Swansea sacking of Laudrup slightly mind boggling
The ruthlessness of Barclay’s managerial positions has come to the fore once again as Swansea City have sacked manager Michael Laudrup in his second year at the helm of the south Wales side. Confused? Yes I am as well to be honest.
Amid reports of internal strife between Laudrup and the Swan brass, Laudrup was let go in order to preserve order and to dispel the “constant uncertainty surrounding the club and Michael’s long-term future with us.” Despite this, Swansea chairman had previously very recently stated that there were efforts to continue to improve the work of the backroom staff – why the sudden change of heart in mere hours?
For a manager who in his first year in charge led them to Carling Cup glory, a place in the Europa League and a 9th place finish, I personally feel the club treated the Danish legend incredibly unfairly. Granted his sophomore campaign at the time of his sacking was the polar opposite of the prior season (Swansea are currently 12th in the tables but only 2 points off the drop zone), did his success last term not warrant him a reprieve till at least the end of the season to right the ship and patch up his relationships with club chairman Huw Jenkins and the board? If his sacking tells me anything personally, it dictates that Swansea made a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that larger clubs often come into contact with and their way of life as a club came under threat. Smaller clubs, even ones that have garnered success for themselves, often enjoy flying under the radar and would prefer not to be thrust into headlines frequently, especially for the wrong reasons.
The drama that surrounded Laudrup’s representative Bayram Tutumlu I do agree could have eventually grown into a cancer. Tutumlu was very outspoken and proactive in regards to trying to obtain a larger transfer budget for Laudrup so that he may acquire further depth and talent that Swansea may build on their success under him in his first season. Nothing wrong with that on the surface naturally, but Tutumlu took a more, shall we say, aggressive approach when said funds were not acquired and tried to off-load key center back Ashley Williams more or less behind the back of the club. Tutumlu was promptly ostracized from the club (rightfully so) and the ordeal no doubt left a sour taste in the mouth of Jenkins.
Laudrup, a brilliant player during his professional career and no doubt Denmark’s greatest footballer (though Schmeichel supporters will no doubt argue this till their last breath), played at the highest possible levels for some of the worlds biggest clubs, which afforded him the ability to gain a knowledge of other footballing markers outside of Europe – his coaching stints in La Liga with Mallorca and Getafe would further that knowledge and it would lead to the many low cost but highly successful signings of Michu, Chico, Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez and others. This ability to find talented players who fit the Swansea mold in both their new attacking brand of football as well as their low price tag was praised by Jenkins, however the signing this past summer of Wilfried Bony for some reason put Jenkins off. Was Laudrup not correct in trying to build off his success by bringing in a player who brought with him more plaudits, a higher profile and larger expectations? Success in football is everything and as such, for me, Laudrup was correct to want to bring in higher profile players, especially with having to deal with the Europa league. Bony was a proven goal scorer at both international level for the Ivory Coast and at club level for Vitesse Arnhem where he lit the Dutch Eredivisie alight the season prior. While Swansea will have wanted to continue to keep their lower profile and home-town feel to the atmosphere both inside the club and amongst the supporters, did a singing of Bony not show the supporters as well as the board that Laudrup had ambitions to continue to bring success to the south of Wales?
Personally I feel its such a shame that Laudrup was treated in such a manner and as I said before, the better move would have been to at least let him finish out the season and then have the club take a different approach with a different manager. Their appointment of Garry Monk as player-manager must be seen as a backwards step for the club. While he is a local favorite as a player, that is not how you follow up the sacking of Laudrup. Waiting until the summer will have allowed Jenkins and the rest of the board to find more suitable candidates during the remainder of the season and into the summer. There is no telling how the Monk appointment will turn out as player-managers usually crash and burn more often than succeed – this could further put fuel to the fire that is Swansea’s current BPL campaign.
I have no doubts that Laudrup will find employment elsewhere. He is still relatively young for a manager, he has a brilliant tactical mind and is quite progressive when it comes to the tactics he prefers to employ. However for all his positive traits, he may just be a little too ambitious and that will have to be something that he takes into consideration when he undoubtedly considers managerial offers that will come his way over the coming months. Laudrup was a truly brilliant player who can have equal success as a manager, but it will require a more ambitious club with greater footballing aspirations for him to truly find his managerial niche. Swansea, Getafe, Mallorca and even Spartak Moscow and Brondby have been too small to accommodate his ambitions – it will take a larger club putting their faith in him that will allow him to blossom.