Chief Executive Update | August 2026
Jack Army,
I hope you are all well, that you have had a good summer and that, like me, you are excited for the season ahead.
For all of us at the club, it has been a really busy summer. It seems a long time since we rounded off the 2025-26 campaign with an excellent win over Charlton Athletic. I understand that from a supporters’ perspective, it can often feel like these periods are relatively quiet without the regular and consistent run of games we are so used to for most of the year.
That lack of games also means that there hasn’t been the regular run of matchday programmes which during the season offer a platform for me to provide updates on our progress.
With that in mind, I wanted to take this chance for a rundown of the numerous on and off field developments that have taken place over the course of this busy summer, as there has been a tremendous amount of work put in by our staff and ownership as we look to make further strides as a club.
Recruitment
As many of you will be aware, we went through a very thorough recruitment process to find a new sporting director who could help us continue to progress and drive forward our on pitch performances. It was vitally important that we took our time to find the right candidate.
We believe we have found that person in Ben Stevens, who has joined us from Crystal Palace.
Out of respect for Ben and Crystal Palace, we wanted to wait until they had completed their Premier League and Europa Conference League seasons before completing his appointment but we are delighted that he is now in situ and already working hard to move us forward.
Ben has spent more than 11 years at Palace, holding roles including head of performance and recruitment analysis, and - most recently - assistant sporting director.
In addition to Ben’s appointment, we were also delighted to confirm that Jay Lefevre has become Swansea City’s head of recruitment, stepping up from the position of chief scout.
Jay joined us in November 2025 from Celtic and has impressed everyone with the clarity and calibre of his work.
He assisted our preparations for this summer window over a number of months, with input from Vitor and his team, who also played a part in integrating our new data systems into the process. He will now report into Ben to continue to drive things forward.
Our work in tying a number of players to new contracts over the last 12 months also means we entered this summer window in a far stronger position than we have been in some recent windows. This is a strategy we want to continue with moving forward, keeping us ahead of contract situations and rewarding players who have performed strongly, as in the cases of the likes of Lawrence Vigouroux, Josh Tymon and Zan Vipotnik.
However, despite these foundations there was (and still is) work for us to do to strengthen the squad and ensure that we continue to improve our performances on the pitch to allow us to compete.
While our recruitment approach was already data led, we are always looking to make improvements to how we operate – in line with our strategic pillar of Kaizen.
That is why the opportunity for us to partner with Jamestown analytics, who have such a strong track record, was an exciting proposition for us.
This agreement means we now have access to a world-leading, industry-renowned facility that can only help us become ever more efficient and will sit alongside our scouting processes and operations to identify the players we want to bring to Swansea City.
I think it is fair to say that in a World Cup year the transfer market generally moves a little slower than in an ordinary summer and I think we have seen that this year. Despite this, we are delighted with the additions that have been made to the squad so far and we will continue to work tirelessly to improve the squad until the window closes at the end of the month.
As ever with players joining, that also means that players have to leave and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish them all well in the future; particularly Liam Cullen as he moves to Leicester after over 200 games for us.
Liam was an incredible professional for us during his time here and he has left knowing he gave us everything he had during his time here, creating memorable moments with his three south Wales derby goals and the equaliser against Preston on the night we welcomed Snoop Dogg to the Swansea.com Stadium last season. Everyone at the club wishes him every success in the future.
Vitor Matos and Coaching Staff updates
We have also taken steps to recognise the considerable impact Vitor has made since joining the club in November and provide additional security for Swansea City, by agreeing a new contract with him.
Vitor joined on an initial contract through to the end of June 2029, and we are delighted to have extended this contract by a further 12 months.
Vitor and his staff’s commitment to the club provides us with stability going into what is a really important season for us and we are all working together every day to drive things forward.
Over the summer we also confirmed some changes to Vitor’s supporting staff for the coming season.
We are delighted that Pedro Pereira has joined us as head of goalkeeping and analysis, having most recently been with Red Bull Salzburg. Pedro’s passion and enthusiasm for the role has already been felt and he is a strong addition to our staff.
Stadium and training ground purchases
For a number of months we have been in negotiations with the Council as we seek to purchase outright the Swansea.com Stadium.
While the club has played at the stadium for 20 years, and held the lease since 2018, with Swansea City now being the only team playing at the venue it makes sense operationally and financially for the club to buy the stadium and to hold the asset in its own right.
This is a move that will safeguard the future of the club, and we are delighted that our offer has been positively received as it progresses through the required scrutiny and approval stages.
I want to thank the representatives of the council for their assistance and professionalism in helping us reach this point, and we look forward to continuing to progress towards completing the purchase in due course.
Similarly, the facility at Fairwood is owned by Swansea University and leased by the club and again, in terms of putting us in a stronger position for the future, we want to own the site in our own right.
Discussions over this purchase are also progressing well, however there is still some work to do before we are able to update you further.
Academy – Category One
For a long time now, we have discussed our intentions to move the academy back to Category One.
We continue to work towards this ultimate goal and as part of that process we have officially submitted our intentions to make that move to the relevant organisations.
Before we can formally make this step, our academy will be audited over the course of the upcoming season and if successful, we will return to Category One for the start of the 2027-28 season.
There are a number of requirements that need to be met if we are to do that, particularly around staffing levels in certain areas.
Along with academy manager Ryan Davies and his staff, we are going through all these different elements to make sure we get this process right and everything is in place for this upcoming season.
We want an academy that attracts the best players from Swansea whilst also being a hub for the best Welsh talent and it is our hope that making this change will further support this aim.
This club’s self-sufficiency has always historically been one of its strengths, even this pre-season that has been evident with a number of the academy graduates performing strongly with 10 of the 11 players on the pitch at the end of the Bochum game coming through our pathway. We want that to continue to be the case and we believe this step would give us the best chance of accomplishing that goal.
Women’s team
Having taken the step three years ago to commit to making our senior women’s team a semi-professional set-up, this summer the team took a further major step forward by attracting new investment into the team.
This landmark deal marks a change in the set-up and approach for our women’s team. Led by Jenine Cravatt, there are a number of new exciting plans for the team that will enable the team to further professionalise the operation, investing in the team to provide more opportunities for women and girls in the City and beyond.
Similar to the boys’ academy, we want to attract the best Welsh talent and provide a viable roadmap with the support and structure to ensure that they thrive. A lot of work continues to go on in the background and once we are able to share more on our plans we will do so.
Fan Park
You will have also seen that we have been exploring designs for a Fan Park, which would be situated on the land behind the South Stand, to provide a matchday venue for supporters to enjoy with access to those inside and outside the Swansea.com Stadium.
We have been through the pre-planning application process and following some of the recommendations and feedback we received, we are now working on preparing a final updated submission to the Council. Our team are working hard on this in the background and we are looking to submit a final planning application next month.
As part of this application we will also shortly enter into a process of consultation with our supporters to ensure that you are a part of the planning for the opening of the new venue.
We are excited about this project and keen to bring it to fruition in a timely manner, but our priority has to be to get this right and make sure we offer fans the best experience possible. Our hope is to have the Fan Park open at some point during the 2026-27 season and we will keep supporters updated on developments as discussions progress.
Sponsorship, kits and Club Shop
Last week, we were delighted to be able to launch our home kit for the upcoming season.
You would have seen as part of this we have welcomed two new partners to the kits in ASI:One on the sleeve and AG1 on the front of shirt. These two new deals demonstrate our continued commercial growth as part of our strategy set out by the ownership group.
We are delighted as part of this process to still rely on and retain the support from both Reviva - who continue as our official coffee partner - and Swansea Building Society, who remain on the back of our shirts for the upcoming season.
I know there has been a lot of discussion around the badge application on the kit since its release, so I feel it is important to provide some context around that matter.
In order to comply with regulations, our home kit must include our primary badge which currently is the version with ‘Swansea City AFC’ under the Swan.
Due to the size of the lettering in the badge, and the application process onto shirts, it is not possible to print the letters onto the shirt directly and so the crest is applied to a circular badge which is applied to the shirt.
The club’s preference would be to amend the primary badge to only display the Swan, while keeping the text under the secondary badge.
This would allow the Swan to appear larger on the playing shirts and opens up more application types which will offer more versatility in design and provide a more premium finish to the kits.
We have started the process of consultation to make a change to the primary version of the badge – which if approved will mean this form of application will not be required in the future.
Our team are currently working through this process in line with the best practice set out by the new Independent Football Regulator and the Football Association’s Heritage Rules to ensure that the change can be made in time for next season and all season ticket holders and Jack Army members will be given the opportunity to have a vote on this.
We appreciate that the kit arrived later than many would have liked, however it was important for us to coincide the launch with the opening of our new store, The Foundry.
The name is a nod to Swansea’s industrial past, with the city having been given the moniker of ‘Copperopolis’ owing to its prominent place in copper production and transportation.
Through the redeveloped space we aim to deliver a more engaging and accessible environment for supporters and fully combine our retail and non-matchday ticketing operations. If you haven’t managed to visit the team in store yet, I hope you can over the course of the season and that you can see the amount of time and effort that has gone into the improvements.
In addition to the great work on the shop, I also wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the great work of our marketing, creative and content teams on the production of everything around the kit launches. Everything produced has been completed by our staff internally and in my opinion to an incredibly high standard.
Stadium improvements
Within the bowl of the stadium you will also soon see a difference as we will be replacing the big screens which occupy each end of the ground during the opening stages of the 2026-27 season.
There will also be LED displays in the mid-tier of the stadium and we have already replaced the external screen which is located by the ticket office outside the ground.
We believe this will transform the in-stadium match experience by delivering far clearer and crisper visuals, give a larger segment of the ground a better view of the content and action on the screens, provide greater fan engagement opportunities and boosting revenue through sponsor advertisements.
Given the scale of these changes and the administrative complications via the current lease with the Council, the full installation will not be in by the start of the season, however we hope that it will be concluded before the end of the calendar year.
Finance
The summer has also seen the end of our financial year and whilst our accounts are currently being audited, some of the initial figures make for positive reading. Revenues have grown over 25%, and whilst we have invested in the playing squad, we have managed to control non-football expenditure.
All of these improvements are only possible with the effort of everyone at the club pulling together to make changes every day and strive to be better. These results enable us to continue to invest in the team as we remain ambitious to compete with those with far greater financial resources and that means that everyone is playing their part in ensuring that we compete on and off the pitch.
Whilst lots of progress has been made, we are under no illusions that there is still work to be done if we want to get to where we want to go.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff that have worked so tirelessly to continue to make improvements, to thank our ownership for the support, investment, ambition and vision that helps provide the structure that will allow us to thrive and to you, our supporters, for your continued and unwavering support.
This season is set to be an important one for us and the only way we will be successful is if we all stick together and everyone plays their part.
We look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible to the fans’ forum tomorrow, the cup game against Birmingham this weekend and what looks set to be another outstanding away support for the first league game away to Stoke City.
Thanks for all your continued support YJBs,
Tom