With John Van Zweden confirming Koeman's agent had made contact, will Swansea go with another household name?
Yesterday quotes appeared online from Swansea director John Van Zweden, stating that as reported, Ronald Koeman's agent had made contact regarding the possibility of becoming Swansea manager at the end of the season. Here's what John said, so as not to inadvertently exaggerate the quotes:
"Albers [Koeman's agent] indeed approached with the question of whether Koeman was a suitable candidate for Swansea. I passed on the number of the agent to Huw Jenkins and whether there has been any contact I really do not know. I know that the club is very pleased with Garry Monk.”
“The club climbs up again, so there is no reason for a new coach - though it may change again if you lose three times in a row.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ronald-koemans-representative-makes-contact-6800614
John can always be relied upon for a quote which will drum up a bit of media speculation, and that one is no different. Give it a week and the latter part of the quote will undoubtedly be in use as a headline for countless online tabloids, but I don't think there's too much in this for now. The Swans will be all too aware that to give Monk the best chance of success they have to appear to be giving him their full backing one hundred percent of the time. I'm not insinuating they're not currently doing that - I just mean that if we were reported as having entered into negotiations with Koeman before the end of the season, you could understand if it had an unsettling effect on Monk and some of the senior Swansea players.
Do we really want another big-name manager though? When you think about it, the two managers that (for me) really kicked us on in terms of level of performance were Martinez & Rodgers, and not discounting Laudrup's cup successes (and Sousa's installation of a mean defence) both times we've gone for a big-name ex-player it's ended up ending fairly acrimoniously. Are we better off with a relative unknown who's more focused on tactical nuances, or an ex-player with clout in the transfer market?
As a small fan-run club competing in a world of oligarch-fueled giants it takes a special kind of personality to want to stick around at the Swans in the long run. They need to have a passion for passing football, but crucially they'll need to have a love of a long-term project, where they can mould the team into their image of the perfect passing outfit. Is Koeman that man?
He did spend a long time at Barcelona, playing 345 games (and scoring 102 goals! From full-back!) but staying at Barcelona for that length of time is very different to staying at the Swans for a similar period. You've not really got an upwards transition if you're already at Barca, whereas at the Liberty if a "top four" club come sniffing it's always likely to be regarded with a certain amount of curiosity. That's only natural, but it does make me wonder whether we'd be better off with someone completely football-centric, and who wouldn't be the centre of media attention more often than not.
Koeman's managerial career started in arguably the best possible way. Being taken onto the Dutch staff when he retired in 1998, he was then appointed Barcelona assistant manager before taking on his first management role at Vitesse. In terms of a football education, playing for Ajax and Barca then being on the Dutch & Barcelona coaching staff...well, it doesn't get much better than that does it?
At Vitesse, he led them to a Europa League spot with a limited budget and that led to him being appointed Ajax boss - though sadly things didn't end well there. They started encouragingly enough - he won a domestic double in his first season but overall the club was falling behind PSV. He did regain the title in 2003/2004 but the following season he resigned in the aftermath of a 3-2 Europa League defeat to Auxerre, with the club eight points behind their arch rivals in the Eredivisie.
After resigning in Holland, he then went to Portugal and spent a year at Benfica. He did ok without setting the world alight - they finished third but won a domestic cup, while they were only knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by eventual champions Barcelona. That was deemed impressive enough for PSV to come calling for his services (ironic given until a year ago he was unable to match their performance in the league), and he went on to spend a successful year at the Phillips Stadion.
They set the league alight in the first half of the season, but they stuttered in the second, and with three clubs (including PSV) on 72 points on the final day of the season it was indeed Koeman's men who triumphed - a 5-1 win over Vitesse seeing them over the line as champions. That was likely what put him on Valencia's radar, and when they came calling in October of the following year he decided that the grass was greener in Spain (strange given the grass in Holland) and upped sticks for the Mastella.
The next chapter in Koeman's career is probably the most disappointing. Despite winning Valencia's first Copa Del Rey since 1999 (it was by now the 2007/08 season), Valencia finished bottom of their group in the Champions League & finished the season in fifteenth - just two points above the relegation zone. Certainly not good enough for the Spanish giants, and he was sacked in April 2008 just six months after being appointed.
After taking a year our, Koeman once again took a role in Holland as manager of AZ. Under Louis Van Gaal they'd won the Eredivisie the prior season, but after losing seven of his first sixteen games in charge it was announced Koeman was no longer in charge of the team. Ouch. He then took a further year and a half out, but when he came back this time it was a much happier return to management. Appointed boss of Feyenoord, he led them to second in his first season (only six points behind Ajax) before last season they finished seven points behind the Amsterdam club, and were only third on goal difference.
This season Feyenoord are currently in fourth, ten points behind leaders (you guessed it, Ajax), but the Dutch league has been very tight this year so they could finish anywhere between second and seventh. It's encouraging for Koeman that this latest stint as a manager has been more stable than any of his previous appointments, and I am firmly of the belief that stability and continuity are key to the successes of any football club.
I can't say any of this changes my opinion on the matter too much, it's just nice to know what we're dealing with. It isn't the most impressive CV in the world, but there are definite signs of encouragement there. A couple of cup wins and league titles, plus a return to form that's now spanned three seasons. Does he suit the Swans? Difficult to say, but if he does come in hopefully he can teach Jonjo this:
)
Quality that. No bearing on anything, but everyone likes a good free-kick.
I'm still not fussed on the idea of bringing in someone like Koeman yet if I'm honest. Stick with Monk and start searching for a quality director of football type with an extensive scouting network. I really do think having a setup where Monk (for example) operates as Head Coach in an almost exclusively footballing sense could work, and if we build a network of good footballing types throughout the club it will then leave Huw free to do chairman stuff - whatever it is he gets up to on a day to day basis.
I think traditionally Huw has done a lot of what, at other clubs, a technical director does in terms of player recruitment and other dealings of that nature, but it can only be to the benefit of the club if we find someone who fits in with our ethos who has an extensive knowledge of the transfer market. It's one less thing for Huw to worry about, and it means the manager/head coach has that much more time to concentrate on football matters. That's the way forward that makes sense to me, but who knows what will happen by/in the summer.
For me then, it's a no to Koeman for now, though I'm happy to stand corrected or be persuaded otherwise. Stick with Monk, and get working on that Shankly-esque bootroom environment that everyone keeps talking about. Onwards and upwards!
