Ashley Williams has claimed to being relieved that Swansea City have missed out on qualifying for the Europa League. Speaking after Sunday’s 4-2 home defeat against Manchester City – which guaranteed Swansea will finish the season in eighth place – Williams pointed to the fact that most Premier League clubs suffer when trying to combine domestic football with the Europa League.
Swansea played in the Europa League last season and reached the knockout stage but it was a far from straightforward campaign and there were reservations within the club about how a thin playing squad would compete on four fronts if qualification was secured again.
Asked whether he felt relieved not to be in the Europa League next season, Williams said: “Yes, definitely, to be honest. I really enjoyed playing the games but it is very difficult. You see that most teams in the Premier League suffer when they play in it. It was one of those things where if we had got it, then brilliant, but now we haven’t we can concentrate on the Premier League. I’m glad I’ve played in it once in my career, it wouldn’t have been doom and gloom if we had got in there but I’d prefer to concentrate on the league.
“As a club you have to continue to try and get better each year. If the Europa League is the next step then you have to try and get in it, and then it’s down to the club to get a bigger squad and manage it better than we did last time. I wouldn’t say that we want to sit in eighth for the next five years, we want to keep getting better and better. If that next step is the Europa League then we’ll take it on, it’s us to us as players and the club to make sure we can compete.”
