Takeover to make Swansea 'much more competitive'

Luke Williams returned to Swansea as head coach in January, having previously been on the club's staff under Russell Martin

Luke Williams believes the change of ownership at Swansea City will eventually make the club "much more competitive" as they attempt to return to the Premier League.

Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan, Swansea's majority shareholders since 2016, have sold their stake in the club to Andy Coleman, Brett Cravatt, Nigel Morris and Jason Cohen.

Williams says profit and sustainability rules mean there will be no spending spree in the transfer market, but that Swansea's new owners will ensure "excellent players" are brought in over time.

Swansea's budget has gradually dwindled since their seven-year spell in the top flight ended in 2018, but head coach Williams is "genuinely excited" about the club's future.

"I've had communication with the people that are involved in this takeover and it's all been really positive," Williams said.

"They are people that are very successful and intelligent and understand what's required.

"I think in the weeks and months to come we're going to see more and more positivity. Hopefully then myself and the playing staff can start to show that on the pitch and give the fans a team and a club they can really feel proud of."

Swansea endured steady decline during the Levien-Kaplan era, with Premier League relegation in their second season before six failed attempts to return to the elite.

The Swans achieved successive play-off campaigns under Steve Cooper in 2020 and 2021, but have finished around mid-table in the last three seasons.

They sit 11th after almost a third of the 2024-25 campaign, with Williams' side earning plaudits despite obvious limitations in the playing squad, which was put together on what is thought to be one of the smaller budgets in the division.

The start of a new era?

Williams says the new regime in the boardroom are clear on what is needed to give Swansea a great chance of competing for promotion from the Championship.

"That takes a lot of finance and a lot of careful planning, and we have a group of people now that understand all those challenges and they're fully motivated," he added.

"I really hope that this now is the start of a new era, where we begin to build ourselves back up and try to become the Premier League team that everyone wants us to be."

Swansea's priority in the last transfer window was to bring in younger players with development potential from cheaper overseas markets, hence the recruitment of players like Eom Ji-Sung, Goncalo Franco and Zan Vipotnik.

Williams says the ownership change will allow Swansea to look for "players that are primed and ready to move forward with the club" thanks to greater financial power, though there will be no dramatic shift in transfer policy in the short term at least.

"I feel like there is a temptation for us to all be very excited about signing Neymar, [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo, but I think the reality is there is going to be a substantial amount of investment needed to get us on to zero," he said.

Swansea brought in Goncalo Franco (left) from the Portuguese league over the summer, while Zan Vipotnik (right) arrived from Bordeaux

"To begin the process of trying to make us more competitive is going to take a huge amount of finance and there is going to have to be a period of time where we maybe don’t see immediate impact, but there will be huge work going on in that period.

"It's going to take highly motivated people putting a lot of money into the football club to not get any fireworks and razzmatazz immediately, but to get us on an even footing so that we can begin to look at a really exciting new era. And that is what's going to follow, I have got no doubt."

Profit and sustainability rules dictate what losses clubs in the Championship are allowed to incur over a rolling three-year period.

In April, Swansea announced a pre-tax loss of £17.9m for the year ending July 2023, an increase from the £12.5m loss the club posted 12 months earlier.

Williams says the club's current position means the takeover cannot prompt a sharp increase in financial outlay.

"Does it mean we have the spending power of a former Premier League club with parachute payments? No, because with the best will in the world, we cannot do that because of the way the rules of the league structured," he added.

"Not to bore everyone, but we are hitting the ceiling of what we are allowed to spend so we need to address that.

"Then we need to be able to go again and be as competitive as we can be, but we need to do that in a very sensible way so that we don’t make mistakes."