Sport
Not Appreciating What They Had Could Cost Swansea Dear
Replacing a manager who has impressed at a club has often reaped rewards, as fresh ideas can instigate a second wind, presumably the rationale at Swansea this week.
Nigel Adkins’s shock sacking led to Southampton fan protests, with the previously unheard of Mauricio Pochettino taking the reins – he couldn’t even speak English!
The same derision was prevalent at Leicester as last season’s saviour Nigel Pearson was replaced by a bumbling old Italian, with his best days reportedly confined to the record books.
Both clubs have elevated their position as a result, but sometimes, change is not always good, especially when the current manager is one of the most forward-thinking coaches around.
One win in 11 Premier League games was the final straw for Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins and the board, as they were left with “no alternative” but to sack Garry Monk after 22 months on charge.
Except they were. Having spent the least in the Premier League this summer, on an already wafer-thin squad, Monk has done the best he could with the resources available.
A man with deep affection for the club, the treatment of such a stalwart is quite frankly abhorrent, and hindsight could come back to haunt a club entwined in the modern day delusion that the grass is always greener.
“Garry took on the job 22 months ago with the backing of everyone at the club. And when you take into account the excellent campaign we had last season, when we broke all club records in the Premier League, nobody foresaw the position we would be in at this moment in time,” Jenkins stated upon “reluctantly” sacking a man who had 12 years affiliation with the club as a player and manager.
I could not have put it better myself, except context tells us that this is actually a justification from Jenkins.
Swansea achieved their highest-ever Premier League points total just seven (7) months ago.
Then, after less than £10million investment on the playing staff in the summer, as other clubs of similar stature plundered three or four times such an outlay, the Swans began the season in imperious form, sweeping aside the likes of Manchester United with their usual attacking exuberance on show.
Before the season even began, Monk was being lauded for his meticulous training methods and innovative techniques including utilising “sleeping pods” and an unprecedented amount of ball work.
Everything was rosy for a club who quite frankly were punching above their station – and therein lies the problem.
In the world of easing consumerism, where dating apps determine your next potential love interest from the comfort of your sofa and you can fill the table at Christmas dinner with all the trimmings without having to leave the house, this decision was too easy for Jenkins, and he clearly has not thought it through.
The standard of the Premier League is better, as a whole. One of the reasons Chelsea are floundering, United still look remarkably disjointed and Arsenal constantly perform in peaks and troughs is that other teams have improved, tenfold.
West Ham have a squad to match many across Europe, Leicester’s counter-attacking style would trouble even the most resolute defences, while Crystal Palace are playing with a False Nine!
The best Swansea can do, with such a paucity of player options is a few places higher than they are, at best the club are taking a massive risk, and after the way they have treated one of the game’s few loyal figures remaining, few would surely grumble if they got what they deserved.
Football turns a blind eye to limitless transgressions, from managers headbutting to racial slurs, but what treatment should a determined, faithful manager get, who has been forced to work with such limited resources?
Loyalty is dead, and it is not even commercialism that has been caught in the library with a revolver. Swansea have joined a long list of clubs getting ideas above their station, and such a gamble, with the riches of next season looming large, could be catastrophic.
You could earn up to £10 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus with our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.
