Caretaker-manager Alan Curtis to manage Swansea City for rest of season

7th January

Swansea City is pleased to confirm that caretaker-manager Alan Curtis will remain in charge for the rest of the Barclays Premier League campaign.
Curtis took over the managerial duties from Garry Monk on December 11 and has picked up five points from his five games in charge to keep the club out of the relegation zone after a difficult start to the campaign.
But it was the improved performance levels over those five games that have prompted Chairman Huw Jenkins and the Board of Directors to extend Curtis' spell in charge until the end of the club's fifth season in the Premier League.
"Alan Curtis and the current staff set-up will continue until the end of the season,'' confirmed Huw. "We firmly believe it is the right decision for Swansea City.
"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 under the likes of Roberto Martinez, Paulo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup and Garry Monk.
"We have a person at the helm who fully represents all Swansea City stands for; has the respect of the players and who will provide the calm reassurance and encouragement of our footballing beliefs.
"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.
"Finding a replacement hasn't been easy because we didn't want to make a short-term decision that would be detrimental to the club long-term. It's a unique situation for us and I think we are only now appreciating what other Premier League clubs in our position have gone through in the last five years.
"We've spoken to a lot of potential managers. Some didn't want to leave the clubs they were at this late stage in the season, while others didn't want to put their reputation on the line by joining a club at the wrong end of the table.
"In the end, we felt the best decision was to keep things in-house and change as little as we can until taking stock in the summer.
"Bigger clubs than us have gone through difficult times. We haven't had many tough times in the last 12 years, but now it's about how we come through this period that counts. We need to make sure we stick together as players, staff and supporters and give everything as one.
"We all realise how imperative it is to retain our Premier League status because it has enabled us to develop two new training grounds at Landore and Fairwood; progress towards Academy 1 status; improve the Liberty Stadium and put Swansea on the world map.
"We still have plenty of work left to do and being part of the Premier League is vital to that continued development.''