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It is eight years and counting since Swansea City’s spell among the elite ended with relegation from the Premier League.
The harsh reality is that since their Championship play-off final defeat in 2021, they have not looked a club capable of returning to the highest level.
As the dust settles on 2025-26, Swansea are left reflecting on a season in which hope was replaced by concern which eventually made way for signs of promise.
It has been a familiar pattern for the Swans in recent seasons.
The question now is whether head coach Vitor Matos, with the help of Swansea’s hierarchy, can find a way to inspire some meaningful progress in the next Championship campaign.
Expectation may go up – but better will be required
This time last year, Swansea had built significant momentum under former boss Alan Sheehan, who had inspired an upturn in form to ward off relegation concerns after the Luke Williams era ended on the back of a worrying slump.
In the previous campaign, Williams was the man who masterminded the turnaround in fortunes after Michael Duff's forgettable stint in charge.
Matos' challenge is to change the record at Swansea, who will begin 2026-27 with an eye on the play-offs, as was the case at the start of the season which ended with Saturday’s win over Charlton Athletic.
There is likely to be a little more expectation next time around given that the teams finishing seventh and eighth will secure play-off places in a year's time.
Yet it is worth remembering that aside from their two play-off campaigns under Steve Cooper – when parachute payments still offered a helping hand – the best finish Swansea have managed since dropping out of the top flight is 10th, first Graham Potter in 2019 and then Russell Martin three years ago.
Matos' team finished 11th, just as Sheehan's side did last year, although Swansea had three more points this time around.
Ultimately, they were nine points short of Hull City, who claimed the last of this season's play-off places, and five adrift of Derby County, who ended in eighth.
Press brings points – but no talk of the table
Sheehan had genuine play-off ambitions last summer, when Swansea spent significantly to strengthen having built momentum in the final months of 2024-25.
Yet after a solid start, Swansea found themselves with only four wins from the first 15 league games of the season – thanks largely to attacking failings – and Sheehan was dismissed on 11 November.
The plan was for Kim Hellberg to take over, but Swansea were forced into a rethink when the Swede opted for Middlesbrough.
The appointment of Matos was brave given his lack of managerial experience, plus the fact that he had never previously worked in the English second tier.
When defeat in Matos' first two games in charge left Swansea outside the bottom three on goal difference alone, alarm bells could be heard from the stadium to the training ground.
Yet victory over Oxford United in early December marked the start of a sharp improvement, particularly on home soil, which meant relegation worries were all but eliminated by the time Snoop Dogg brought a sizeable entourage and 20,000 tea towels to Wales in February.
Matos looked a little bemused at times by the many Snoop-related questions he had to answer, but there is an understanding in the head coach's office that star names off the pitch could eventually mean there are bigger names on it.
Whether there was a rap superstar at training or not, the Portuguese always did his best to focus on the football – and more specifically his team's next fixture – as he consistently declined to discuss Swansea’s position in the league table.
Matos' approach – which is based primarily on a pressing game – has brought 47 points in 30 league fixtures, an average of 1.56 per match.
Were it to be repeated across a full season, that ratio would deliver 71 points – enough for seventh place in the campaign which has just concluded.
What changes await this summer?
Matos has pledged that there will be no overhaul of his squad this summer, but there is transfer work to do – and significantly more will be required should, as is entirely possible, Zan Vipotnik depart in the upcoming window.
Swansea will demand big money for the striker, which would help balance the books after the club’s latest sizeable financial loss.
Matos will hope to have some transfer cash to play with, too, particularly if there is a need to replace his 25-goal top scorer.
Three loan signings have departed this week, while Kaelan Casey was not replaced in January, leaving Swansea’s squad looking thin at the back and out wide.
Players capable of scoring goals from the flanks will be on the radar, while Matos believes there is a need for greater physicality in his squad to cope with the power of many Championship sides.
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But Matos' hope will be that the vast majority of the players involved in his first five months in charge will still be around when the new season starts in August.
There will be tweaks in the dugout, too, following the departures of Joe Allen and head of goalkeeping Martyn Margetson, though the more significant change will be the imminent appointment of a new sporting director.
Swansea’s failure to turn themselves into promotion contenders in recent years has prompted plenty of change, whether it be at boardroom level, in the manager’s office or in the dressing room.
Matos has talked of the need for stability, and it will be good news for the club should he get what he craves.
That would be an indication, after all, that Swansea are heading in the right direction.
