Five years since Swansea City’s stint as a Premier League club came to an end, Michael Duff has become the fourth boss to take on the challenge of leading the Welsh club back to the highest level.
His three predecessors have all won praise for their work at Swansea, yet none has achieved the ultimate goal of promotion from the Championship.
Graham Potter was only around for the first season after Swansea’s relegation.
A 10th-placed finish in the second tier – and a return to the sort of attractive style of play which the Swans went away from in their latter top-flight days – was enough to convince Brighton to hand Potter a Premier League chance.
Steve Cooper then reached the play-offs in each of his two seasons at the helm, a return which earned him the Nottingham Forest job and ultimately, a crack at the top division.
Russell Martin’s tenure was less successful in terms of league position, with the former Scotland defender leading Swansea to 15th in 2021-22 and 10th last season.
But Martin’s style caught the eye of others, particularly given Swansea’s increasingly limited budget.
As a result he was named Southampton manager over the summer, and Swansea have turned to former Cheltenham and Barnsley boss Duff.
How did last season go?
The last campaign was a strange one for Swansea, who finished only three points outside the play-off places thanks to a springtime surge up the table.
A year earlier, they had finished 14 points adrift of the top six.
Yet despite that progress, there was a feeling of what might have been for Swansea given the boom-bust nature of their season, with a fine start and sparkling finish sandwiching a post-World Cup slump which ultimately cost them a play-off chance.
That long dip in form coincided, in part, with a desperate mid-season transfer window in which Swansea did not sign a player.
The January failings had an impact on Martin, whose relationship with the club’s American owners was never the same again.
Though there was talk of Martin being offered a new contract right up until the end of the campaign, it looks with hindsight as if his exit was a distinct possibility from the moment he brought his entire backroom team into a press conference and criticised the club’s approach in the transfer market.
Martin’s Swansea were easy on the eye and a consistent attacking threat – only three teams scored more Championship goals last season – but were too often held back by defensive frailties.
What are their prospects this season?
At this stage, it is a difficult question to answer.
Duff says he wants to play attractive football, but it seems unlikely he will follow Martin in being totally committed to a possession game.
How long it takes Matt Grimes and company to adapt to Duff’s approach will go a long way to deciding how they fare this season.
So too, as ever, will the club’s work in the transfer market.
Uncertainty continues to surround the future of Joel Piroe, Swansea’s leading scorer in the last two seasons, who has only a year to run on his contract and has been linked with – among others – Everton, Leeds United and Leicester City.
Swansea have paid a significant fee for Jerry Yates but, even with the former Blackpool player in the building, they will be short of forwards should Piroe depart.
Carl Rushworth and Harrison Ashby are expected to arrive on loan, while Swansea have also recruited Josh Key and Josh Ginnelly.
But further new faces are needed.
Swansea have no established left-back after the departure of Ryan Manning, their player of the season last year.
They also look light in central defence and will hope Joe Allen and Liam Walsh will have better luck with injuries this season to give Duff options at the heart of midfield.
Former bosses Potter, Cooper and Martin all left Wales having become frustrated by Swansea’s transfer efforts, or concerned about what the next window would bring.
Duff, and Swansea, must hope his reign does not follow the pattern.
Head coach Michael Duff’s view:
“I don’t think you ever feel ready – from my point of view I’d like another seven or eight weeks of getting more information and more work.
“We are still learning, still trying to adapt, still trying to implement new things. It is what it is. The players are ready physically.
“There are 24 teams in the league who will all think they have a chance of getting promoted. We are one of them.”
Transfers in
Mykola Kukharevych (Troyes, undisclosed fee); Carl Rushworth (Brighton, loan); Josh Ginnelly (Heart of Midlothian, free); Josh Key (Exeter City, undisclosed compensation fee); Jerry Yates (Blackpool, £2.5m plus Kyle Joseph).
Transfers out
Kyle Joseph (Blackpool, Jerry Yates swap); Joel Latibeaudiere (Coventry, £500,000); Ryan Manning (Southampton, free); Michael Obafemi (Burnley, £3m) Andreas Sondergaard (released); Morgan Whittaker (Plymouth, £1m plus add-ons).
