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Swansea Chairman on Bradley: ‘We need stability first and foremost’

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While the results haven’t been there for Bob Bradley thus far in his Swansea City tenure, his job is not under threat.

Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins reaffirmed his support for his under fire manager, stating that the team needs consistency at the managerial position in order to avoid relegation and that Bradley’s job was safe.

“I don’t know where that story came from, but it’s natural in football that everyone wants and needs results.” Jenkins told TalkSPORT. “But the last thing we need at this moment of time is a continual change in manager. We need stability first and foremost.

“Take a team like Fulham, they changed managers three times in the season they tried to stave off relegation and we’re in a similar position now.”

Bradley has had an unfortunate run of results, including a bad 5-0 loss to Tottenham, failing to distinguish himself so far from his predecessor. But Jenkins does not want Bradley to be judged without a fair chance.

“We’re with Bob now to try and turn that corner – that’s what we’re working towards.” said Jenkins. “We look at the January window as a chance to reinforce things. There are players not hitting the form levels they have done in the past and we have to find out why that is and get that right as well.”

Comments

  1. I’d guess a public statement, in this case, is likely more for the supporters to help put them at ease or communicate with them where they’re at in the process.

    I’m sure behind the scenes Bradley is calm, cool, and collected while staying incredibly relentless to turn the ship around. If they ownership, and players didn’t know Bradley as a man or his character, truly, before they hired him I’m sure they see it in spades now. If he’s given the time the man succeeds at achieving his objectives more times than not.

    In this era, time is something rarely afforded to managers, though.

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    • Plus, fundamentally, he is a good person. So between the work ethic and being good, I would hope people give him a chance to succeed. He is definitely going to need a bit of a learning curve though. Apparently Conte maps out every attack for his team. I’m not sure Bob has the chops for that… maybe he does now. I wish him the best every Saturday.

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  2. He is testing himself against the best.

    Well best is debatable.
    The test part probably is too, as his team has no shot of winning much.

    Come back to a real league Bob. The Fire need you…badly.

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  3. I always find it to be a dangerous sign for the coach when the management makes a public statement supporting him. Good luck to Bob.

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  4. Stabaek was selling 2 or 3 of their best players, which was why Bob was trying to move at the time, when a lot of people were clamoring for him to stay and try for Europa League glory. Egypt is at the top of their qualifying group having beat Ghana (something Bob couldn’t do) and Congo the top rated teams in their group.

    Good sound words from Jenkins, of course word was also that his job was in trouble so we’ll see. The Swans have an excellent opportunity over the next seven matches to put themselves safely in the middle of the pack. If they can earn 10-12 points in that time Bob will probably see out the season. If its less than 7 or 8 points I don’t see him making it past March 20th (the next International Break).

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    • “of course word was also that his job was in trouble” – where at Le Harvre? I didn’t get that from anything I read about his move to Swansea. If anything, based on what I read, the French fans were mad because he was abandoning their team.

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      • Jenkins the chairman is on the hot seat as well, or at least the fans would like to put him there more so than Bob.

  5. Good to see that they will give Bradley a chance to succeed. It’s obvious just by results that this team needs some defensive help. They need to make some decent acquisitions in January.I remember watching a Sky Sports show before the 2010 World Cup and they were talking with Roy Hodgson about the England group. He said about the US (and Bob Bradley) that “you know that they will be well organized defensively.” One way you can judge a coach or manager is by how well a team does after he leaves. Staback is now fighting relegation and the Egyptian national team has not done nearly was well as when Bradley was there.

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    • Bradley is a great coach but I wouldn’t say his teams were all that great defensively, i recall in several big games we would fall behind early and often. Usually a halftime tweak, often involving moving Dempsey to forward would save us. the USMNT was constantly falling behind 1 or 2-0 within 20 minutes.

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      • 11th after how many games? Less than 11 for sure. Prior season he missed by a goal. In a wild, fun game that sent Le Hac fans into heart attack mode. The bald eagle still has a shot. Even if a long one.

    • I guess some people here don’t agree with Roy Hodgson regarding his evaluation of the US national team. I was quoting him as I feel he knows better than I about how well a team is coached defensively. As for Le Havre, since he left early in the season, it’s hardly fair to compare the before and after records. Regarding the Egyptian national team, I checked a couple of months ago on their record before the WC qualifiers and it wasn’t that sterling so they must have improved.

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