Football Season Guide

Swansea come into the 2026/27 season with a real wave of optimism after ending the previous campaign on a high note. The club which now boasts names like Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart and Luca Modric as shareholders clearly has lofty ambitions, but can the team fulfill them? Alan Sheehan suffered the same fate as many previous caretaker coaches before him when given the head coach’s role on a permanent basis and was sacked in November after just 4 wins from the opening 15 matches of the season. It wasn’t just the results that were poor, performances were sterile and toothless. The Swans had the lowest expected goals and the fewest number of big chances created in the entire Championship. The Welsh club’s fortunes massively improved under Vítor Matos. A disciple of Jürgen Klopp, the young Portuguese coach adopted a much more aggressive style of play than Sheehan and made the attack look dangerous again with high intensity counter-pressing. The biggest beneficiary of the new tactical approach was Žan Vipotnik who finished the season as the Golden Boot winner with 23 Championship goals. The big striker is being linked to several clubs across Europe’s top leagues and that is likely to be the case until the end of the transfer window. The club have prepared for the worst with the signing of Ross Stewart who is an outstanding striker at this level. Affectionately known as “The Loch Ness Drogba”, he has similar physical attributes to Vipotnik but isn’t quite as robust, having suffered with injuries throughout his career. It would be a gamble to rely on him if Vipotnik leaves. Keeping them both would see Swansea having one of the best frontlines in the league, with Adam Idah also on the books. The biggest loss in the summer window has been Ethan Galbraith who was surprisingly sold to Championship rivals Stoke. The midfielder was the most consistent performer in the squad and even became the best right-back at the club after he was asked to play in that position. The Swans have made Leo Walta’s loan permanent and brought in Elijah Just but it remains to be seen if either of them can fill his boots.