Watson's Swansea replacement 'must understand unique club'

Luke Williams' Swansea side are 13th in the Championship, seven points outside the top six

Luke Williams believes Swansea City must find a candidate who "understands what this unique club means" as they seek a replacement for Paul Watson.

Williams says progress is being made in the search for a successor to Watson, who left his role as sporting director in October after a difficult 16-month spell at Swansea.

Head coach Williams has revealed Watson will not be replaced directly, with the Championship club likely to separate some of his former responsibilities as part of a restructure.

But there will be a new figurehead at Swansea, with Williams having an input in the recruitment process.

"I think we have to be sure that whoever comes in understands what this unique club means to many people and puts that in the forefront of their thinking, and doesn't try to ever take away things that the vast majority of the fanbase love about the club," he said.

"They have to respect that and demonstrate that they understand that – and the type of players who will understand that.

"I would like someone to come in and really appreciate the history and the type of people who have done well here, and try to recapture as many of those types of people as possible."

Swansea chairman Andy Coleman and chief of staff Ken Gude have been leading the recruitment process since Watson departed almost two months ago.

Williams says Swansea have held discussions with "some very capable people with good experience" over the vacancy.

An imminent appointment seems unlikely because the leading candidates are working elsewhere and are therefore likely to need to serve a notice period before moving to Wales.

"To be clear, it's going to be a different role, it's not going to be like for like," Williams added.

"I think there will be less responsibilities for that person but that person will have to be absolutely outstanding at the responsibilities they do have.

"I think Paul had a very broad spectrum and that can be distracting. I think there will be a bit of a restructure and we will have somebody who can really focus on some very key things, then bring other people in to fill the void."

The change of structure is likely to mean that as well as replacing Watson, Swansea will appoint another member of staff whose focus is solely on recruitment.