Ashley Williams reveals change in Swansea City captaincy methods

Ashley Williams feels that tweaking his approach as club captain has helped get the best out of him and his Swansea City team-mates.

The Swans skipper led Garry Monk's side to their best-ever finish in the Barclays Premier League during 2014-15, in which the club ended the season with a club record total of 56 points in eighth position.

And Williams believes his work with club psychologist Ian Mitchell has inspired him to become an even better captain.

"Being the captain permanently, I have worked on changing my style a little bit in terms of leadership," revealed Williams, speaking during the Swans' season review DVD Record Breakers: History Makers.

"I'm not as aggressive and demanding of players when circumstances aren't allowing them to do that.

"It's something I've worked on a lot with Ian Mitchell our sports psychologist this season.

"I try to push the right buttons to get the best out of every player, and I feel like know them well and look after them.

"The gaffer can use me to get a certain message or idea across to the team and I relay it back to him with how they feel about it."

The message was delivered loud and clear as Monk's men re-wrote the record books on numerous occasions last season, from securing league doubles over Premier League giants Arsenal and Manchester United for the first time to recording the most wins in the top flight since their promotion in 2010-11.

"It means everything to me as captain," added Williams. "When you finish your career no-one can take something like this away from you as it's in the history books.

"We set a target in pre-season of breaking the record, and we've done it in style. That was a big thing for me because we didn't scrape over the line - we played really good football and hadn't been out of the top ten all season.

"There have been so many major moments throughout the season, and getting to 40 points so quickly was definitely one of them.

"Beating Burnley at their place with a cleansheet was a big win for us. The challenge for us came after that.

"We didn't fizzle out, we kicked on and continued to add points to the total. That said a lot about this group of players."

Pre-order Record Breakers: History Makers today to get the DVD at a special price of just £9.99 - which includes FREE delivery within the UK - instead of £11.99.
Click HERE to order your copy (UK pre-orders are expected to be delivered on Saturday).
The DVD will be on sale in the Club Shop on Saturday, with the Swans' new away kit also available on the same day.