Swansea City chief Tom Gorringe has admitted the decision to sack Alan Sheehan was because the club “needed a reset”.
Vitor Matos was confirmed as new Swans boss this week, taking charge for the first time in the midweek defeat by Derby County.
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His arrival came 13 days after Sheehan was axed, that decision coming less than seven months after the Irishman was installed as head coach on a three-year contract.
Sheehan’s appointment followed a successful interim period in charge, but a disappointing start to the season led to his dismissal.
At the time the club stated that both performances and results had fallen below expectations.
But now, quizzed for the first time since the sacking, chief executive Tom Gorringe added that there was a feeling a fresh approach was needed.
Asked if, in hindsight, the decision to give Sheehan the job in the first place was a costly mistake, Gorringe said: “Ultimately Alan was given the job last season [after] he did a fantastic job taking interim charge of the team; he won five games in a row and that can’t be sniffed at in the Championship, it doesn’t happen very often.
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“He worked incredibly hard and we’re not here because for a want of trying – but ultimately we felt like it was the right time to make a change.
“We felt like the club needed a bit of a reset and we’re really excited about all the future holds.”
As well as dismissing Sheehan and coaching staff Darren O’Dea and Richard Stearman, Swansea have had to pay out compensation to land Matos from Maritimo – although the club claim it is less than the near £1m compensation the Portuguese side put into the public domain.
Swansea sit close to the Championship relegation places, with Matos saying before his first game in charge he was confident he could turn things around.
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But Gorringe shied away from specific targets for the new man at the helm, simply saying the club were keen for improvements.
“I think we just want to get better,” he said. “We’re obviously ambitious as a club – there was a reasonable amount of investment in the summer and that was with a view to trying to build the squad and give us opportunities to improve.
“The reality is it’s a very difficult league to compete in, probably more than it’s ever been before, and so the only aim really is to get better.
“We see this as a long-term process we know it will take time for Vitor and his team to start to implement the processes and the outcomes that we all want to see.
“But the aim in the short term is just to get better, to come together as a club to unify the fan base, and to try and improve.”
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