Barnsley manager Michael Duff is reportedly now an official candidate for the Swansea City job which seems to appeal to a large number of Swansea City fans. We featured Michael yesterday on Swansea Independent as speculation started on the Northern Irishman yesterday morning.

When silence is the only response you get, especially from those who are generally ‘helpful’ you do begin to think there’s some substance to this. Then when you do get a response from a decent source and it’s along the lines of ‘Can’t say too much at the moment’ you really do know something is beginning to happen. Well, that’s the best way of summing this latest ‘rumour’ up, and in fact let’s try to be positive about it, Swans fans can only hope.

We do need some positivity that’s for sure.

Our brief foray into the recent past saw a feature on Michael Duff yesterday.

That’s here –> Duff Linked to Swansea

Our esteemed owner of the website knows Michael from his days living in Cheltenham in the mid nineties. Michael was just seventeen or so when he signed for Cheltenham Town, A young fresh faced lad signed from Carterton Town who Keith described as ‘not unlike’ another near namesake, Richard Duffy. A gangly long legged defender who once played for Swansea City. Duff is a bit older than Duffy, but the similarities were there. Michael joined Cheltenham at exactly the right time. Their football journey out of non league was upon them and coincidentally it was Steve Cotterill who became Duff’s first real mentor in the game. I say coincidentally as Cotterill has also been in the running for the Swans post according to the betting gurus, but we put that to bed last week.

Our first feature yesterday on Duff covered his professional football career and managerial successes but now we have to delve deeper in to the whole position with Barnsley. Without doubt the two clubs have spoken, and the Swans will be aware of the amount of money Barnsley will want if Michael Duff wants to leave for Swansea. And from what if we are hearing is right then Michael Duff does want to come to the Swansea.Com Stadium.

So that’s a start.

He will be aware as well that Paul Watson is about to take charge in some form of ‘recrutiment role’ at the Swans and both are known to each other. Watson poached two of Barnsley’s better players for Luton Town last season. The two being Cauley Woodrow and Carlton Morris, and we know where they are now, yes, in the Premier League. So, Duff and Watson do have an acquaintance in the game already. There always seems to be a link in football, it’s just knowing where to look.

Although Duff still has two years left to run on his Barnsley contract the specific detail of course isn’t known, it never is. As we have seen with Russell Martin of late clubs aren’t that interested in paying up a contract, it’s what the detail within that agreement is. Barnsley won’t be wanting wages that they themselves will be paying out if Duff stayed in Yorkshire, they will want compensation for the loss and actual managerial potential gained by Swansea. That’s long been a discussion point in football and makes a whole load of sense when you think about it. Why would a club want compensation for what they would have paid out ? It goes far deeper than that.

And no doubt Michael will want his own staff around him. The way these things pan out and the time they take surely won’t mean an immediate appointment at Swansea. In any event the Swans manager is Russell Martin, you can’t have two managers at the same club, the EFL may have something to say about that ! Social media will be rife today with people wanting immediate answers without a thought for the basics that we have covered this morning. No doubt battles will commence after breakfast and go downhill from there as Sunday progresses. I think we are best to leave them to it and focus on the more lateral approach to this latest business and Swans news.

Hopefully the immediate is a bit more clearer now, and it has to be said Duff is a great choice for the next Swansea manager, his record speaks for itself for sure. All this is aided by the strongest of rumours he is very keen to come to Swansea so we can only hope matters progress as quick as they can. The hold up now is Russell Martin’s future at Southampton. If we put that to one side and if you have read our other report this morning on ex Saints coach Andrew Sparkes leaving the club with others then things are a whole lot closer today than they were yesterday.

Oh, and clearer.

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Photographs licensed from Reuters