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In surprise move Swansea City appoint Alan Curtis as manager
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The decision has met with mixed reactions from Swansea fans with Curtis part of the Gary Monk set up. Curtis took the reins at the Liberty Stadium on a temporary basis when Monk was sacked in December, and initially said that he was not interested in taking the role on a full-time basis.
The club were strongly linked with a number of managers, including Marcelo Bielsa, in the weeks that followed but, after an improvement in results and performances, Curtis will now guide the side for the rest of the campaign as they battle to avoid relegation.
“We firmly believe it is the right decision for Swansea City," chairman Huw Jenkins said. “Alan has been with us through good and bad times and was part of the management team that helped the club secure its Football League status over 12 years ago.
“He is fully aware of the next important job he has ahead of him to dig deep and find the required levels of performance and motivation to secure our Premier League status – our main goal this season.
“We believe there is nobody with more knowledge and experience of the club to do that than Alan Curtis. He has served Swansea City so well for more than 40 years and played an integral part in our recent success."
Jenkins went on to acknowledge that finding an outside appointment had proven difficult, with some targets unwilling to leave their current clubs and other potential candidates wary of joining a club "at the wrong end of the table".
He added: “We have all been impressed with the way he has improved performance levels over the last five games. The players have obviously responded to him because we have seen an uplift in performances.
“I know some people will query why we didn’t have a replacement lined up when we parted company with Garry Monk, but we didn’t expect to be in the situation we were in when you look at our position mid-September.
“We hoped and expected things would eventually turn around. When they didn’t, we felt we had to act quickly in the best interests of the club going forward.'
JB