Swansea City

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It is almost time for Swansea fans to start plotting journeys up and down the UK's motorway network as Luke Williams prepares for his first full season in charge.

The road ahead for the 2024-25 English Football League (EFL) season will become clear when the fixtures are released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday.

The regular season will begin on the weekend of 10-11 August and run until 3 May, 2025.

The 46 rounds of games in the Championship will be played across 33 weekends, nine midweek programmes and four bank holidays.

Swans fans will hope for a much better start than last season, when they failed to win any of their opening seven Championship matches under Michael Duff.

A 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on 23 September finally ended the long wait for a League win, followed by three victories in a row - something of a false dawn with an autumn dip in form leading to Duff's departure.

Williams eventually replaced Duff in January and led the Swans to a 14th-place finish after struggling to get the consistency he and the fans craved.

The former Notts County boss will hope to start the new campaign strongly after pledging to spend most of the summer at work, trying to bolster the squad rather than put his feet up and go on holiday.

Swansea will be joined in the Championship by relegated Premier League sides Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton along with promoted Portsmouth, Derby and Oxford.

The Wayne Rooney factor brings added intrigue - the England legend is back for his third spell managing in the EFL.

Rooney was appointed Plymouth Argyle boss after they narrowly avoided relegation last season and will hope to make a good start after his disastrous spell in charge of Birmingham City last season where he won just two of 15 matches.

All fixtures will be on the BBC Sport website and app as soon as they are announced.

The draw for the first round of the Carabao Cup will be held at 11:30 BST on Thursday.

A new £935m five-year deal between the EFL and Sky Sports means that 1,059 EFL matches are set to be broadcast - four times more than now.

Click here for more info on what to look out for in the Championship next season.

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It is June and that means it is speculation season.

Notts County's star striker Macaulay Langstaff continues to be linked with Swansea City and a reunion with former boss Luke Williams.

It may just be online gossip at this stage but there is no doubt Williams has made no secret of his admiration for his former player, who has scored 70 league goals across his two seasons with the League Two side.

"This is the king of Meadow Lane we’re talking about," Williams said in his first ever Swansea press conference.

"I love Macca as a guy. As a football player he’s a goalscoring machine, but I want to make sure he’s there to help them get promoted."

But when he was asked if he would like to sign the 27-year-old, he replied: "That’s a different question."

Whether Williams would be able to tempt Langstaff to the Swansea.com stadium remains to be seen, with the player having signed a four year contract after helping the Magpies win promotion to League Two in 2023 and by his own admission it would take something "incredible" to leave Meadow Lane.

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Luke Williams says Swansea City want fewer temporary signings next season after they ended the last campaign with six loan players in their squad.

Carl Rushworth, Swansea’s first-choice goalkeeper in 2023-24, was on a season-long loan from Brighton while 10-goal joint leading scorer Jamal Lowe was also on loan, from Bournemouth.

Newcastle United full-back Harrison Ashby, Chelsea defender Bashir Humphreys and Arsenal midfielder Charlie Patino were also recruited on year-long loan deals, while the January arrival of another young Gunner, Charles Sagoe Jr, made it half a dozen loanees at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Financial restrictions for clubs like Swansea, coupled with the number of young Premier League talents who are available for loan, mean it would be a shock should there be no loan players in Williams' 2024-25 squad.

But the Swansea head coach says the plan is to add more permanent signings during the current transfer window.

“The loan market is a wonderful thing at the right time,” Williams told BBC Sport Wales.

“I am certainly not going to say that there won’t be any loan players, but I think we will probably do our best to avoid having six loans again.

“Barring us being in a situation where we need to take more loans, I think we will have significantly less than last season.”

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Between them, Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton have clocked up more than 1,000 club appearances across a combined 33 years playing senior football.

But Luke Wiliams says the two veterans in his squad are like “really bright teenagers” after agreeing new Swansea City contracts during the close season.

Midfielder Allen, 34, and defender Naughton, 35, have signed deals keeping them at Swansea for the 2024-25 Championship campaign.

While the Swans are keen to recruit younger players with potential future transfer value this summer, Williams says the club also “understand about balance” when it comes to building a squad.

“Joe and Kyle are almost unique in terms of the depth of experience they have while still playing Championship football at such a good level,” Swansea’s head coach said.

“The levels both those players hit at the back-end of last season were undeniable.

“I had some brilliant conversations with both of them. It’s like talking to really bright teenagers, because they have the energy of teenagers but the words that come out are like a senior player.”

Allen - who has 556 club appearances to his name - and Naughton - who is on 534 club appearances - both missed the closing stages of 2023-24 with injury.

But they both played a part in Swansea's springtime improvement under Williams, who is convinced the duo can have significant roles come the new season.

“The key is going to be management from myself and the conditioning team and also from those guys, to be really honest and super professional,” he added.

“Trying to stop guys like Joe Allen or Kyle Naughton being competitive is impossible, but you have to try to encourage them to think about the greater good, and we can do that.

“Between us we have to manage them carefully so that we can get the best out of them and don’t lose them for periods.”

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Former Swansea City boss Steve Cooper is back in football having been unveiled as Leicester City's new manager.

Cooper, 44, had been out of work since leaving Nottingham Forest last December.

The Welshman was took his first head coach role at Swansea in 2019, and led the club to the Championship play-offs in successive seasons before leaving in 2021.

He then led Nottingham Forest to promotion to the Premier League in spectacular style, and is back in the top flight having agreed to succeed Enzo Maresca at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes had been heavily linked with Cooper's predecessor at Swansea, Graham Potter, earlier this week.

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Former Swansea boss Steve Cooper is the leading contender to take the vacant managerial position at Leicester City.

The 44-year-old has been out of work since being sacked by Nottingham Forest in December but has held further talks with their East Midlands rivals.

Another former Swansea boss, ex-Chelsea and Brighton manager Graham Potter, had also been in talks with the Foxes.

At the start of the week Potter appeared to be the frontrunner in a fluid situation, but Cooper is now seen as the prime candidate.

Leicester had previously tried to tempt Potter to the King Power Stadium last April before their relegation from the Premier League, but he was not ready to return to management just days after being sacked by Chelsea having spent less than seven months in charge.

Leicester have been searching for a new boss after Enzo Maresca's departure to Chelsea at the start of the month.

Cooper guided England Under-17s to victory at their World Cup in 2017 and also spent two years at the Liberty Stadium, taking the Swans to the play-off final in 2021 where they lost to Brentford.

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Luke Williams says his Swansea City squad have shown they are “24-hour football players” with their work during the close season.

Swansea’s players do not begin pre-season preparations for the 2024-25 Championship season until 1 July.

But the majority have returned to the club’s Fairwood training base over the last couple of weeks for summer check-ins.

“They have been in for three days at a time because we wanted them to restart their engine a little bit, we wanted them to refocus their minds,” head coach Williams explained.

“We are checking up on them, making sure they are OK and that they are not losing their athleticism too much. We want them to start to feel like they are excited about coming back for pre-season training.”

The likes of Ben Cabango, Liam Cullen and Azeem Abdulai were not involved in the close-season sessions because they have been on international duty this summer, while Ronald was excused having returned home for a summer break in Brazil.

Williams says he “can’t fault the application of the players”, who have been given individual training programmes to follow during the summer break.

“We have actually been very surprised, in a positive way, at just how well they have been looking after themselves,” he added.

“They have had down time, of course, but this shows they are 24-hour football players, as opposed to the old days when they were footballers slash rock stars.”

Swansea City’s ‘Cyril the Swan’ has been named the world’s most ‘memorable football mascot’ in a new poll.

As part of National Mascot Day in the United States, analysis by OLBG taken from the quiz website Sporcle has revealed that Cyril was remembered by 92.10% of sport fans in one online quiz since 2021.

The Swans mascot hit the headlines in 1998 when he was fined by football authorities for invading the pitch during an FA Cup game with Millwall.

Cyril was even called up to give evidence to an FAW disciplinary panel in his fancy dress outfit, as shown in this report from the BBC Wales archive.

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Swansea City old boys Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts could be back at Leeds United next season, according to reports.

The Wales defenders were part of the Leeds squad that missed out on promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, Rodon spending the whole of last season on loan at Elland Road while Roberts joined midway through.

Centre back Rodon has gone back to Premier League parent club Tottenham Hotspur after making 50 appearances for Leeds in all competitions.

Despite having spent two seasons away from the north London club, Spurs have reportedly triggered a year-long extension to Rodon's contract.

Roberts, meanwhile, has a year left on his contract at Burnley, who are back in the Championship after being relegated at the end of last season.

But online sports website The Athletic says Leeds are keen to bring the pair back to Elland Road as they rebuild for another season in the second tier following their Championship play-off final defeat to Russell Martin's Southampton.

Rodon could go back to Leeds for another loan spell, though the report suggests there is also interest in him from Premier League clubs after he impressed alongside Wales teammate Ethan Ampadu at the heart of United's defence.

Roberts' future at Burnley could depend on who takes over as manager following Vincent Kompany's move to Bayern Munich.

The 28-year-old defender lost his place in Kompany's starting XI last autumn, which led to his mid-season switch to Leeds, for whom he made 15 appearances.

Former Wales forward Craig Bellamy is Burnley's interim head coach, with the likes of Frank Lampard, Liam Rosenior and Scott Parker under consideration.

Rodon and Roberts both played against hometown club Swansea last season as Leeds beat the Swans home and away in 2023-24.

Swans fans would doubtless love to see them pull on a Swansea kit again, but it looks more likely to be the white of Leeds if the speculation proves correct.

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Head of goalkeeping Martyn Margetson has signed a new three-year contract with Swansea City.

The 52-year-old's previous deal with the Championship club was due to expire this summer.

Swansea view Margetson's new contract as a coup given that the Welshman is also part of Gareth Southgate's England backroom team.

Margetson, who has had previous stints as a coach with West Ham United, Cardiff City, Crystal Palace and Everton, will continue to combine his roles with Swansea and England.

He spent five years working for the Football Association of Wales under Gary Speed and then Chris Coleman before making the switch to the Three Lions after Euro 2016.

Margetson was instrumental in the development of Brighton goalkeeper Carl Rushworth during the young Englishman's loan with Swansea last season.

He is in his second spell at Swansea having been on Steve Cooper's staff between 2019 and 2021, returning in the summer of 2023 after Russell Martin and his backroom team left for Southampton.

The Port Talbot native's son, Kit Margetson, is currently part of Swansea's under-18 side.

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Former Swansea City manager Graham Potter is being reported as a managerial target for Leicester City.

But another former Swans boss, Steve Cooper, is also being linked to take over at the recently promoted Premier League club.

Leicester are on the hunt for a new manager after the departure of Enzo Maresca to Chelsea.

Potter has been out of work since leaving Chelsea in April 2023, having joined them from Brighton - the club he left Swansea for in 2019 after an eye-catching first season in British management.

Cooper replaced Potter at the Swans before joining Nottingham Forest in 2021, leading the City Ground side to promotion in his first season.

He was assisted by ex-Swansea captain Alan Tate, who left Forest with Cooper last December and is understood to be ready to work alongside the ex-England youth chief when he makes his return to football.

In a BBC Sport poll, Potter is currently the preferred choice among Leicester fans, with Cooper trailing behind former West Ham boss David Moyes.

Neither Potter nor Cooper would be the first former Swansea manager to take the reins at Leicester.

Brendan Rodgers won the FA Cup at Leicester in a four-year spell that came to end in April 2023 before the Foxes' relegation to the Championship.

Rodgers arrived in Swansea to succeed Paulo Sousa when he left for Leicester in 2010 for a short-lived spell in the East Midlands.

And Micky Adams - who had a 13-day, three-match spell as Swansea boss in 1997 - managed Leicester to Premier League promotion in 2002.

Want more transfer stories and gossip? Read Tuesday's full column

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Swansea City have plenty of work to do this summer if they are to mould a squad capable of a significant improvement next season after the struggles of the last campaign.

But more than a month since defeat by Millwall brought the curtain down on 2023-24, there is little sign yet of Swansea doing business in the transfer market.

Swansea fans hoping for news of new recruits have so far been left disappointed.

Various players have been linked but, as yet, Swansea have not begun filling the various holes in Luke Williams’ squad.

But it is not as if Swansea are the only club in this situation.

In fact, the Championship transfer market has been remarkably quiet this summer.

You can almost count on one hand the number of done deals so far in the second tier.

With the transfer window officially opening later this week, perhaps a few more deals will start to materialise.

But many more will not happen until pre-season, while there will be the inevitable late rush before the window closes at the end of August.

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Swansea City assistant coach Alan Sheehan has obtained his Uefa pro licence.

The Irishman previously held an A licence but has now secured the highest coaching qualification available in European football.

Sheehan joined the Swans in the summer of 2023 and was named caretaker boss following the sacking of Michael Duff in December.

The 37-year-old - who had spells with clubs including Leeds United and Leicester City during his playing career - oversaw Championship wins against Rotherham United, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion during his seven-game tenure as boss.

He remains on the coaching staff under head coach Luke Williams, who was named as Duff's successor in January.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

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Sam Gallagher has his admirers at Swansea City, but the chances of the Blackburn Rovers striker ending up in Wales this summer look fairly slim.

Gallagher is being linked with a close-season move despite the fact that Rovers have triggered an extension clause in the 28-year-old’s contract which means he is tied to Ewood Park until 2025.

Swansea have been touted as potential suitors along with Luton Town and Ipswich Town, who reportedly saw bids for former Southampton player Gallagher rejected in January.

Would Swansea like to sign the 6ft 4in frontman? Very possibly, yes.

But are they likely to get him should Blackburn decide to sell? It is doubtful.

Gallagher’s wage demands are likely to put him beyond Swansea’s reach, which would not be the case for some of the other clubs who are said to be interested.

Head coach Luke Williams has said he wants a new centre-forward this summer as he looks to add firepower to a squad who did not take enough chances during 2023-24, and it is understood there is money available to use as a transfer fee.

But it would be a surprise should a deal for Gallagher get over the line.

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Chris Davies has left Tottenham Hotspur to become Birmingham City boss almost six months since he turned down the chance to take over at Swansea City.

Davies was Swansea’s primary target following the sacking of Michael Duff last December and held extensive talks with the Welsh club.

But Davies eventually opted to stay on as senior assistant coach at Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou, with Swansea eventually appointing Luke Williams as head coach in January.

Davies, who was on Swansea’s staff when Brendan Rodgers was the club’s manager, has now said farewell to Spurs having agreed a four-year deal with Birmingham.

The Blues were relegated to League One in 2023-24, though they do have ambitious owners.