Alan Sheehan | I am honoured to have this opportunity
Alan Sheehan has described his appointment as Swansea City head coach as an honour, and has vowed to leave no stone unturned in his efforts to help the club plot a positive forward path.
The 38-year-old will continue to lead the Swans, having been placed in caretaker charge for a second time following Luke Williams’ departure in February.
The Irishman has overseen a haul of 23 points from the last 12 games, with seven wins and seven clean sheets in that sequence.
He has put pen to paper on a three-year deal; his first game in full-time charge will be Saturday’s season finale against Oxford United.
And Sheehan – who also picked up 11 points from seven games in caretaker charge during the 2023-24 campaign – spoke of his pride at being handed the opportunity to lead the Swans into next season and beyond.
“I have always said it is a privilege to be at this football club, and now I have the honour of officially being the head coach,” said Sheehan, whose long playing career included spells with Leicester City, Leeds United, Notts County and Luton Town.
“It feels somewhat surreal, but I am incredibly privileged to have the honour of managing the football club.
“There has been a really good feeling around the place, I have spoken over the last couple of months about building something here.
“I have been in talks with the ownership for a good while now and the message has always been consistent about what we need to move forward.
“Now we have the base to move forward with those plans, we have had positive discussions with Brett (Cravatt), Jason (Cohen) and Richard (Montague), they have been excellent.
“They have got a plan for the football club, they have seen the atmosphere change over this last period and it’s an opportunity to build on that.
“The fans have been excellent to me, and I understand the responsibility and duty of care I now have to the football club, to the fans, the owners, the staff and the players.
“I will leave no stone unturned to make the club successful. I have said before, it’s not just about surviving, or being the manager for the sake of it. I would love to bring this football club to a better place.”
Sheehan has often spoken of the need to be adaptable amidst the varying and different challenges posed by life in the Championship.
But one consistent aspect of recent performances has been aggressive pressing and attacking play in transition, with the Swans causing opponents problems with and without the ball.
It has helped them ensure a top-half finish on the back of a run of five-straight wins, but Sheehan acknowledges the team will need to evolve into a side that can dominate in and out of possession, to make sure they progress and head in the right direction.
“There have been a lot of really pleasing things in this period,” said Sheehan, who also confirmed a decision over the make-up of his backroom team will be made during the off-season.
“We have really found momentum after the international break, and to have that run of results has been very pleasing.
“I keep saying we want to build momentum and confidence within the group to go and do something.
“This is a very unforgiving league, so to have that run and be in a place where we can finish in the top half is very encouraging.
“We want to be a competitive team, we have to build on what we have and make it better.
“We have been incredibly aggressive without the ball, and with it.
“We want to control games, but we want to control the game when we have the ball and when we don’t have the ball.
“We don’t want a false mindset where you think you are in control just because you have the ball.
“You can have the ball, but the other team can be in control because they are waiting to hurt us when we turn it over.
“So, I think the non-negotiables will be that we are ultra-aggressive, we will want to have those core principles and fundamentals, while recognising we will need to evolve to be a team that can be effective and dominate opponents in and out of possession.”