Luke Williams | We have to be smart and work in a way that allows us to build continuously

Head coach Luke Williams believes it is imperative Swansea City look to build a squad and structures that will allow the club to continually move forward and progress.

The Swans boss recently marked a year in charge since his arrival from Notts County and, while there is plenty of work still to be done, there has been obvious development and improvement in delivering a team with a clear on-field identity.

Williams is clear in his belief that there is no silver bullet for the Swans when it comes to building the club to a level where it can reach its all-round potential.

And that’s why constantly striving to improve in a sustainable fashion will be vital if Swansea are to “hack the system” in the weeks, months and years ahead.

“We have to find a clever and intelligent way to build a group. We cannot do that in the simplest way which is to find the players who are performing best in the Championship, splash the cash, and have them make those performances and actions. It’s a lovely shortcut but we are not in that situation,” he said.

“So we have to find a clever way, and it is our responsibility inside the building to do that. It’s our responsibility to re-engage with the fans and to give them optimism, and hope that things are changing.

“It’s not their responsibility, they will keep turning up in the freezing cold as they always do and sit and watch and say ‘show us something’. We have to do that in here.

“It is ridiculously challenging, because we don’t have the obvious thing that helps many, many teams to be successful. We don’t have that.

“Sulking is not going to change that, feeling like there is no light at the tunnel is not going to help. I need to try to find a way, a smart way. We have to be brighter and more in tune to try to build a group of players with a feeling and a style that can hack the system and get us to where we want to get to.

“We have to continue to build the whole time. Since I got here, when I said we were going to start to try to play the football we want to play, we knew it would not immediately work and it was tough.

“But, I believe, even if it is difficult to see or people don’t believe it, we are building something that is more sustainable that we can build year on year. Not a short-term fix that leaves you having to redo everything.

“We are trying to make incremental improvements, and if we finish the season in a good fashion then we can have some enthusiasm and energy going into next season, and not need to redo everything again.

“We have to build and build and build.”