Chris Coleman is fast emerging as the leading contender to take over at Swansea City as the club’s board seek to whittle down their shortlist and step up their pursuit of the club’s third manager of the season. Ryan Giggs and Gary Rowett are among the names also under consideration, with Swansea keen to weigh up all available options, but Coleman ticks a number of boxes and could soon find himself at the centre of a club versus country tug-of-war for his services.
Swansea want to make an appointment swiftly. They have placed Alan Curtis, the first-team coach, and Paul Williams, the assistant manager, in charge of the team for Bournemouth’s visit on Saturday but hope to name Bob Bradley’s replacement in time for Tuesday’s game at Crystal Palace. At this stage Coleman, the Wales manager, is the clear frontrunner.
Coleman has managed in the Premier League before, Swansea is his hometown club, which means the 46-year-old would be a popular choice with the supporters, and his reputation in the game is high on the back of leading Wales to the European Championship semi-finals in the summer.
The situation with Coleman, however, is far from straightforward. The Football Association of Wales refused to grant Coleman permission to speak to Hull City in the summer and would not want to lose their manager halfway through their qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
Although Coleman stressed in September that he had unfinished business with Wales and was motivated by the prospect of trying to take his country to the 2018 finals in Russia – his contract expires at the end of the qualification campaign – he also admitted managing in the Premier League once more.
Coleman did not feel strongly enough about pursuing Hull’s interest to rock the boat with the FAW, yet it is unclear whether he would take the same view if Swansea came calling and put together a financial package that would be well beyond what the governing body could offer.
Giggs, Coleman’s former Wales team-mate, is also under consideration. Huw Jenkins, the Swansea chairman, is a strong admirer of the former Manchester United player, who missed out on the Swansea job when Bradley was appointed. Yet Stephen Kaplan and Jason Levien, the Welsh club’s majority shareholders, may need persuading about the merits of turning to a man with no managerial experience. It is also unclear how Giggs would feel about taking a position he recently missed out on, one that represents a bigger challenge now than when he was interviewed in October.
Rowett, who was sacked by Birmingham a fortnight ago with the side seventh in the Championship, fits the old Swansea prototype of a young, ambitious manager seen as having a promising future, but he has no Premier League experience and it would be a leap of faith to ask him to turn round the fortunes of a club that sits second from bottom in the Premier League table, four points and 16 goals short of safety.
