Swansea v Bournemouth Preview

Heading into the New Year’s Eve game against Bournemouth without a manager is a strange thing for Huw Jenkins to permit as far as I’m concerned. Who exactly is going to lead the side to victory and three points we desperately need? Can you ask Britts to take on the responsibility? Not while he’s sat on the bench you can’t!

Bradders’ sacking came early enough in the week that we now know the club’s first choices are both ignoring the chance to take over at the Liberty. Ryan Giggs and Chris Coleman are obviously looking elsewhere for their employment future – perhaps Giggs believes Mourinho will cock up enough that United will give him the job and Coleman would’ve been foolish to leave the Welsh national side!

So that leaves us with Paul Clement, currently assistant manager at Bayern Munich under Carlo Ancelotti and Gary Rowett who was recently dismissed from Birmingham City thanks to their new owners disliking him for no reason whatsoever – brilliant.

Even more from the media, APPARENTLY Antonio Conte’s Chelsea are interested in signing Fernando Llorente in January as back up to Diego Costa. Given Llorente’s seemingly permanent position on the bench for us; he could do worse than making the switch for a bit more pocket money but it remains to be seen how much truth there is to the rumours – Chelsea are also linked to former Man Utd striker Javier Hernandez so you can’t believe everything you read.

In brief, Ki and Taylor might be available for the game but there’s no information coming from the club at present to confirm their availability and Montero is definitely unavailable thanks to a hamstring injury that’ll keep him out until the end of January at least – better than usual on the injury front!

Are we in the midst of turning a corner? Can we see off Bournemouth to start 2017 on the right foot? Or are we destined to slump to defeat yet again at the hands of a side we are more than capable of defeating?

I can’t give any answers right now because I just don’t know – all I do know is we need a manager ASAP to save a sinking ship.

Who's Next?

It’s unlikely we’ll see a replacement appointed before Saturday’s game with Bournemouth but the bookies already have some ideas as to who will be replacing Bob Bradley – here’s an assessment of who’s in the running and my opinion on whether or not they’re right for the job.

Ryan Giggs

We’re all very aware of Giggsy’s talents as a footballer; on his day he was unstoppable right up to his slightly premature retirement thanks to David Moyes’ failings as Man United manager but does that make him a good choice?

Sadly not. Even though he’s Huw Jenkin’s preferred choice to fill the vacancy, he hasn’t actually got any experience of managing in the Premier League nor any other league. A few games at the end of a season that yielded little success is not enough. 6/4 to take over according to SkyBet but the wrong choice as far as I can see.

Chris Coleman

The only way Coleman will take over Swansea City is if he can maintain his role with the Welsh national team – spinning plates whilst juggling balls if you ask me; basically it’s too much for him to do.

8/1 say SkyBet but I don’t think there’s any chance of this Swansea lad dividing his time between Premier League strugglers and International successes.

Alan Pardew

The only real candidate as far as I can tell. Plenty of experience and the charismatic character we’ve been lacking since Rodgers/Laudrup – I see no reason why we shouldn’t offer him a contract this second to save our season.

11/4 makes for a tempting bet too. Pardew all the way for me.

Gary Rowett

It was sad to see Birmingham City sack Rowett but it was more infuriating that it wasn’t even his 

fault. The new owners wanted Gianfranco Zola and made it so.

The Premier League relegation battle might be too much for Rowett to handle but 5/1 with SkyBet is rather intriguing – he stands a chance.

The No Hopers

Klinsmann and Hodgson – two managers who’ve left international roles this year. Would either of 

them have the ability to drag us out of the nosedive?

No.

My Opinion?

Giggsy is the frontrunner but he isn’t good enough to keep us up so I’d back Pardew – even on a short term deal.