Swansea City part company with Paul Clement

Swansea City can confirm that the club has tonight parted company with head coach Paul Clement.

Assistant coaches Nigel Gibbs and Karl Halabi have also left the club.

Swansea City chairman, Huw Jenkins, confirmed: “To change the manager, especially at only the halfway point of the season, is the last thing we wanted to do as a club.

“We had three different managers last season and as a result we all wanted to give Paul as much time as possible to turn things around.

“But we felt we couldn’t leave it any longer and needed to make a change to give us the best chance of an uplift and a turnaround in fortunes with the club bottom of the Premier League.

“Paul has been at the club for 12 months and what he achieved in the second half of last season to keep us in the top flight was a tremendous feat. For that, and his effort and commitment this season, it goes without saying that the club thanks him for his work, together with Nigel (Gibbs) and Karl (Halabi).

“I have had an excellent working relationship with Paul and we are all, including the owners, surprised and disappointed it hasn’t worked out this season.

“We wish Paul every success in his career going forward.’’

The club will give supporters a further update regarding their replacements within the next 24 hours.

Clement was appointed head coach on January 3, 2017, after the dismissal of Bob Bradley as manager.

He arrived with a wealth of experience after working with some of the biggest teams in Europe as assistant manager to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

He also replaced former England boss Steve McClaren as manager of Championship side Derby County; taking the Rams to fifth in the table before being relieved of his duties.

In terms of silverware, Clement helped Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2013, while the year before he had seen Paris Saint-Germain win Ligue 1. His crowning moment came with Real Madrid, for whom he was part of the set-up when they lifted a tenth Champions League title along with winning the Copa Del Rey.

Clement's other roles included working in the youth set up at Fulham along with a short spell with Republic of Ireland Under-21s.

He took over at Swansea last season with the club bottom of the Premier League and tipped as odds-on favourites for relegation. But he sparked a remarkable turnaround with four wins from his first six games, including an impressive victory at Liverpool, to earn himself the Premier League Manager of the Month award for January.

With things looking up, a poor run of six games without a win put the Swans in trouble again and relegation looked a serious possibility.

The Great Escape was complete, however, when Clement led his side to four wins and a draw from the last five games to finish the campaign in 15th place and six points clear of the drop zone.

But Clement couldn’t repeat last season’s late form with just three wins and three draws from the opening 18 games leaving the Swans bottom of the Premier League again on 12 points.

Swansea City would like to thank Paul, Nigel and Karl for their services and commitment to the club and wish them well in their next challenges.