Swansea goal is to achieve 'something special'

Richard Montague (left) spoke to various managerial candidates in the spring before Swansea handed a long-term deal to Alan Sheehan (right) Richard Montague declines to set any specific targets heading into his first full season as Swansea City's director of football. But four months after arriving in Wales – and having got to know his new surroundings – Montague says the ultimate goal is to achieve "something special" in the Championship. It is seven years since Swansea's seven-year spell as a Premier League club ended in relegation under Carlos Carvalhal. Two ownership groups, numerous key decision-makers and seven managers later, Swansea are hoping Alan Sheehan will be the man who can find a path back to the Premier League. In February, when Montague first got his feet under the table just 24 hours after Luke Williams had vacated his desk down the corridor, Swansea looked far likelier to drop into League One than climb to the top flight. But a fine finish to the season offered some hope for the next campaign – and convinced Montague, along with Swansea's owners, that caretaker boss Sheehanwas worthy of a three-year contract. Montague acknowledges that after seven defeats in nine league games, the initial focus when he arrived was to "make sure we stay in the league". "Thankfully the squad were able to pick up some form, with some really good leadership from Alan which drove them forwards," he adds. "We had a great finish and I think that gives us the opportunity to look forward and say OK, can we build on that now? "Can we use some of those templates and that formula, try to take them into next season, attack next season and give ourselves an opportunity to do something?" Swansea lost only three of their final 13 games of last season For a while under Williams, Swansea had looked capable – despite some deficiencies in their squad - of making a play-off push. But top-six hopes disappeared during an alarming run of results and performances which cost Williams his job. After the unexpected slump came what seemed an unlikely upturn in fortunes, with Sheehan's rejuvenated side taking 24 points from the final 13 games of the season to secure an 11th-place finish. There were various encouraging signs, but then it should be noted Swansea have been here before in recent years. Williams' Swansea side had finished the 2023-24 campaign with something of a flourish to put to bed any relegation concerns, prompting some optimism about what the next campaign might bring. Twelve months earlier, Russell Martin's team ended 2022-23 like a train after a mid-season slump which had seen some fans call for his head. Good finishes after difficult spells have been a pattern at Swansea. So what chance Sheehan's team can deliver on a more consistent basis in 2025-26? "I think you have to go into every season thinking how can we be the best possible version of what we can be?" Montague says. "We have had an awful lot of conversations about that, so we are in a good place to understand what we need to improve. "Obviously the league is no easier. Maybe it's even harder this year with the teams coming up and some of the teams coming down from the Premier League. "But I would hope that we can have a stronger finish than last season and I would hope that year on year, we can demonstrate improvement that gives us an opportunity to be in with a puncher's chance of doing something special." Swansea look to have pulled off something of a coup by signing Ipswich Town's out-of-contract defender Cameron Burgess Swansea's springtime surge under Sheehan meant they finished three places higher in the table than they had in 2024. In 2023 they ended up 10th, while in 2022 they were 15th. Not since Steve Cooper's two campaigns at the helm, 2019-20 and 2020-21, have Swansea made a genuine push for a Premier League return. With many bigger budgets elsewhere in the second tier, Swansea will not be one of the fancied clubs heading into 2025-26. Last season's league position was a laudable effort and any improvement on that next May will mean Sheehan has had a good first full year at the helm. As ever, transfer work will be central to Swansea's prospects and, so far this summer, there have been promising signs. After various struggles in recent windows, Swansea have secured deals for winger Zeidane Inoussa, defenders Cameron Burgess and Ricardo Santos and striker Bobby Wales, while Melker Widell will arrive for pre-season thanks to a deal agreed in January. There are still vacancies to fill after a number of departures, but Montague says Swansea's early transfer work has brought a "feeling of momentum". "I have always felt that if you get the majority of what you want done by the start of pre-season, you then have that six-week period to bed in and build a unit together," he adds. "But that's also with the awareness that you get opportunities later on that might not have been available in June, so there's always that balance." Swansea announced in April that Luka Modric had acquired a minority stake in the club Montague left Notts County, of League Two, to try his hand in the Championship with Swansea. The thinking was that he would be reunited with Williams, who he had worked with successfully at Meadow Lane. As it turned out, Williams' exit meant Montague was handed the task of leading a managerial search from the moment he arrived. Ultimately, Swansea's upturn meant the search led back to Sheehan – and allowed Montague to switch his focus to player recruitment. He says that during the many transfer-related conversations which have taken place, it has been clear the Swansea name carries weight. "You speak to players and agents from all across Europe and they all know Swansea City," he says. "They all associate Swansea with being a place where you'd want to play football. The pull that Swansea still has is incredibly powerful." The fact that Luka Modric is now associated with the club,having become a co-owner in April,has not done any harm either. "I think the Championship is so incredibly demanding - the financial realities are such that you need something a bit different," Montague says. "I think that comes down to how you want to play, how you want to recruit players and how you want to operate, but also how you want to run your business side and how you bring extra eyeballs on to your product. "Luka Modric's name resonates with people the world over. He is a superstar, so that's really powerful to be able to say 'look, Luka believes in this project, so you should as well'."