Club update | Andy Coleman

It has been a little more than six months since I arrived here in Swansea, and I wanted to take this opportunity to provide some reflections on the state of the club, my vision for the future, and some thoughts on how we will get there.

This message will introduce many of the themes we are eager to discuss in more detail with supporters at tonight’s fan forum, and will form the basis of our work and priorities moving forward.

I came here with high expectations and ambitions; those have not changed.

I also fully appreciate your frustrations at how this season has gone. I share those frustrations myself.

As a fan, I have always hated it when the teams I support state the need for patience. I’m sure you have heard that word – patience – too often here over the years. Like you, I want to win, and I want us to be successful.

It is essential, however, that we confront the reality of the situation and be honest with ourselves and you, our supporters.

I will be asking you for patience, but I believe there is a difference between asking for patience during a period of “more of the same”, and asking for patience as we implement significant changes designed to bring success to Swansea City.

Last week I spent nine straight hours in meetings with my Executive Management Team discussing what we have learned these past few months, and my vision for what we need to change.

I have spoken very openly inside the club about just how difficult it is to transform a culture, fix a disconnected operating structure, win over a fanbase, and field a team that can compete at the top end of the division. But that is what I am committed to delivering.  

My assessment at the six-month mark is that there are three major areas we need to address: the connection between supporters and the club, football performance, and the business operation.

Since arriving in Swansea, I have seen the positive impact the Supporters’ Trust has on this club and this community. I have forged a strong working relationship with the Trust leadership, and I am extremely grateful for the time we spend together.

From our first meeting, the Trust have pushed the club to be more transparent and more direct with supporters.  It’s important to me that I do more to strengthen my bond with each of you.

While fans’ forums, chairman’s letters and other opportunities to speak with one another are great, I do not believe it gives you the full access you deserve. I want you to have more, and I want this to be the most open and direct relationship between a chairman and his supporters this club has seen.

With that in mind, we will soon be announcing a new initiative where I will be making myself available to supporters for one hour, twice a month, during the season and moving forward.

During these ‘Audience with the Jack Army’ sessions, each of you will have the ability to reserve times to sit and meet with me one-to-one to discuss any matters you think to be relevant to the club. I believe we will be among the first – if not the first - club to provide this type of regular, open opportunity for supporters to meet with their chairman.  In good times and in bad, I will be here.

This alone won’t fix the concerns many of our supporters have about the leadership of the club. But I hope it is a demonstration of my commitment to address those concerns and begin the task of repairing that relationship, even if it is just with one of you at a time.

I cannot change what has happened in the past. What I can do is use my creativity and passion to think differently to get this club back on the right track.

On the football side, the plain truth is that we are no longer a Premier League football club. This is our sixth season in the Championship – almost the same amount of time we spent in the top-flight – and we simply cannot do more of the same and expect dramatically better results.

We should always respect the achievements of the past – they are an important and special part of this club’s great history – but we need to openly face our challenges, find ways to solve them and work tirelessly towards our shared goals of promotion to, and sustainability, in the Premier League.

A desire to get into and stay in the Premier League does not set us apart from the majority of the other 23 clubs in the Championship.

What is of greater importance, both to understand within the club and to communicate to you as supporters, is what we are going to do to achieve those goals.

When sporting director Paul Watson and I arrived last summer, there was a lack of coherence and alignment between the football department and the club’s leadership. When Russell Martin left the club to join Southampton, taking several staff members with him, the absence of a coherent strategy then extended to a lack of basic staff in important areas.

We needed to rebuild the football department and we have done so around the principles of how we play, how we train, and how we recruit.

Paul has worked tirelessly with staff across our coaching, performance, medical and recruitment departments in order to implement a structure that will allow us to achieve exactly that.

Progress in each of these areas will be measured against the levels we need to be operating at to achieve our goals.

We are fortunate as a club to already have a long-held playing model in the Swansea Way and the appointment of Luke has brought a fresh energy to the squad and to Fairwood.

We are undoubtedly early in this process, but performances and results are improving, and we can see we are starting to make the kind of progress we need to on the pitch.

How we train and develop our players is also now being aligned from first-team level through to the academy.

Luke and the coaching and performance staff are reshaping the way the first team trains and prepares for matches.

Paul and academy manager Gavin Levey are implementing a programme that ensures a strong connection between our academy and our first-team staff.

The entire football department now shares time to better understand preparation, a matchday setup, and post-game review processes. There is a pipeline of information across the department designed to create a pathway for players and staff to develop.

The area that has experienced the greatest change has been in how we recruit. Our data operation and scouting infrastructure have been greatly expanded. Our structure and processes have been enhanced and formalised. Our recruitment strategy is consistent with and reflects the needs for how we play and how we train.

We now have alignment between our recruitment team, coaching staff, and ownership.

As Luke referenced recently, this joined-up approach enables us to identify and bring in a player of the calibre of Ronald.

Alongside our football objectives, I have set the expectation that this club moves towards a model of being financially self-sustaining.

My assessment of the state of the business operations at the club is that there is a genuine opportunity to think creatively about how we can develop new income streams. We need to be brave, modern and fresh with our ideas as we work to broaden the Swansea City brand.

While our focus on growing the club’s revenue potential and managing costs is squarely within our control, the speed at which we reach sustainability will be dependent on a few factors that are not in our control. Primary among these are the ongoing negotiations between the EFL and the Premier League over a new profit-sharing arrangement which, if agreed, would accelerate our timeline.

While profits from player trading will likely always form a part of our income on an annual basis, there is a significant difference between relying on profits from player trading to reduce overall losses, and our objective of using player trading income as an element of a sustainable business and playing model.

I need to be clear with each of you though that we are not going to be able to transform the financial outlook for the club by flipping a switch. It will take time and – that word again – patience.

Of course, now it is derby week, one of the biggest games of the season for any Swansea supporter, and we can throw patience out the window for the next several days.

I can assure you that everyone at the club is focused on delivering the best-possible performance in this game. I have been counting down the days, and I know the stadium will be rocking as we all get behind the team to do our part.

I will always strive to make you proud of this great football club. I care deeply about you and our community, and I will never stop working to make it better.

Take good care,

Andy