Panic Measures

Swansea reached the Premier League by doing things differently but they are now becoming just another struggler flitting between managers.

- Huw Richards

Modern football’s endemic short-termism may have done Swansea City – increasingly prone to the same ailment themselves – a serious favour as they hunted a new manager for the third December running. To have Carlos Carvalhal, well regarded at the Liberty, become available within a few days of sacking Paul Clement, required Sheffield Wednesday to conclude that dropping back into the Championship midtable outweighs his previous achievement of lifting them from that level and twice taking them closer to the Premier League than they have been since 2000.

Hope springs eternal. A remarkable late comeback at Watford and Carvalhal’s known commitment to attacking football inspire optimism that he might just be the man to revive the club’s fortunes, although the unlucky, if more defensive, Clement was seen in the same light a year ago.

But the suspicion remains that the problems at the Liberty are beyond the capacity of any manager, not least because they are rooted within the wider Premier League environment. Life gets tougher rather than easier for the league’s over-achievers as seasons go by.