Swansea City seem to have recruited a smooth operator in Richard Montague. He is now at the club in an official capacity. So, what does he bring and what are his strengths ? After all he assembled a Notts County squad which at their level gave the club and its supporters something to be really proud of.

The Q&A between Trystan Bending and K-Ci Rennicks, a journalist, massive Magpies fan and someone with close ties at the club via media reporting evidences superb judgement by Trystan.

Let’s get into it.

TB : There has been some questions over his previous position, can you provide a bit of an overview about his specific role and duties at Notts County?

“So Richard joined us in 2019 off of the back of our relegation to the National League. He joined as Head of Recruitment alongside Chris and Alex Reedtz, that relationship formed way before their time at Notts. The owners mentioned in their statement post the announcement to Swans that they had worked together for 14 years so it shows what they think of him and the job he does.”

TB : As we know County like to recruit from abroad similar to Swansea, have they players brought in been a success and do you think this is this a key factor to why he has been brought in?

“That will be interesting as here he would have been the benefit of using football radar, the scouting network our owners own. However, will it be likely that the owners are willing to lease out that tech? who knows, there is always a possibility. You look at the players he has introudced to the club though from abroad, two in particular Ruben Rodrigues, who now plays championship football with Oxford United and Big AJ, who the club had to refuse big offers for in Jan. He has definitely had some big hits, and with Swans also enjoying some investment in players abroad, i reckon this is a factor in choosing Montague for sure.”

TB: it’s mentioned that Richard consistently outperformed the clubs budget, bringing players, how has he achieved this?

“The football radar definitely helped. We managed to unearth Macaulay Langstaff for £50k before anyone else even batted an eyelid at him, before selling him in the future for a £700k profit. AJ the same, £175k to return what is likely to be £1M. Montague can take a lot of credit for what we have managed to sell on for double our budgets, when playing with half of that to begin with. I reckon you will get a few gems come in at Swans in the future now for sure.”

TB : How does he go about developing and selling players / creating assets?

“At the level we are at, we have had some great hits as i have mentioned above but also this season especially with some of the free pieces of business such as Matty Platt and Jacob Bedeau. Alex Bass too for the fee we paid was invaluable. Obviously this will be different as your operating at a completely different and higher level to us, but I could see you paying some fees for some promising youngsters from the PL and working on their development a lot. I definitely do not think he will just move away from that, especially working with LW again.”

TB : Swansea will more then likely look for a complete rebuild in the summer, how confident can we be that he will build a competitive squad and make sensible decisions?

“If you asked me that at the end of last season before the sumner, I'd have questioned if he had the capabilities to do that given our second half of the season self capitulation. But, after the summer we had and due to that where we now sit in the table, I will give him his flowers and say he is capable. Yes a fresh level, but he is very knowledgable when it comes to his football, there will be plenty of conversations between all including LW before the end of the season about your summer goals and targets I have no doubts.”

TB : It has been mentioned that Montague has had a major advantage with the ownership of a major scouting network at County. How will he cope without the assistance and how does he utilise data effectively?

“Like i mentioned before, will an agreement be made where Swans pay to lease some of that information from the company? I would say potentially. The owners will want Richard to do well, and will not see Swansea as a competitive rival currently. So, I do not think it is unrealistic to say that could happen.”

TB : What had been his role in building a connection with the fanbase?

“To be fair to Richard, he was quite quiet. If he needed to speak, he would communicate with supporters well via statements but he definitely had the same vibe as the owners which is stay quiet and make sure things operate smoothly behind the scenes. Ultimately though, he put together the squad that made this fanbase believe that our club could be special once again so if we're going off that alone, he played a big part in forming a connection with fans.”

TB : How does his previous work align with the Swansea way - possession based football and do you see this appointment as a huge backing for Luke Williams?

“I definitely think he was suggested by LW - I do not see a world in which Swansea have identified Richard as their stonewall #1 candidate, LW definitely pulled the strings but I am happy for him, as I want him to do well at Swans I always have. I know things have not been too pretty recently, but the board are backing him to the extent he has familiar faces upstairs now, it can only go up from here.”

TB : What has been his approach with young talents at the club, does he like to give them a loan or push for them to get first team action?

“Mixed bag this one. Some of our youngsters make the cut and some do not. In the summer, we sold Lucien Mahovo to Norwich City and though at the time we thought that was for academy purposes, Lucien is playing regular first team football there now and that is good for him. We used our trophy fixtures to really push our academy this year, with some getting loan moves off the back of them to push their potential further such as Riley Reynolds to Kidderminster Harriers. If he follows suit with this approach at Swans, he will put a lot of interest in you academy too. But, i feel he needs to get the first team right first before he can do that.”

TB : Lastly how do you feel he will do here in a new position?

“I honestly think he will do well. He will work extra hard to ensure LW has a huge success at the Swans, as their relationship is evidently strong. If you give him a healthy budget, I reckon he can turn you around a good competitive squad. Not every signing may be great or overly exciting, but let it play out. We thought this about some he brought in here, and some led to meet our underwhelming expectations but a lot did not. Trust the process, and see how it plays out. I wholeheartedly hope the Swans succeed!”

⚽️ Comment : Everything we have reported here on the Indy over the past weeks now has ‘credible’ stamped all over it. You can’t have specialists in numerous fields of football, quality sources who we speak to ‘via’ Twitter and now this journalist who specialises in Notts County all being wrong ? And then there’s our own research. Luke stated in the past day "I wasn't involved at all in the interview process, far from it. Richard applied for the job. I imagine one of the reasons he applied was because he has worked with me before”

Come on Luke, none of this is necessary. It’s embarrassing.

Or should we believe the quote from this mornings report : “I definitely think he was suggested by LW. I do not see a world in which Swansea have identified Richard as their stonewall #1 candidate, LW definitely pulled the strings but I am happy for him, as I want him to do well at the Swans I always have. I know things have not been too pretty recently, but the board are backing him to the extent he has familiar faces upstairs now, it can only go up from here.”

Obviously you can conclude what you like, but again we see deflection and a determined effort by the Swans head coach to distance himself from this appointment. There’s nothing wrong with Luke saying ‘Yes, I know Richard, he’s a superb football person and didn’t hesitate in recommending him’

As we have already stated this week, You can like a person (and Luke is a likeable human being). But you don’t have to like his work. And as for stitching the guy up, well, don’t you think he is doing a better job of that himself ?

Thanks to Trystan, you can find him on Twitter @TrystanBending. He’s an excellent source of Swans news, very thoughtful and we have no doubt he will have a long and very successful career.

Photographs Open Source