Thank you Francesco Guidolin, but I’d love Brendan Rodgers back at Swansea City

Much has been said about who will be in charge of Swansea City next season, but I for one would love Brendan Rodgers back at the Liberty Stadium.

Francesco Guidolin’s future seems uncertain, despite the Italian manager claiming that he’d like to stay with the Swans next season. Many fans are very sceptical about Guidolin permanently taking charge, with the club losing their identity under him.

Italian Guidolin has guided the Swans to 15th in the Premier League, 10 points above the bottom three – Photo: Simon Stacpoole/Offside.

It is true that ‘the Swansea way’ has diminished this season, which is something that we’ve had the joy of watching since Roberto Martinez took over back in 2005. From 2005 until 2015, the Swans played brilliant possession-based football. It was quick, expansive and it was helped us from League One to the heights of eighth in the Premier League, with many other teams envying what we had.

Under Guidolin (apart from our recent win against Chelsea), the football hasn’t been attractive and we’ve scraped results by the skin of our teeth. The 60-year-old has brought his Italian style and integrated it into Swansea. It’s very tactical, and if we go one goal up, we’ll sit back and defend the lead until the whistle blows for full-time.

It’s so frustrating to watch this as we’re used to enjoying games for being end-to-end and attacking based. It’s hard watching us just sit back and invite pressure. We want to watch the Swans playing football as we all know we can.

However, Guidolin has changed our results and got us to that 40-point mark. For that I thank him very much and I do wish him well in the future. In an ideal world, I’d love to see him be the next Italy manager after Antonio Conte. I just don’t think he is the right man to take over Swansea in the long-term.

For the long-term, we couldn’t go too wrong in appointing Brendan Rodgers in the summer. The Northern Irishman spent a thoroughly successful two years in South Wales, guiding Swansea to promotion into the Premier League in his first season, and then helping us comfortably survive in our debut campaign in the top-flight.

Under Rodgers; we played some magnificent football, the club had a great feel to it and everything was stable. There was no drama, no fallouts and it showed in the matches too, with the players fighting for each other. I don’t really think we’ve had that same unity since.

Some fans are still slightly bitter towards Rodgers though, but if a club like Liverpool comes in for you, it would be terribly hard to turn down. The 46-year-old has since learned an awful lot from his time in Merseyside, and at a club like Swansea, it could be a fantastic opportunity to change his fortunes again.

He’d struggle to get an appointment at any of the top eight Premier League clubs, so a move back to where he once called ‘the most beautiful place in the world’ would be an ideal job.

Former Swansea boss Rodgers was sacked as manager of top-flight rivals Liverpool back in October 2015 – Photo: Simon Stacpoole/Offside.

Rodgers could settle the squad down, get us playing good football again, and from his time at Liverpool, he has some top class connections. And when this much discussed American takeover happens, he’d have the funds to lure in some impressive talents, as he did at Anfield with the likes of Phillipe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge.

As a football club, we don’t ask for too much. We just want a settled squad that can entertain us on a Saturday – and Rodgers ticks all of those boxes!