Swansea have the division’s top scorer Zan Vipotnik, and the team of the year’s left back Josh Tymon, but it’s another season of lower midtable mediocrity and Phil from JackArmy.net (@SwansNews) and Steven Carroll (@StevenSOS1987) from the SOS fanzine want tough questions asked this summer.

How's the season been for Swansea?

PS: Usual Swansea mediocrity. There was much optimism going into the season after a strong end to the last campaign but our midtable squad has delivered a midtable finish which, when you reflect back, was always how it was going to be.

SC: Overall I’d probably say frustrating more than anything else. I think the division is weak this season and I’d have thought a lot of clubs will feel it’s a missed opportunity. But, ultimately, I feared relegation at the end of November so we’ve done well to pull away from that.

Swans in the league so far…
Boro 1-0 Swansea Fry 51
Swansea 1-0 Sheff Utd Ronald 66
Swansea 1-1 Watford Vipotnik 82 – Irankunda 35
Sheff Wed 0-2 Swansea Vipotnik 50, Ronald 81
Swansea 2-2 Hull Vipotnik 40, Ronald 57 – McBurnie 45, Egan 90
Birmingham 1-0 Swansea Dykes 90
Swansea 1-1 Millwall Vipotnik 12 – Coburn 45
Blackburn 1-2 Swansea Cantwell 28 – Franco 44, Cullen 67
Swansea 1-3 Leicester Idah pen 70 – James 13, Fatawu 77, Vestergaard 85
Southampton 0-0 Swansea
Swansea 0-1 QPR Burrell 18
Swansea 2-1 Norwich Vipotnik 6, 69 – Makama 42
Charlton 1-1 Swansea Kelman 46 – Idah 64
Preston 2-1 Swansea Small 8, Osmajic 49 – Ji-Sung 80
Swansea 1-4 Ipswich Franco 50 – Clarke 36, Burgess og 55, og 81, Azon 76
Bristol City 3-0 Swansea Dickie 4, Riis 31, Hirakawa 82
Swansea 1-2 Derby Galbraith 90 – Ward 34, Salvesen 53
West Brom 3-2 Swansea Heggebo 47, 52, Molumby 85 – Vipotnik 1, Galbraith 11
Swansea 2-0 Oxford Stamenic 40, Tymon 45
Swansea 1-0 Pompey Cullen 78
Stoke 2-1 Swansea Pearson 42, Thomas 60 – Vipotnik 77
Swansea 2-1 Wrexham Vipotnik 70, Idah 90 – Burgess og 14
Coventry 1-0 Swansea Mason-Clark 44
Oxford 0-1 Swansea Vipotnik 13
Swansea 1-0 West Brom Fulton 74
Millwall 2-1 Swansea Ivanovic 38, Taylor 90 – Cabango 47
Swansea 1-1 Birmingham Vipotnik 21 – Roberts 72
Swansea 3-1 Blackburn Vipotnik 21, 63, O’Riordan og 50 – Jorgensen 35
Hull 2-1 Swansea McBurnie pen 24, Slater 39 – Cullen 59
Watford 0-2 Swansea Stamenic 55, Key 80
Swansea 4-0 Sheff Wed Franco 19, Vipotnik 70, 79, Yalcouye 88
Derby 2-0 Swansea Brewster 47, Agyemang 67
Swansea 1-0 Bristol City Vipotnik 26
Swansea 1-1 Preston Cullen 90 – Jebbison 26
Ipswich 3-0 Swansea Mehmeti 3, Azon 41, Hirst 74
Swansea 2-0 Stoke Vipotnik 53, Cullen 90
Portsmouth 1-2 Swansea Brown 64 – Galbraith 26, Key 39
Wrexham 2-0 Swansea Broadhead 25, Cullen og 88
Swansea 0-3 Coventry Thomas-Asante pen 32, Grimes 38, Sakamoto 43
Sheff Utd 3-3 Swansea Hamer 16, Burrows 53, Cannon 64 – Vipotnik pen 24, Idah 75, Ji-Sung 82
Swansea 2-2 Boro Vipotnik pen 20, pen 45 – Bangura 12, Conway pen 75
Leicester 0-1 Swansea Vipotnik 53
Swansea 1-2 Southampton Stamenic 20 – Charles 57, Archer 90

Why didn't it work for Alan Sheehan?

PS: After seemingly changing the way we play at the end of last season we then reverted to type in the early weeks of this. All the warning signs were there in pre-season and continued into the season itself. The football was poor, the results little better and we had no choice really but to part company.

SC: Sheehan shouldn’t have had the job in the first place. He did well last season as caretaker but it’s different once it’s permanent. I couldn’t see an identity and results were poor. It was never going to last long.

I think a few of us were a bit surprised and worried for you when little known Vitor Matos replaced him, but he seems to have done quite well - what's he changed, what do you make of his performance?

PS: We press higher now and score more goals. We are better to watch than we were under Sheehan but our away performances often remain poor. There is much work for Matos in the summer to get us being more consistent and holding onto key players will be essential for him.

SC: We’re working harder under Matos, we’re decent from set pieces and ultimately having the top goal scorer in the division is a big help. He’s done really well results wise, hopefully we’ll see better things next season.

Zan Vipotnik, hot streak, or the real deal?

PS: He takes chances when they come his way but we are totally reliant on him. When he doesn't score there aren't many goals in this squad. Its hard to say whether this or last season is the real Zan but he's the Championship’s leadings scorer so we can’t complain too much. Sadly we will probably cash in on him this summer.

SC: I wasn’t huge on Vipotnik last term to be honest with you but he’s been far better this term. I’ll be interested to see how he gets on when he inevitably leaves. To be fair he’s had mostly poor service so his numbers are remarkable. And he’s got one of the hardest shots I’ve ever seen.

How do you rate the club's recruitment this year, what's gone well and not worked?

PS: Average as ever. Ethan Galbraith from Leyton Orient was a good signing and a few more improved us a little bit but in the main it has been pretty average and midtable hence our midtable squad. Yet again though we have changed the man at the helm so let’s see what happens next.

SC: Recruitment hasn’t been great. Ethan Galbraith has been the best of it but he’s mostly being played out of position. I think Melker Widell will be better next term in his se ond year after a move from Scandi, New Zealander Marco Stamenic is decent too. The rest need to do better, several of whom cost a fair bit.

Summer Ins >>> Adam Idah, 24, CF, Celtic, £6m >>> Zeidane Inoussa, 23, LW, Hacken (Sweden), £5m >>> Ethan Glabraith, 24, CM, Orient, £1.5m >>> Bobby Wales, 20, CF, Kilmarnock, £300k >>> Cameron Burgess, 29, CB, Ipswich, Free >>> Ricardo Santos, 30, CB, Bolton, Free >>> Paul Freeman, 35, GK, Barrow, Free >>> Marko Stamenic, 23, CM, Forest, Undisclosed >>> Malick Yalcouye, 19, CM, Brighton, Loan >>> Manuel Benson, 28, RW, Burnley, Loan >>> Kaelan Casey, 20, CB, West Ham, Loan >>> Ishe Samuels-Smith, 19, LB, Chelsea, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Bobby Wales, 20, CF, Huddersfield, Loan >>> Josh Thomas, 23, CF, Derry City, Loan

Player of the year candidates?

PS: Hard to look past Vipotnik for his goals, and left back Josh Tymon was another who made the divisional team of the season despite us bring in the bottom half, but goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux has saved us plenty of times as well.

SC: Vipotnik will win that easily I would think. But Vigouroux and Tymon deserve a mention too.

What does the club need to do to break out of this midtable purgatory next season?

PS: We need to recruit better with long term plans. We will cash in on at least one asset this summer so we start again. We have a limited budget and operate within the rules that everyone has to but we continue to pay the price for short termism in our recruitment strategy in recent years.

SC: I think the simple answer is better recruitment. Without that it isn’t going to improve. A director of football is expected to arrive soon and I hope it’s the right appointment as we’ve made too many mistakes recently

Links >>> Official Website >>> Planet Swans — Blog and Forum >>> Swansea Independent - Forum >>> Wales Online — Local Paper >>> The Jack Army — Forum >>> SOS - Fanzine

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