With two games to spare, Swansea City have confirmed a place in the Championship play-offs. They have a head coach who has been linked with a number of other jobs, including taking charge of England U21s, and yet some fans of the club are less than convinced by Steve Cooper. Fraser Watson reckons they should be careful what they wish for.
In July 2018, the University of Sussex conducted research into whether the concept of football actually made supporters happy.
More than 32,000 responses were analysed, culminating in a conclusion that implied the standard outlook for a fan amounted to less than sunshine and rainbows.
“Most fans would tell you that football makes them happy, but our unique data tells a different story,” the study read.
“The average football match seems overwhelmingly negative for people’s moment-to-moment happiness.
“Continuing to follow a team even though it causes more pain than pleasure looks irrational from a traditional economic perspective.”
Perhaps re-iterating such findings to Steve Cooper last Sunday in the aftermath of Swansea City’s 2-2 draw at Reading would have drawn a wry smile.
The clash at the Madejski Stadium represented the 100th game of his current tenure.
Since Roberto Martinez left – excluding the stand-ins Alan Curtis and Leon Britton – nine managers have come and gone at the Liberty Stadium without notching that feat.
Paulo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup, Garry Monk, Francesco Guidolin, Bob Bradley, Paul Clement, Carlos Carvalhal and Graham Potter all came and went without reaching three figures.
Cooper has amassed 45 wins, 27 draws, and a Championship play-off place in consecutive seasons.
And all amidst background ambiguity, owner incompetency, and a net spend where the minus symbol precedes a figure in excess of £35 million.
On paper, it all equates to a man who whilst swimming against the tide, is somehow managing to simultaneously turn it.
And the fans must love him for it, right?
Not quite. Not universally, anyway. This is where anomaly over his reign becomes apparent.
Praise for the manner in which his squad, subsidised by youthful talent and shrewd loan signings, have competed at the top end of the Championship, has been countered by regular scorn over tactics, team selection, and substitutions.
A tilt at automatic promotion this season, a notion that appeared realistic after kicking off February with a win over now champions-elect Norwich City, was ended by a run of four straight defeats in late March and early April.
No financial backing, no natural striker, no replacements for Rodon, James, Brewster or McBurnie and yet he’s still made the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Steve Cooper deserves immense credit for the job he’s done. pic.twitter.com/F4zOhWEUaz
— tom 🦢 (@scfcthomas) April 27, 2021
Those 360-plus minutes of football saw Swansea fail to tally a single goal, muster little more by way of shots on target, and appear devoid of anything that resembled attacking threat.
That period, promptly rectified with wins at Millwall at then Sheffield Wednesday, represented a microcosm of the drawbacks that have fuelled the critics throughout Cooper’s reign.
A tendency to look toothless in attack, especially when chasing games, was often masked by the individual brilliance of a Rhian Brewster or Andre Ayew.
Such is the modern world, that much of the derision is social media based – and derives from the sort of fast-fingered imbeciles that have prompted clubs to take a universal stance this coming Friday.
And yet when Stuart James, a long-time Swansea fan and highly regarded football writer with The Athletic, tweets, “I’ll be honest, I’m ready for it to end,” about a season which could conceivably culminate with Premier League football, you realise the discontented voices aren’t just the unreasonable ones.
But the indifference towards Cooper raises a much wider question in football, one that resonates at clubs far beyond South Wales.
What is it that football fans really want?
Is it style? Identity? Pulsating football? Trophies? A billionaire Russian owner who guarantees the last of those concepts in abundance at the ruthless expense of the other three?
The only thing we can unanimously declare is the answer isn’t a European Super League. Even billionaire Russian owners can’t swing that.
It was the same old excuses from Steve Cooper yesterday as he faced up to another Swans performance that simply was – yet again – not good enough as we drew at home with Wycombe. #Swans #ChairBoys Read what the boss said at the link below 👇https://t.co/gTEUJFbrfJ pic.twitter.com/UXxL2aqtGM
— Planet Swans (@swansnews) April 18, 2021
Perhaps it depends on the era a supporter grew up in, the money they’ve spent, or the previous dynasties they’ve become accustomed to, but rarely will the cravings from those who represent the lifeblood of our game remain consistent for long.
Newcastle United fans want an owner who can associate with the city, their passion, their love of football – whilst at the same time willing a £350 million takeover from a Sheikh in Dubai over the line.
The Tottenham faithful want coveted silverware, but also wanted rid of a man renowned for delivering it.
Long suffering Hammers have long demanded the ‘West Ham way’, but are now lauding their best campaign for years being delivered by a pragmatist.
Followers of the Super League 12, by and large, want their owners gone for a betrayal that uprooted their values – unless, of course, an apology comes in the form of signing Kylian Mbappe this summer.
A business transaction which, incidentally, would represent the same kind of financial obscenity which prompted a breakaway in the first place.
So, perhaps a contingent of Swansea fans should be careful what they wish for.
Cooper’s time in charge hasn’t brought thrills in abundance, but it has brought much needed stability.
It’s brought through young players. It’s brought in clever signings, albeit some of them temporary, born out of his successful spells at the Liverpool Academy and with England Under 17s.
And it’s also brought in – and here’s the fairly relevant part – results.
We’ve been very inconsistent at times and nobody has been happy with some of the performances, but Steve Cooper has taken a very average and very small squad into the play offs.
He deserves far more respected than he’s given from some people— Jack The Swan (@JackTheSwan1912) April 25, 2021
Not to mention a current points tally that leaves a threadbare squad three games from the top tier of English football.
Cooper, for his part, never resembles a man set to one day die wondering over a few alternative opinions.
But then maybe he’s realised there will always be some too ignorant to appreciate the constraints he’s been up against.
Maybe he knows that surpassing expectations early season, doesn’t guarantee empathy when you stumble back down towards them.
Maybe, with his side on the brink of qualifying for football’s ‘£100 million match’ at Wembley, he simply has more important things to worry about.
Regardless, it’s safe to assume he doesn’t need a comprehensive study from the University of Sussex to tell him the blindingly obvious.
That while this past year has proven fans constitute the soul of football, the stark reality for any player or manager, is you’ll never make all of them happy.
Well reasoned article. Without Cooper’s astuteness in the loan market the picture both this and last season would have been very different. Frankly, we would have been in lower reaches of the championship facing the possibility of relegation to league 1, not the prospect of promotion back to the PL for the second season running.
Cooper is becoming a man in demand from other decent clubs, but it does seem that many Swansea fans can’t seem recognise the enormity of the contribution he has made to this club. There may be questions about his tactical astuteness since the Norwich game but until then most were more than happy with his tactics because after all he had got us into the dreamworld of possible automatic promotion.
The root cause of the downturn since Norwich has been the incompetent and self-serving decisions made by the distant, but clearly wilful and conceited owners, in the January transfer market. January was the time to show proper support to Cooper and his thin squad short of genuine quality, apart from Ayew, Guehi and probably Roberts. But of course the owners knew best and shipped in two injury prone, unproven and clearly unfit Americans when it was obvious to everybody else that the need for a proven centre forward had to be the top priority.
For those knee jerk calling for Cooper’s head over the past couple of months, do you really think that a new manager, lacking the quite brilliant connections Cooper has had within the loan market, would have fared any better with all the limitations placed on them by owners strikingly unable to make the right decisions on players at the right time? Let’s remember for all the plaudits coming in today for their financial management of the club, that this same ownership is littered with awful transfer decisions – from the profligate and unjustifiably expensive transfers of the early part of their tenure eg Clucas, to the completely barmy decisions made in January. Automatic promotion could have been ours this season with good decision making in the transfer market, but they threw it away. That doesn’t make any financial sense.
If Cooper and the boys do make it back into the PL this year then it will be down to him and the players – but certainly not because of the owners.
Arriola and Morris were admittedly recovering from long term injuries but so was Rhain Brewster when he arrived. Morris was easing his way into the firt team picture. Arriola was not given a chance to shine. Both were fit to play and very experienced with over 30 caps for the USA. I believe they were cheap and came at cost. It is unfair to blame the US owners. The club had agreed to sign Alofabi from Southampton but he also got injured a day before the window closed. The club accounts show that the squad selected by Cooper was losing over £1m a month from July 19 to July 20. This was accomodated by the sale of McBurney. This seasons loss with be perhaps £1.5M per month. This will be covered by the sale of Rodon who was immediately replaced by Bennett and a loan from the US owners, Cooper as a coach is being given the best possible chance and is doing well. He has a bigger budget than most of his rivals. The club has low debt and is well run. Swansea have no right to be in the Premeir league and made some mistakes in 2015 for sure. It might just get back to the PL again proving again how well the club is run in general.