Opportunity knocks for Swans after undulating year

Nobody argued when Luke Williams insisted last September that it would be "silly" to suggest Swansea City could compete at the "very peak" of the Championship in 2024-25.

And as expected, he was right.

For a while it seemed Williams' Swansea might threaten the play-off places, but then came a spell when they looked in danger of sliding all the way to bottom three.

As a result, Williams made way for Alan Sheehan, whose successes in the final 13 games of what at times was a difficult season have offered hope about what might lie ahead in 2025-26.

BBC Sport Wales looks back the Championship campaign which has just come to an end and assesses what may come next.

The key news for Swansea as the dust settles on their season is that they remain a second-tier club, because for a while they looked a club in trouble.

Williams' side were looking up at the turn of the year, after back-to-back festive home wins put them within four points of the play-off places in ninth.

Yet a 4-0 New Year's Day defeat at Portsmouth marked the start of a collapse in form which ended in Williams' departure.

There were various factors involved in Swansea's slump - for example another dispiriting mid-season transfer window which included the loss of influential captain Matt Grimes - and there was never a feeling that Williams had lost the support of the dressing room.

However, there can be no doubt that the change in the dugout brought a significant shift in results.

Under Sheehan, Swansea claimed 24 points from their final 13 games of the season as relegation worries were wiped away.

Swansea ended up 11th, four points and three places better off than they had been 12 months earlier.

"A top-half finish is incredible progression in a certain amount of time," Sheehan said in the wake of the season-ending draw with Oxford United.

"Sometimes when we get that momentum, we want more. It gives us a taste of what winning is like consistently.

"When we do that, we get full houses, we get expectations, which is wonderful. That's what we want to do, we want to build expectations for the football club moving forward."

There is a good feeling surrounding Swansea right now, thanks chiefly to their late-season upturn in form, though there have been various bright finishes in recent years which have not led to much.

There is a fresh look to Swansea's hierarchy right now, with Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen heading up the new ownership group who took charge in November.

Last month's eye-catching arrival in the boardroom of Luka Modric did no harm in terms of PR, with Swansea hoping the Real Madrid star will have a positive influence.

Chief executive Tom Gorringe has the chance to make a mark having taken the reins from outgoing chairman Andy Coleman – whose spell in that post is now officially at an end – while Richard Montague is heading into his first transfer window as director of football.

Opportunity knocks – but shrewd decisions are required.

A number of players are heading out of the Swansea.com Stadium this summer, meaning there is scope for Sheehan and Montague to shape the playing squad as they wish.

A deal for Zeidane Inoussa has already been agreed, suggesting the Swans' ducks are in a row already. After various transfer issues in recent years, the Inoussa deal – which involves a significant fee – has buoyed the club's supporters.

Melker Widell will also arrive this summer, but there is plenty more work to do.

Harry Darling's future is unresolved after his contract was allowed to run down, while Swansea must wait and see whether there is hope of re-signing Lewis O'Brien.

Even if those two were to return, Swansea will need to strengthen all departments of their squad.

They will hope that players like Eom Ji-Sung and Zan Vipotnik will be more consistently effective next season having got a year of Championship experience under their belts.

The same goes for Goncalo Franco – but only if he is still around, of course. The fear for Swansea heading into the summer window is that the Portuguese midfielder will be the subject of serious interest from more powerful clubs.

Across his two spells as Swansea's caretaker boss, Sheehan banked 34 points from 19 games, an impressive return which was enough to secure the three-year deal he signed last week.

If Sheehan can reproduce that kind of form throughout 2024-25, Swansea will be gearing up for a play-off campaign in 12 months' time.

But at this point, it is a big if.

For all the changes in the Swansea dugout in recent times, there has been an ongoing feeling that the playing squad has lacked the quality and depth to compete for a return to the Premier League.

Swansea do not have the financial clout to rival many second-tier clubs, meaning they must be clever when it comes to the transfer market.

They are in need of a good summer, which means a handful of players of Franco's calibre arriving in Wales rather than the odd one.

Swansea require recruits with experience, too, having brought in so many untried players in recent windows and seen the likes of Joe Allen, Kyle Naughton and Cyrus Christie say their goodbyes this week.

Even if Swansea can get the majority of their transfer moves right, it would be silly – as it was last year – to argue Swansea could compete for a place at the top-end of the division.

But with Sheehan craving progress, a play-off push may not be too much to ask.