An Ag in CO said:
I see that Norway is looking at him for their mens national team. He is well liked there and they saw what he did while coaching there. Don't think he'll be unemployed for too long regardless.
Quote:
Bob Bradley
You could argue that 11 games is insufficient time for a manager to implement their plans. You could argue that Swansea's defence (having lost Ashley Williams) is Championship standard. You could argue that the media furore (which the manager chose to address) over his nationality and accent was a strong strand of football snobbery bordering on xenophobia. You could argue that this was a sitting duck appointment.
All of those arguments have merit. That there was even a discussion in some quarters about whether an American manager can truly 'get' English football only highlights the resistance to difference that threatens to hold back the development of our game. That Jamie Fulton, Modou Barrow, Stephen Kingsley and Mike van der Hoorn have shared 34 league starts this season indicates that Swansea's squad is simply not up to Premier League standards. We've said it before, but there needs to be some sort of freedom mission to extricate Gylfi Sigurdsson from South Wales. Bob Bradley was dealt a hand of twos, threes and fours and asked to come up with royal flush.
Yet let's not pretend that the American was blameless. Swansea conceded three or more goals in eight of his 11 league games, and the players never warmed to his methods. If that raises an accusation against them, it says plenty about the manager too. He was guilty of naivety in believing that Swansea could attack the opposition and be successful, rather than focusing on clean sheets and defensive solidity. Bradley's replacement should not make the same mistakes, and will have January to bolster their options.
"I knew exactly what I was getting into when I came to Swansea and realised the hardest part was always going to be getting points in the short run," Bradley said after his sacking. "But I believe in myself and I believe in going for it. That's what I've always told my players. Football can be cruel and to have a chance you have to be strong. I wish Swansea the best and look forward to my next challenge."
In glorious hindsight, Bradley was the right appointment at the wrong time. Given the chance to build a squad, and afforded transfer windows to do so, he could still be successful in England. Given a squad that needed an instant fix, he was helpless. Both club and manager will feel the lasting effects of that mistake.
The worry is that so too may Bradley's countrymen, battling to be taken seriously by a footballing culture that struggles with open-mindedness. We can only hope that the failure of one does not tar all others, but the reality may be very different indeed.
