Football Season Guide

Having seen popular manager Rusell Martin depart at the end of the previous season, Swansea appointed someone who quickly became very unpopular with the fanbase. Michael Duff made the naive mistake of downplaying the significant of the South Wales derby against bitter rivals Cardiff, suggesting he’d rather lose to them twice in the season and get promotion. Although he probably meant well by the comments, they went down like a lead balloon with the Swans faithful. It wasn’t just Duff’s off-field attitude that riled the fans but his more direct style of play didn’t bring many plaudits either, at a club that had been used to more possession-based football under Martin and previous managers. Despite a couple of decent spells, Duff’s tenure always seemed doomed and he was gone by December. The club attempted to return to the “Swansea Way” by appointing Luke Williams who was known for an ultra-attacking brand of football during his time at lower league Notts County. Having previously been at the club under Martin, Williams also knew how to endear himself to the local media and fans much better than Duff did. There were highs and lows under the new manager but a good run of results towards the end of the campaign saw them comfortably achieve safety. Last season's recruitment was hit and miss. Brazilian winger Ronald was brought in by Williams in January and breathed new life into an attack that had been uninspiring at times. Jerry Yates was the previous summer’s big signing but turned out to be a flop in the eyes of most supporters and has since left on loan. Other attacking arrivals like Josh Ginnelly and Mykola Kukharevych were injured for most of the season, whilst Jamie Paterson looks set to leave. The Swans have signed Slovenian striker Žan Vipotnik from Bordeaux to bolster the attack. Defence is also an area that needs work with Nathan Wood moving to the Premier League and Bashir Humphreys returning to his parent-club. Carl Rushworth is another key player whose loan spell has come to an end. The goalkeeper was named the club’s Player of the Season and will be sorely missed.