Margetson joins Connah's Quay Nomads on loan published at 13:02 20 June
13:02 20 June
Image source, Getty Images
Swansea City goalkeeper Kit Margetson will spend the 2025-26 season on loan at Cymru Premier club Connah's Quay Nomads.
Margetson, who turns 19 next month, was on the fringes of Swansea's senior squad at the end of last season.
The Wales youth international signed his first professional deal at Swansea in the summer of 2024.
He is the son of Swansea and Wales goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson.
Andy Fisher and Nathan Broome are both due back at Swansea this summer after loan spells away, adding to the club's keeper options alongside first-choice Lawrence Vigouroux.
"I know that Kit turned down a number of other opportunities to come and play for ourselves and as club we are grateful for Swansea City, especially director of football Richard Montague and Martyn Margetson, for facilitating the move," said Nomads boss John Disney.
"Hopefully the club can utilise this to help form a close relationship moving forwards."
Could Swansea have done more to keep Darling? Certainly, they appear to have tried everything possible this spring, with the former MK Dons defender eventually offered a lucrative contract.
Who knows, if that offer had been tabled a year ago, Darling might still be at Swansea and under contract for at least a couple more seasons.
But in the end, perhaps, Darling's head had been turned.
While Darling will line up for the Canaries next season, his replacement at Swansea is already in place in the shape of Cameron Burgess.
At 29, he arrives from Ipswich Town with little re-sale value, but looks a fine acquisition nevertheless.
This week's other departures have caused less of a stir.
Swansea say they have received a fee for Kuharevich, the size of which has not been disclosed.
Image source, Getty Images
But it is safe to assume they have made a significant loss on a player who arrived from Troyes in 2023 in a deal believed to be worth close to £1m.
Kuharevich managed 10 Championship substitute appearances for Swansea, scoring one goal.
Nathan Tjoe-A-On, the other man who said farewell this week, had an even more limited impact, playing a grand total of two minutes of league football in a Swans shirt.
Swansea are understood to have paid about £300,000 for Tjoe-A-On who, like Kuharevich, goes down as one of various failed signings made in the summer of 2023.
The truth is that Tjoe-A-On's exit may not have a huge impact on Alan Sheehan's plans for 2025-26 given that he was already a fringe figure.
Kuharevich's move looks more significant given that it clears a space in the attacking department within Sheehan's squad - and probably cuts a larger slice off the club's wage bill.
The next big question is whether Jerry Yates, another forward who was out on loan last season, will follow Kuharevich through the exit door or come back into the fold.
For now, the noises are that Yates is more likely to go than stay.
Should Yates leave once more, Swansea will very definitely have a vacancy in the striker department – and more finances to work with as they look to fill it.
Swansea U21s have another Nathaniel MG Cup chancepublished at 13:07 19 June
13:07 19 June
Image source, FAW
With no south Wales derby to look forward to after Cardiff City's relegation to League One, Swansea fans can instead look forward to a potential encounter between the clubs' under-21s sides.
Swansea and Bluebirds' junior teams have won wildcard entries to Welsh domestic football's 2025-26 Nathaniel MG Cup for a third successive season.
The Cymru Premier's dominant force, The New Saints, are reigning holders of the Welsh League Cup.
Swansea's youngsters went out in the first round last July, losing 5-3 in a penalty shootout at Baglan Dragons.
The draw for the 2025-26 first round takes places on Wednesday, 25 June and Swansea will be hoping to go significantly further this time around.
"This club is similar to Celtic in that it has a real identity, it is not just enough to come in here and just win, there needs to be more. There needs to be a product on the pitch that the fans relate to," said O'Dea.
"Speaking to Brendan, who has been brilliant in all this, he talked about the fanbase having a big understanding of their football.
"He could not have spoken more highly of the club and the city, and the DNA of the club.
"That is a real big driver in me wanting to come here, it's really important to me."
Following Luke Williams' exit in February, Swansea collected 24 points from 13 matches at a rate of 1.85 points per game under Sheehan last season, the joint-third highest points tally in the Championship over that period.
And O'Dea says he regularly watched Swansea last term as part of his role with Celtic.
"The guys here did a fantastic job over the final part of last season, I watched a number of games last season while I was at Celtic as it was part of my responsibilities to be monitoring and watching football across Europe," he added.
"I am well versed in what the team looks like, and the players, I am looking forward to getting to know them."
Lions up, Watford down? The 2025 Championship tablepublished at 12:37 10 June
12:37 10 June
Ben Ashton BBC Sport England
Image source, Getty Images
Watford are getting relegated, Plymouth are staying up, Millwall are in the play-offs and Portsmouth are also battling for a top-six spot.
Does something sound a bit off? Well, that's what would have happened if the Championship season started on 1 January.
Here's a look at the 2025 calendar year table, showing who the form sides were in the second half of the season and who went into freefall.
Perhaps the most notable difference between the actual final top six and the 2025 version is that Millwall would be in the play-offs and Premier League-bound Sunderland would not.
Burnley and Leeds still comfortably occupy the automatic promotion spots, albeit the Clarets would be unbeaten at the top of the pile with the Whites in second.
Coventry improved significantly after Frank Lampard replaced Mark Robins and are third over the course of the year.
The Sky Blues would instead be pitted against Bristol City in the play-off semi-final as opposed to Sunderland. Who knows what difference that would have made to their promotion bid...
Image source, Rex Features
Portsmouth - who spent much of the season battling relegation and only secured their Championship safety with two games to spare - are seventh and just one point outside a play-off spot.
Pompey sit above Sunderland, who lost their final five games of the season and are down in eighth.
The data perhaps shows just how long Regis Le Bris' side effectively had a play-off spot sewn up before their victory at Wembley against Sheffield United to claim promotion.
Relegation battlers Oxford find themselves seven places higher than where they actually finished in the 2024-25 campaign (17th), reflecting the good work done by Gary Rowett after he took over as boss from Des Buckingham.
Image source, Rex Features
Plymouth would have survived comfortably had the season begun in January 2025, showing a significant uptick after Miron Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney at the helm.
Middlesbrough tailed off significantly in the second half of the season, underpinning why they missed out on the play-offs. It was a drop off that ultimately cost Michael Carrick his job as head coach.
Norwich City conceded more goals (32) than any other side in 2025, which counteracted the hard work they'd done at the other end, having been the fourth top scorers (31) since the turn of the year.
Image source, Rex Features
Watford had a disappointing 2025, winning just five of their 23 games and losing 13 to finish bottom of the calendar year table.
The Hornets had the joint-worst goal difference along with Cardiff (-10) and head coach Tom Cleverley was sacked following the end of the season.
Preston and Cardiff won the fewest games of any side in 2025 (4), which cost the Bluebirds their Championship status and almost led to the Lilywhites dropping into League One as they avoided relegation by one point.
Paul Heckingbottom's side would be down if only games this year were counted.
Luton and Derby scored the fewest goals in 2025 (19) and attacking output was an issue that plagued both sides throughout the entire campaign.
It had major consequences for the Hatters with back-to-back relegations, while the Rams survived by a point - and only on goal difference in the yearly table.
Data collated from Transfermarkt
Davies returns to Swansea as academy managerpublished at 15:26 9 June
15:26 9 June
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Ryan Davies is returning to Swansea City this summer after being appointed academy manager.
Davies held several roles within the academy set-up between 2012 and 2024, including head of coaching and interim academy manager.
During that time he also played a part in the development of players such as current men's first-team captain Ben Cabango, Ollie Cooper, Liam Cullen, Connor Roberts and Josh Sheehan.
He will formally take up the role on 1 August.
"I am delighted and extremely proud to be given the opportunity to return to the club and lead Swansea City's academy," said Davies.
"Being able to represent my hometown club and local community is a huge privilege, and witnessing the growth of the academy over the last decade and more has been incredible.
"As a club we have a proud track record of producing talented young players capable of featuring at senior club and international levels, and that is one we are very keen to continue.
"I cannot wait to get started and try and continue to drive our academy, and ensure our supporters continue to be able to chant 'he's one of our own' by producing talent that can thrive at first-team level."
Swans aim to avoid another Darling situationpublished at 13:34 7 June
13:34 7 June
Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency
Director of football Richard Montague says Swansea City will attempt to avoid another Harry Darling situation in the future by ensuring the club's key players do not run down their contracts.
Centre-back Darling is attracting interest from a host of Championship clubs this summer, partly because he is available on a free transfer.
Swansea tried to persuade Darling to sign a new deal – and their offer remains on the table – but former boss Luke Williams suggested the club should have made an earlier attempt to tie the former MK Dons player down.
Darling is not the first Swansea player in recent seasons to see his contract come to an end – and Montague accepts the club must look to avoid similar scenarios in the future.
"We want to keep our best players and we don't want to get in the situation where those players can do what Harry has been able to do, which is brilliant for Harry but less good for us as a club," he said.
Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency
"We want to avoid that as much as possible. That is going to be a key focus going forward, either deciding on when is the right time to cash in on an asset and when is the right time to extend someone's contract, either to grow with us or become an even stronger asset for us.
"I can understand why situations develop but we have to do our best to try to avoid them."
Josh Tymon and Josh Key were two of Swansea's star performers in 2024-25 and are among the club's most saleable assets.
The two full-backs see their current deals expire next summer, although there club have the option of extending both those contracts by a further 12 months.
When asked whether Tymon and Key's contract situations should be addressed sooner rather than later, Montague added: "We will absolutely be talking to those guys as the season begins, in pre-season as well, but we haven't had any conversations yet."
The Championship's improvement table for 2024-25published at 13:46 5 June
13:46 5 June
Ben Ashton BBC Sport England
Image source, Getty Images
The 2024-25 Championship season might be over but there are many ways to analyse and reflect on the campaign that has gone before us.
Not every club can go up but if there are signs a team is moving in the right direction, it can still be considered good progress - or quite the opposite if things are on the slide.
Here is a look at how each of the 18 sides who were in the Championship for the past two seasons got on points wise compared to the 2023-24 campaign.
It perhaps comes as no surprise that Sunderland, who won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, recorded the most significant improvement after finishing 16th in 2023-24 and picked up 20 more points.
Despite a tumultuous season off the field, Blackburn were the second most improved side in the division, gaining 13 points on the previous campaign as they missed out on the play-offs by just two points.
Leeds racked up 90 points in 2023-24 but somehow still managed a 10-point improvement as they hit the 100 mark on their way to winning the title in their best-ever season in the second tier.
Millwall's seven-point improvement was enough to help them finish five places higher in eighth, but they fell short of the top six by two points.
Meanwhile, Bristol City were only six points better off but managed to climb five places and claim a play-off spot, recording their best Championship finishing position since 2007-08.
Coventry also only improved by five points but were able to jump from ninth to fifth, perhaps showing just how fine the margins can be in the Championship when it comes to securing a play-off berth.
At the bottom...
Image source, Getty Images
You might want to look away now, Hull City fans.
The Tigers went backwards more than any other side compared to the previous season under Liam Rosenior, dropping from seventh place and three points outside the play-offs to only escaping relegation on goal difference on the final day.
Cardiff went from mid-table in 2023-24 to rock bottom and will drop down to League One for the first time in 22 years. It is pretty clear to see why as the Bluebirds picked up 18 fewer points compared to the previous season.
Norwich tumbled to 13th place after finishing in the play-offs a year before - an underperformance which ultimately cost Johannes Hoff Thorup his job as head coach.
Preston were 10 points off the play-off places in 2023-24 but picked up 13 fewer points under Paul Heckingbottom in what was their worst season since they were relegated from the Championship in 2010-11.
The Lilywhites' downturn was largely due to a major dip in form in the latter stages of the campaign, picking up only one win from their final 15 games (D7 L7) to avoid the drop by just one point.
West Bromwich Albion endured a disappointing season - for a club which always harbours ambitions of plying its trade in the top flight - with an 11-point drop off.
Albion's final points tally of 64 was their worst in the Championship since 1999-2000.
Plymouth may have only been five points worse off than they were in 2023-24 but having survived on the final day that season, there were to be no such heroics this time around and their two-year stint in the second tier is over.
And the rest...
Image source, Getty Images
*All data based only on teams who were in the Championship in 2023-24 and 2024-25
Allen farewell 'emotional' - Cabangopublished at 14:27 4 June
14:27 4 June
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Ben Cabango says he bid an "emotional" farewell to Joe Allen after his team-mate with club and country announced his retirement from football.
Cabango says that while he was aware Allen was considering hanging up his boots, there were question marks over the midfielder's future until the final stages of the 2024-25 campaign.
"He did tell me earlier in the season, about halfway, that he was thinking about it," the Swansea captain said.
"I thought because he started playing more consistently towards the end he might change his mind, but he said it was time to go.
"What a player, what a guy, and he will be missed at club and country."
Allen made his final Swansea appearance alongside another departing veteran, Kyle Naughton, in the 3-3 draw with Oxford United on the final day of the Championship season.
"The last game was emotional but it was a good send-off for Joe and Kyle," Cabango added.
Swans to face Cheltenham in pre-seasonpublished at 16:03 3 June
16:03 3 June
Image source, Getty Images
Swansea City will go to League Two side Cheltenham Town for a pre-season friendly on Wednesday, 23 July (19:00 BST).
The Robins, who are managed by Welshman and former Newport County boss Michael Flynn, finished 15th in the fourth tier last season.
The Cheltenham trip is the third pre-season fixture announced by Swansea.
Alan Sheehan's side will meet League One Stevenage in Spain on 19 July before a visit to another third-tier club, Exeter City, on July 26.
Vigouroux could face Messi, but Eom gets summer offpublished at 12:39 29 May
12:39 29 May
Image source, Getty Images
Lawrence Vigouroux is facing a mighty challenge with Chile next week, but Swansea City team-mate Eom Ji-Sung has been given a summer break by South Korea.
Goalkeeper Vigouroux is with the Chile squad preparing for World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Bolivia.
Chile take on Argentina in a World Cup qualifying game in Santiago on 6 June before going to Bolivia four days later.
It may be that Vigouroux comes up against Lionel Messi, who was named in Argentina's preliminary squad, as Chile look to cause a major upset by beating the world champions.
But there will be no work for Eom this summer after he was omitted from the South Korea squad for their qualifying matches against Iraq and Kuwait.
Image source, Getty Images
Eom finished the Championship season in style, looking like a player who was coming to terms with the English second tier, having struggled at times following his move from Gwangju last summer.
But he has been left out alongside the likes of Yang Min-hyeok, who was on loan at Queens Park Rangers last season, and Bae Jun-ho of Stoke City.
South Korea boss Hong Myung-bo has indicated the Championship players have been left out because they have been inactive for a number of weeks, rather than due to any loss of form.
Image source, Getty Images
