There’s a lot going on at Swansea City with timely announcements, be they financial losses that weren’t expected until forty eight hours later last Sunday. Bad news on what was perceived a good news day with Swans fans happy with a point gained at Leeds … And now with the fans forum throwing up more questions than answers we hear about some real tangible commitment that we can all judge right here and now.

Yesterday we heard from Alan Sheehan as he looked forward to the 3pm kick off against Derby Country on Saturday. Although Alan looked like he was nodding off at one point, he doesn’t, on the surface at least seem to enjoy these occasions. We have been told that his wider public persona really isn’t the Alan Sheehan people have got to know at Swansea City. His humour and ability to make people laugh and his creativity on the training pitch is earning him not only trust but respect that he is a man to be listened to. We can also reveal today that the continued success of his handling of the squad at the club has now put him in the number one position for the permanent head coach role.

The reasons explained to us are his interactions and personality, and that comes across in all of his work. He has won the hearts of players and staff alike. People may well say, okay, but that isn’t what he is at Swansea for. They may believe they are right, but of course laying foundations is what this is all about. When we reported on Alan Sheehan last month he was going into talks with the club regards a potential extension of his contract to the end of the season.

That was reported a day before Sheehan’s meeting. It’s interesting because the report does contain a number of points which a few days later became fact. Well, someone’s got to ring the Indy bell !

⚽️ Sheehan wants two coaches

However, Sheehan, and not as a result of his own trumpet blowing (he’s far too humble) but as a result of a timely fans letter on the official website yesterday he was exposed. Exposed for the very thing that we spoke of just now. His professionalism and integrity, desire to be treated as a ‘normal bloke’ and his guile when it comes to being someone who is rated as one of the top coaches in the country.

How would we know that without proof ?

It’s quite simple really, once Jason Cohen and Brett Cravatt decided to release that timely ‘letter’ we decided to compare what we already knew, then phone a very good agent contact. As a result of that this is exactly what he said, “Alan Sheehan is one of the most sought after and admired coaches in the British game. It comes as a surprise that nobody has mentioned this before. He could have walked from Swansea last July, he didn’t. He could have gone in January very easily. He didn’t. He is very much a settled family man, and he seems to believe he can achieve his immediate ambitions at Swansea. He is a very rare commodity in football, he is an open book.

We asked what was the level of interest ?

Now we have mentioned this before, we are not going to compromise people on this website. And on this occasion it is no different, but and there’s always a but. We are happy to report this morning that Alan Sheehan could today be employed as a coach at an elite Premier League club. We can also state that it is one of the very best elite Premier League clubs. We of course will do some more work on this but that’s an open and transparent fact. However, that’s not where the information ends. The other club wanting his services are considered one of the big guns in European football.

We were told that if you look carefully into Alan Sheehan you will possibly get your answer.

It really doesn’t matter today who they are, the very fact that Sheehan has turned them down and put a form of loyalty and family first as his main priorities tells us why, in this very moment he is the man for the job. There’s nothing intense about this man, there’s no smoke and mirrors and as he displayed in yesterday’s press conference (below) he is extremely humble. This Swans interim head coach has the top clubs in Europe chasing him. You don’t get that by just turning up for work, despite what Sheehan says. It leaves us this morning thinking, just how frustrated must Alan Sheehan been when number two to Luke Williams ? Like much of which we report, in time it all comes into focus, the egg never wiped from those faces that once mocked, it now becomes their fact. And that's the same for Sheehan, he too faces some form of ridicule from the age old social media warriors cajoling others to believe them (we could use the term bully) But experience will tell Sheehan that time isn’t of the essence for him, only for the results he requires to be right at the door for a permanent role as head coach of Swansea City.

He deserves it, even now. An honest and thoughtful coach with a mind for that added ingredient of creativity nobody needs to shout about. They let their work do the talking, Trust us, we know.

Photographs Swansea Independent