Next Swansea manager: Swans forced to look for candidates without League experience as Chris Coleman hopes fade

Huw Jenkins and American investors forced to look to candidates without Premier League experience after missing out on top two targets

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Swansea City are facing the prospect of missing out on their top picks to replace Bob Bradley and move towards a candidate with less Premier League experience instead.

Ryan Giggs and Chris Coleman were the two front-runners for the job at the Liberty Stadium but neither of them will be taking the job. Giggs moved quickly out of the running on Wednesday while Coleman, Swansea’s number one pick, will not be persuaded to leave his job as Wales manager.

Coleman is currently halfway through Wales’ campaign to reach the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Coleman’s wife Charlotte Jackson tweeted that she and her husband would “hopefully move abroad” when the ex-Fulham coach leaves the Wales job, and wished “good luck to Swansea”.

While Swansea did not necessarily take that as a rejection, it was clear by Thursday evening that there was no way Coleman would be coming to the Liberty Stadium, even on a job-sharing basis.

This forces Huw Jenkins, Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan to look elsewhere to find someone to keep Swansea in the Premier League. Swansea won just two games of their 11 under Bradley, dropping them down to 19th, ahead of Hull City only on goal difference.

But Swansea must now face the prospect of signing a new manager who does not have experience playing or coaching in the top flight. The next two likeliest candidates are Paul Clement, currently working with Carlo Ancelotti at Bayern Munich, and Gary Rowett, surprisingly sacked by Birmingham City earlier this month. Rowett had improved Birmingham during his time there but he was replaced by Gianfranco Zola by the club’s owners, to the disquiet of the fans at St Andrew’s.

Neither Clement nor Rowett has managed in the Premier League before, although Clement did work at Chelsea first as a youth coach then as an assistant to Ancelotti during his two years there.