A managers win percentage rate is often referenced, in fact it can make or break a coach starting out or indeed at any time in their career. You are only as good as your last job, but in ex swans boss Steve Cooper they really did have a stats trailblazer in the attempt to return to the Premier League.

The Frank Burrows mantra “Pass the ball to someone you came here on the bus with” is the absolute simplification of the pure football challenge that current swans incumbent Russell Martin will either succeed with, or of course fail. As it stands his win rate is about as acceptable as it gets, any lower and he will dip below the bar many will judge him on.

Luke Phelps at 72.co.uk has acknowledged Swansea City’s previous managerial stats and it’s quite a remarkable collection of numbers. We have gone deeper and more inclusive to compare those percentages. Despite his negative style and the fans impatience with his tactics, Steve Cooper who led the swans to two championship play offs is way ahead of any other manager in recent times. Cooper guided the swans for two seasons over one hundred and five games, his win rate was an excellent 44.76%. Before him Graham Potter had a one season stat of 42.2%. People are still quite unforgiving regards Cooper’s departure from the swans. However, Graham Potter left for Brighton, and yes for a fee, Cooper on the other hand was paid off when all chances of reconciliation had broken down.

Cooper did leave the swans in a predicament, close to the season starting and a supposed deal to get John Eustace in to the managers role fell apart. That left a bit of a scramble for the club to appoint a new management team, so much so pre season friendlies had already started and there were just days before the season started. The rest we know. Russell Martin and his transition season had started, he came to the swans with a 37.50% win rate stat at MK Dons. Now we see that drop to 34.29% as the season stands today.

However, how bad is that compared to previous swans managers ?

Garry Monk is in second place with 36.36%. And surprisingly maybe seeing Francesco Guidolin in third on 36% confirms his exit from the club as extremely badly managed. And yes, better than Michael Laudrup on 34.52%. Paul Clement On 32.43% and Carvalhal on 33.33% bring up the rear.

There are of course two managers we have left out, purely because on 44.8% Brendan Rodgers guided the swans on the way up, managing ninety six games. And similarly Roberto Martinez who has the most impressive stat of 50.4% from one hundred and twenty five games. Those were heady days indeed, Martinez then Rodgers were at the helm for the most fruitful times in recent history when it came to winning matches. However Michael Laudrup will potentially always be hailed as the best ?

It’s a point argued over many a pint of beer.

Swansea City fans clearly demand a style of football many other clubs could only wish for. Whether it comes to fruition at any point this season or not is open to further debate. The swans are trying to return to those heady days for sure, and in Russell Martin there is still hope it can be achieved. The main factor there is how long will he get - to get it right, and more importantly where would the swans look if he ever was to leave the club ?

A manager with a pure football philosophy is hard to find.

Photograph licensed from Reuters

tredwyn added 22:37 - Feb 22 Swansea were inconsistent under Cooper, style-wise. They played very nicely against Norwich and then looked witless against some lesser teams. They were not consistently defensive. But Cooper made good use of the resources at his disposal, as he is doing now at Notts Forest, who are playing attacking football. We have to persevere with Martin but he has not yet shown he can make the best use of the players at his disposal. He is too concerned to squeeze them into a predetermined pattern. Set a style by all means but adapt the execution to what you've got. Naughton is not a centre half. Latibeaudiere is not a left wing-back. It's not clear that Fisher is a goalkeeper.

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