Vitor Matos is in Swansea, he is the new head coach and we hope you have enjoyed the Indy’s blow by blow coverage since Alan Sheehan was removed from his post at the behest of majority owners, Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen. It’s a results business no matter who you are.
Swans Chairman, Tom Gorringe has already remarked that Vitor was the clubs number one target, something we reported at the start of last week. No gratuitous applause required but the constant reporting that our hard working researchers do has to be mentioned. Sources are always good and in the case of Vitor they have come through. People who care about our website and of course our brain tumour charity efforts. This is why we put exclusive on some of our reports as we need everyone to know if you copy them, you credit us.
Vitor got stuck into training this morning
The process when searching for a new head coach and staff comes with a lot of reluctance on behalf of the employees of the coach targeted. We can brush Kim Hellberg to one side for now, and wish him luck now he is officially appointed as new Middlesbrough head coach. He is of no significance at all to our club. Declaring now as to how the Swans reached a decision overall the club were already sourcing information on Matos a number of weeks ago. Yes, it was initially a data search but not as much as many would think. A trawl of professionals who know Vitor, and of course he spent a number of years at Liverpool was very positive. His journey isn’t a short one. It was only after he left RB Salzburg that Vitor decided that reliance on the performance of others needed to change.
This is why he chose the number one job at Maritimo.
Then Liverpool assistant manager, Pep Lijnders first commented on Vitor when he was settling into Liverpool. "For me, he is our best signing of the season. He is a talented coach, a very intelligent coach. He can make the next step with all these young players. We already see the impact he made on them. Having one really intelligent, talented coach for young players. He can inspire eight or nine of them. It’s really important to have the right people in front of them. He connects. Of course, he influences the boys on the pitch and trains with them, but he connects departments. So he connects our Academy, Alex [Inglethorpe] and Critch [Neil Critchley] with them; he connects me and Jürgen, of course; he connects Julian Ward [loan pathways manager] and Michael Edwards [ then sporting director, now Fenwick Sports Group CEO]. So he is basically the connector of these three parts of the club”
"It’s good, we’re really happy that he’s here.”
Tom Gorringe (below with Vitor) has already commented, "Vitor has spent over a decade working at elite clubs, and has been a trusted figure for some of the best coaches operating in the modern game. He is committed to playing an attacking brand of football, and to developing players technically and tactically, and we are sure supporters are going to enjoy watching his Swansea City team in action.”
Gorringe headed up the appointment of Vitor with head recruitment specialist, Adam Worth and between them they had an extensive list of candidates. The proof was in the interview process where Vitor was stand out in his football philosophy. Competitor Hellberg was more focussed on money and we now know that after their meeting in London some ten days or so ago there was some uncomfortable moments (Swedish source & our writer Svenska Journo) Check out his previous reports for us in the summer. It has taken all those days since that meeting was adjourned for Boro to get their man, evidence for us that his agent Len Norgren and Hellberg were very much focussed on the financial opportunities rather than a club in need of guidance and focus.
When respected coaches and then a sporting director are queuing up to sing Vitor’s praises you take notice. ‘Sporting Director’ Bernhard Seonbuchner at RB Salzburg has been involved in research plus Jũrgen Klopp himself has referenced Vitor as a man for the job. Bernard took the director role replacing Christoph Freund just over two years ago. And there has been other praise for the thirty seven year old Portuguese coach.
What we do know this evening is the three named coaches Vitor has asked to join him at the Swans are not too far away from agreeing contracts, however there may be an issue with one. All three are determined to come to Swansea City. Linking up with Leon Britton and Joe Allen who have secured short term deals to assist Vitor and his staff to transition into the club was a masterstroke. The whole recruitment drive after Sheehan left (for us) has been a determined search with numerous candidates either approached as to their financial demands and interest or their football philosophy. We have been told if you like to watch a side that presses relentlessly and rapidly breaks through lines to make chances then Vitor has that philosophy. As he states it will take time, but he has a very talented squad that lost its way this season. The pressure as a head coach in the Championship won’t hit him just yet, but it will. If he sticks to his strategy as we’ve been told that is all we can ask at this point. Welcome to Swansea Vitor.
Derby County will see off the Swans tomorrow night according to ex striker, Sam Parkin. "They have been on a good run and I think they respond here against a team that certainly have a little bit of chaos surrounding them at the moment in Swansea, so I am going to go for Derby to nick this 1-0.
Probably [it will be wet], probably be ugly.”
The Rams were 2-0 up on Saturday at home against Watford but then capitulated and lost the game 3-2. Once again proving how close the Championship is no matter which team plays each other. John Eustace is the Rams manager and he has a big worry as Carlton Morris left the field on Saturday after eighteen minutes. Morris is the joint top goalscorer in the Championship and will be a huge loss if unavailable. Patrick Agyemang has had an indifferent start to his Derby career with two goals and two assists in twelve games which could mean Lars-Jørgen Salvesen gets a start. The Swans are looking good and Josh Tymon and captain Ben Cabango will return. There are a few knocks from Saturday but as we see it this evening they aren’t going to be too impactive.
Tomorrow is match day, get there in your numbers, it’s a 7:45pm kick off and we will carry our match day previews and news just as you like it.
Apologies we have a bug in our or system which is changing words and spelling after editing.