Swansea owners speak out on scouting future

SWANSEA City have moved to inform fans how their recruitment policy will be revamped this summer in a bid to get the club back to the Premier League.

A statement issued by owners Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, along with chairman Huw Jenkins, also revealed that the club’s scouting network will be completely overhauled ‘in the next few weeks’.

The Swans’ disastrous recruitment policy in recent years was singled out as one of the main reasons for the club’s Premier League demise.

But the winds of change are blowing through the Liberty Stadium after Kyle Macauley, who worked closely with new manager Graham Potter in Sweden, was brought in as a new head of recruitment.

“Graham will be the single most important voice in the recruitment process,” a statement from the board read.

“He is the leader and has the final say on the players we buy and sell within the financial framework set by the chairman and board of directors.

“Of course, he will have a support structure around him. Kyle Macauley has been appointed as the club’s new head of recruitment after working closely with Graham at Ostersund and the relationship between them is vital to the success of our new system.

“It will be Kyle who is charged with heading up the day-to-day recruitment process.

“Between them, they will oversee a completely new scouting network which, as a priority, will be recruited and finalised over the next few weeks.

“Graham will decide which areas of the team or squad need strengthening and then Kyle will identify the key targets, research and study all the available information including scouting reports and data before providing a list to be pursued.”

During the final weeks of Swansea’s Premier League season, much was made of how they had suddenly relinquished their identity.

The days of ‘Swanselona’ playing free-flowing, entertaining, passing football was a distant memory during last season’s run-in as hopeful balls were lumped up to Jordan Ayew.

There is hope that Potter’s arrival at SA1 will signal a return to the total football of yesteryear but the board insist there is no pressure on him in that regard.

What they do insist, though, is that the goal is for the club to discover ‘an identity and style of football that befits the club’ and, in turn, becoming something for the city to once again be proud of.

The statement continued: “Since Graham’s appointment, we have been nothing but hugely impressed with his vision for the club, its need to re-establish an identity and a style of football that befits the traditions of Swansea City.

“Nobody is asking Graham to take the club back to the past, but we all know both the team and the club have to stand for something and that is exactly what he is striving to do.

“Everybody has taken stock, taken a deep breath and will face the new season with an enthusiasm that the club will stand for something in which both the supporters and wider community can take pride. That is the most important thing.”

■ Swansea yesterday confirmed Bjorn Hamberg will be joining the club as an assistant coach. He joins Macauley and Billy Reid in moving from Ostersunds alongside Potter.

■ Three of Swansea City’s first four fixtures in the Championship will now be played out in front of the live television cameras.

The latest round of TV selections by Sky Sports features two Swans matches, including the trip to Birmingham City, where they will do battle with former player and boss Garry Monk on Friday, August 17, and the home fixture with Leeds United four days later.

Both are pencilled in for a 7.45pm kick-off, with new boss Potter keen to ensure his side make the best possible start in their bid to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Swansea begin their campaign with a trip to Sheffield United on August 4, in what was already confirmed as a televised 5.30pm kick-off.