When Bob Bradley succeeded Francesco Guidolin as Swansea City boss last week initially it looked like a job for the boys.

The Swans have new American owners and now within a few months they’ve brought in an American head-coach. A man who hasn’t managed a club in one of Europe’s top five ranked leagues.

But I think it would be slightly unjust to judge Bradley just on that fact. Sometimes good managers just don’t get the call from the big leagues.

If you look at his last four jobs, Bob Bradley has managed a win ratio of 47% or above at each of those positions.

With the U.S national team, he guided the side to a Gold Cup victory in 2007 and to a runners-up spot in FIFA’s Confederations Cup in 2009. During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa he managed to see his U.S side top their group (which included England) before their second round knockout.

After nearly overseeing Egypt’s return to a World Cup in 2014, during a turbulent time in Egyptian football, he came to Europe and took over the reigns at Stabæk in Norway. He’d watch on as his side finished in a Europa League spot.

Last year Bob was named Le Havre boss and he’d see them finish in fourth spot in Ligue 2 last term.

So in fairness to Bradley, he has done the rounds as a boss and hasn’t just arrived in the Premier League without any credentials.

But now the hard work really begins because at the moment things are tough for the Swans. They are lying in seventeenth spot and many are tipping them to go down this season. If you fancy a bet we found BiggestFreeBets.com has a good selection of free bets.

His initial statements should encourage the fans.

He told the club’s website:

“I think in recent years the football has been great.”

“I love good passing football. I love the ability that when you have the ball it moves quickly.”

That should dampen any fears that the American would bring a pragmatic style and forget about the exciting style that has won Swansea so many admirers in recent years. But as we know in football the proof is in the pudding and the fans will want his side to improve vastly on the pitch.

The fact that Guidolin was sacked and Bradley was hired without the American owners discussing it with the club’s supporters trust certainly won’t help the new gaffer in the short-term.

The new coach will also need to get the players on board.

In recent weeks former boss Guidolin seemed to lose the respect of his squad after a few of the stars refused to shake his hand and would moan at him when they were subbed off.

But club captain Leon Britton stated that Bob Bradley has already received a positive reaction from the group:

“We had a meeting on Wednesday with the new manager and he spoke very well to the group,”

“His ideas were very good and he made an instant impression on the squad.”

I’d imagine that Bob Bradley will look at this as the ideal job to prove himself in the Premier League.That hunger should benefit the club as long as the players buy into his ideas.

That should see him addressing training issues and hope to improve the players fitness.

The new Swansea manager needs to get an instant reaction from his players and prove to his doubters that he can get the Swans winning again and hopefully doing that in an exciting manner.

If he can do that, then the first American manager in Premier League history could prove himself a success in Wales.

Posted on October 7th, 2016 by scott
Filed under: Article