Bob Bradley accepts it is inevitable there will be discussions at boardroom level about his position after Swansea City slipped to a third successive defeat and a seventh in his 11 games as manager on a day when the mood inside the Liberty Stadium became poisonous.
Swansea fans turned on Bradley by calling for him to be sacked during the 4-1 home defeat against West Ham that left them second from bottom of the Premier League and four points adrift of safety. Supporters also vented their anger at the board members who sold their shares to American investors in the summer.
Bradley acknowledged the level of unrest and also said he would take the blame. Yet the American, who was appointed at the start of October, said he continues to believe he can turn the club’s fortunes around. Asked what he would say to those fans who directly called for him to be dismissed, Bradley replied: “I’d say when I came here I understood it was a difficult situation, I committed myself to the club, said I would work and fight every day to do the job and I continue to be fully committed to that.”
On the subject of whether the board still have confidence, Bradley said: “I don’t have regular dealings with the board. As a manager, when the results go bad you understand that there will be discussion – and that’s not anything you control. So you continue to prepare your team, try to pick the best team, make changes throughout a game to try and affect it in a positive way, and keep going.
“I don’t make excuses. After a game like today I take responsibility that it’s not good enough. Inside the dressing room we have to look at each other and accept that especially in the second half we had the chance to fight back and we weren’t able to do it in a strong enough way. At the moment we’re our own worst enemy, no matter what we do we seem to put ourselves in terrible spots.”
There were indications before the West Ham match that the Swansea board were strongly behind Bradley but a large number of the club’s supporters made it clear they do not share that view. “We want Bradley out” was chanted several times during the second half.
“There was absolutely a mood in the stadium today,” Bradley said. “After 18 games we’re in a very difficult position, that also leaves 20 games to fight for staying up, to fight for winning back supporters. We all heard the response in the stadium, it doesn’t feel good. But in football sometimes you have to fight when everything’s going against you.”
