Managerial race
SHOULD the finalities be completed and Graham Potter take up the mantle as Swansea City manager it will surely serve as an example of how striding away from the well-trodden path can reap rich dividends when approached with the right attitude.
Potter, 43, looks to be on course to be the next Swansea manager, and is expected in South Wales next week to finalise his appointment.
Many fans have welcomed his potential arrival, others view it as a gamble. But, then again, all managerial appointments are a gamble.
Arguably few have been as big as the gamble Potter himself took in uprooting himself and his family to take a job at a club languishing in the fourth tier of the Swedish leagues.
Working in a place where temperatures regularly hit -25 Celsius during the winter months, far away from the spotlight, glitz and cash of the Premier League; a competition Potter played in for Southampton.
For so long the coaching path in the UK has been set. Do your coaching badges, take your turn on the management merry-goround and go as far as you can for as long as you can.
In an era where many bemoan how insular the British game can be, Potter was brave enough to strike out into unchartered territory. It is not for everyone, but it is typical of his curiosity and inquisitiveness.
This is a man who took the decision to seek personal development in higher education after finding himself only skim-reading – rather than paying attention to – an article he was reading in the newspaper. He needed to be testing himself.
Some will be sceptical – Swansea are not exactly on a hot streak when it comes to managerial appointments – and some will point to Potter’s lack of experience coaching in the high-pressure environs of the top divisions in his homeland.
But there were those who were sceptical about the appointments of Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers, yet they paid off magnificently.
The right person, in the right environment at the right time can work wonders. Should his appointment come to pass, Potter will need help from those around him and above him to make this move a success.
After all, if a club keeps having to sack managers does it say more about the managers or the club for which they have worked?
But this is an opportunity that feels overdue for an innovative young coach who has achieved something quite remarkable in his seven years at Ostersunds.
When he was appointed the club were going nowhere in the fourth tier of the Swedish League, they had a crowd of just a couple of hundred for his first home game.
Earlier this year they beat Arsenal at the Emirates.