Something special is building at Swansea City

Swansea City were stuck. Over the last five completed seasons, they have finished between 10th and 15th in the Championship. They earned between 57 and 66 points each time and had a goal difference that ranged from +4 to -10. They never once got beyond the fourth round of a cup competition. What happens when Championship clubs get stuck in mid-table? They lose money to go nowhere. It is worse even than going down and up because at least that allows some budget restructuring. You do not want to give up your place, but the only eventuality is throwing money at something your fanbase is uninspired by. In 2024-25, attendances fell to their lowest since 2010. Some of that atrophy was a product of external influence, the state of the game. Much else was self-inflicted, apathy on prescription delivered by Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan. The then-owners had overseen relegation and then stagnation. Their investment, beyond keeping the thing ticking over, drifted. So Swansea’s league position began to feel like their only existence. At the last count they lost £22m and had the third lowest revenue in the division. Commercial revenue went down by £1.9m. The Swans’ average attendance is at its highest in seven years (Photo: PA) Matchday revenue was in the Championship’s bottom three because they had the fourth lowest attendances, but nobody could justify expansion and the stadium did not belong to the club anyway. On a bottom-half wage bill, Swansea had the fourth worst wage-to-revenue ratio. That was the bleakest part of finishing in mid-table – it actually represented overachievement by most measures. The ceiling gets lower and the floor shifts with it. To repeat: Swansea needed a change.Few EFL clubs look and feel more different to two years ago. In November 2024, Levien and Kaplan sold up to allow fellow Americans Andy Coleman and Brett Cravatt to take over as majority shareholders. They also partnered with Shamrock Capital, an investment firm in Los Angeles, to add further investment. The commercial revenue issue was attacked with a call for minority celebrity investment that makes Luka Modric, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart part-owners of the club. It may sound a little gauche, but it also works to increase a club’s global profile. Just ask the Championship club in north Wales. Coleman and Cravatt have vastly increased the spend on the playing squad. Before last summer, Bernat Celina in 2018 was Swansea’s last signing for £3m or more. They signed two above that figure last year and five more this summer. It was the second highest net spend in the division even considering the sale of Ethan Galbraith for £10m. Who was first? Just ask the Championship club in north Wales. Vitor Matos has impressed during his time on the south coast of Wales (Photo: PA) You can raise concerns about the level of that spending given the previous annual losses, but then the Championship is a division taglined by the mantra of “speculate to accumulate”. If Swansea, with their wage bill and their resources, want to break out of the funk quickly then incoming transfers are the most likely route. And it is an exciting squad, particularly in the final third. Last season’s Championship top scorer Zan Vipotnik is competing with Adam Idah and Ross Stewart (a free transfer arrival from Southampton) is due back from injury soon. Moussa Yeo (signed from RB Salzburg) is on one wing and either Melker Widell or Joseph Opoku on the other. Elijah Just, starter of New Zealand’s World Cup campaign, joined from Motherwell and can play just behind the striker. Jeremy Monga signed from Manchester City on loan and can’t even get on the bench. Manager Vitor Matos, appointed last November after only 12 games as a head coach in Portugal, was a significant gamble but is paying off. He prefers attacking, front-footed football, refuses to sit back on leads or discuss the league table, and has Swansea top of the Championship. It is a remarkable turnaround in performance and mood. Off the pitch, Swansea appointed Ben Stevens this summer as their new sporting director. Stevens had been an assistant in the same role at Crystal Palace, but had worked for a decade in the club’s recruitment and performance analysis departments. Zan Vipotnik was last season’s top scorer in the second tier of English football (Photo: PA) And, speaking of recruitment, that is where Swansea may well have supercharged their future. Jamestown Analytics is the data model created by Tony Bloom and used by Brighton for their own recruitment and player analysis, to impressive effect. It has also been used by Union Saint-Gilloise (sister club of Brighton) to fuel a league title win, Hearts (sister club of Brighton) to fuel a title challenge and Como to fuel Champions League qualification. “Swansea City now has access to world-leading, industry-renowned expertise that can help the club work as efficiently as possible in our player trading model,” as the club’s welcome statement read. Last summer they signed one player from abroad. This summer, players based in Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Portugal joined and all are aged 20-23. I do not know if Jamestown Analytics is powering the start to this season. It seems a stretch given the nascent nature of the relationship, although Yeo has been excellent. I do not know if Swansea can keep this up, with the parachute clubs circling with deeper, stronger squads. I do not know if the player trading model can work in the Championship, given the financial gap to the division above. But I know this: it is going to be fascinating to find out. Read more Comment: Man City should be stripped of their titles The Journeyman: Southend United can dare to dream again Swansea have effectively tried to cherry pick the best bits of multiple models: the celebrity investment of Wrexham, the counter-pressing of Jurgen Klopp, the sporting director from the Premier League, the data model that has powered the most impressive football club growth in England over the last 15 years. Most important of all, the Swans are not stuck anymore. Attendances are at their highest since the first season following Premier League relegation. Supporters are enthused by something different and the bubbling suspicion that something special may be building. It is exciting, it is fun and nobody quite knows where it will lead. And that is just about all you can ever ask for.