Swansea will be on the hunt for a new manager in the summer after it was confirmed that Carlos Carvalhal won’t be staying with them. When he came in, the former Sheffield Wednesday boss looked as if he was going to be their saviour as he injected some new life into the club when he arrived just after Christmas. When he took over the Swansea were adrift at the bottom of the league on just 13 points.
Their home from in particular improved drastically and they won four straight home games through January and March to look as if they would ease their way to top-flight safety. However, it all fell apart with the Swans going into the final day of the regular season without a win in eight-games (D3 L5). Swansea scored in just two of those eight games and with pending relegation, with the Swans needing a ten-goal swing, a win and for Southampton to lose on the final day of the season to get safe, the club are parting ways with the Portuguese manager.
Swansea took 20 points from their seventeen games before heading into their final match of the season under Carvalhal. It was really a home loss against Southampton, in what was a huge survival battle in Swansea’s penultimate game that undid everything. That really was the tipping point that may well have prompted Carvalhal’s departure.
News that he was going certainly woke up betting in the Next Swansea Manager market and former Wales boss Chris Coleman the early 2/1 favourite at William Hill to take over. Coleman’s stint with Sunderland didn’t go all that well as the Black Cats suffered their second straight relegation to fall down to League One next season. But because of his work with Wales, Coleman will still be a hot ticket for a club and would be a popular arrival were he to go to Swansea.
Ostersunds boss Graham Potter has been linked with just about every available opening in the top two tiers of English football and the could be ready for a move in the summer. But the Championship is a notoriously tough place for managers. The Swans though would likely be one of the more appealing options for an in-coming manger in the division. Retiring Swansea legend Leon Britton has had his name in the hat at 8/1 odds with William Hill* (betting odds taken at 11:31 p.m. on May 11th, 2018) but while he is a popular figure at the Liberty Stadium, he doesn’t have the managerial experience.
Bobby Martinez is at 14/1 and if things don’t go too well for Belgium at the World Cup in the summer, could he find himself back in club management next season in South Wales? Other early names that have been touted around the William Hill Next Swansea Manager market are Alan Pardew, Cameron Toshack and Derek McInnes.
