyes of the yanks they would produce a football factory.
Swanselona was a Laudrup thing, had we been owned by the yanks then,that team would have had their mouths watering.But they knew Laudrup would have stood for none of it, which as I've said previously Jenkins was told Laudrup has to go before any negotiations were completed. They didn't want to do the dirty work under their ownership. Maybe the yanks had a gagging order on Jenkins, but he did release one sentence which probably didn't contravene it. "I didn't want to sack Michael" but that was when the gun was to his head and money overruled his loyalty.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

I don’t get the timeline between Laudrup’s firing in 2014 and the closing of the sale on 2016. This would imply that the Trust had head up ass for at least 3 years spanning the initial contacts through to the closing. In a city the size of Swansea, how is that possible.

 

[CroJack]

Maybe the yanks had a gagging order on Jenkins, but he did release one sentence which probably didn't contravene it. "I didn't want to sack Michael" but that was when the gun was to his head and money overruled his loyalty.

Well, I believe Morgan had the final word in Laudrup sacking. He was the most powerful shareholder and strongest personality among the old shareholders.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

I agree with @CroJack. for me it was contemporaneous with Morgan’s affair .... and I don’t think Laudrup liked the interference with his squad in that manner and said so. There was no other reason, football reason, to remove Laudrup.

 

[Jackflash]

I don’t get the timeline between Laudrup’s firing in 2014 and the closing of the sale on 2016. This would imply that the Trust had head up ass for at least 3 years spanning the initial contacts through to the closing. In a city the size of Swansea, how is that possible.

If you check the time Jenkins was back and forth the States, initially purely as supposedly talking to investors, no mention of a takeover, that in itself was over a year, something the Trust would surely be happy to go along with, add to that the absolute liar Jenkins, along with the majority of the board turned out to be,who knows what really went on.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Cooper it is then ... Cooper confirmed as new Swans head coach | Swansea City FC

A three year deal ... yet again we guarantee 3 years of cash to somebody with no experience in a senior league or coaching senior players, with Mike Marsh as his assistant with others to come.

I'm underwhelmed. James escaped. Routs signed on for this? And we are all left wondering who else was on the short list.

Potter had a progressive track record of achievement. Carvalhal had experience and did his best with a poor hand. Clement came to us having worked at all the top clubs as a right hand man. Even Guidolin was ok. BoBo was a bust ... but we all knew that before he'd even opened his mouth and it was confirmed shortly thereafter.

Underwhelmed. That's the word of the day. A team of internationals and this is who we hire.

I'm disappointed for Toshack, if he applied, I'm presuming he asked to be considered. I wonder what he's thinking right now.

Cooper would make a good assistant to a manager with a reputation and track record, or one that had at least cut his front teeth somewhere else.

I hope I'm proven terribly, terribly wrong. We don't need to piss away another 2.5 years of comp and be looking for somebody else mid-season.

 

[CroJack]

Cooper it is then ... Cooper confirmed as new Swans head coach | Swansea City FC

A three year deal ... yet again we guarantee 3 years of cash to somebody with no experience in a senior league or coaching senior players, with Mike Marsh as his assistant with others to come.

I'm underwhelmed. James escaped. Routs signed on for this? And we are all left wondering who else was on the short list.

Potter had a progressive track record of achievement. Carvalhal had experience and did his best with a poor hand. Clement came to us having worked at all the top clubs as a right hand man. Even Guidolin was ok. BoBo was a bust ... but we all knew that before he'd even opened his mouth and it was confirmed shortly thereafter.

Underwhelmed. That's the word of the day. A team of internationals and this is who we hire.

I'm disappointed for Toshack, if he applied, I'm presuming he asked to be considered. I wonder what he's thinking right now.

Cooper would make a good assistant to a manager with a reputation and track record, or one that had at least cut his front teeth somewhere else.

I hope I'm proven terribly, terribly wrong. We don't need to piss away another 2.5 years of comp and be looking for somebody else mid-season.

I'm just glad it's over. And like you, I'm wondering who the other 50+ applicants were.

I don't know, I have a good feeling about this appointment. The players are not stupid, they will immediately know whether Cooper is a fraud or not. And we are not stupid either, we'll know after first five games how good he is. Fingers crossed.

 

[Behindthegoal]

Let's get on with it. He hasn't done anything wrong yet.

 

[CroJack]

“I have already done a huge amount of homework on the playing style, the squad and plans for pre- season. Now I just can’t wait to get started.’’

“I’m going to be my own football man,’’ added Cooper. “But I know what style and quality of football the fans demand. It matches my vision perfectly.’’

 

[Jackflash]

“I have already done a huge amount of homework on the playing style, the squad and plans for pre- season. Now I just can’t wait to get started.’’

“I’m going to be my own football man,’’ added Cooper. “But I know what style and quality of football the fans demand. It matches my vision perfectly.’’

Dangerous words ! Theory is a wonderful thing.
Every manager has their own vision of how they would like it to be played. In this instance it's only been tested against 17 year olds.
I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, but things don't look too encouraging to me.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Theory is a wonderful thing .... it's practice that screws it up .... he'd better be ready to bring his A-game, and that had better be good enough to inspire our pros.

 

[Jackflash]

Just who's choice was this? I can't see Leon or Curt being party to this. Pretty obvious low wage demand would make you a front runner in the yanks eyes. We already have a far more tried and tested coach at this level available,so its hard to believe Leon & Curt being in favour of Cooper over him.
Time for Birch to step up to the plate and give his and whoever their reason for this appointment .

 

[CroJack]

Just who's choice was this? I can't see Leon or Curt being party to this. Pretty obvious low wage demand would make you a front runner in the yanks eyes. We already have a far more tried and tested coach at this level available,so its hard to believe Leon & Curt being in favour of Cooper over him.

Why would Birch lie about decision making process?

“Together with Leon (Britton) and Alan (Curtis) we went through a long and thorough interview process covering a lot of very good candidates."

Birch also says Leon and Curt will be involved as a part of the supporting team.

“We will also ensure he receives support from a strong infrastructure around him. Leon and Alan will be regular and familiar figures down at the training ground who, together with the impending new head of recruitment and other backroom hires, will form a strong collaborative team behind the scenes."