Alan Curtis getting the help he needs at Swansea

Swansea interim boss Alan Curtis is set to be joined in the Swans dugout by experienced Italian Francesco Guidolin

Swansea host Watford at the Liberty Stadium in a crucial match for the Welsh side, who slipped into the relegation zone at the weekend.

The Swans have struggled for much of the campaign, after making a bright start to the season.

Interim boss Alan Curtis has been unable to turn things around after the dismissal of another Swansea stalwart Garry Monk in December.

It seems the Welsh side’s hierarchy are taking steps to help Curtis out by bringing in experienced Italian boss Francesco Guidolin.

Never really wanted the job

Curtis is doing his best and is Swansea through and through, having played for, coached and now managed the Welsh club. In a recent interview he almost stated that he did not want the job, but wanted to help the club out.

At 61, Curtis has always been a coach and hinted in the past that he never really wanted to be a number one and was just content being part of the coaching staff at the Welsh club.

The experienced coach comes across as a nice, affable guy, who is just doing his duty to the club he loves. As his stint as number one has proven he may not be cut-out to be a Premier League boss.

The Premier League is littered with stories like Curtis’. The stories of Ricky Sbragia at Sunderland and Chris Ramsey spring to mind as highly-regarded coaches, who were promoted to boss, but for some reason it did not work out for them in the top jobs.

The pair then experienced very different fates, as Sbragia left the club completely, but Rangers rated Ramsey so highly as a coach that they had a clause in his managerial contract that he would re-employed if things did not work out.

You fear for Curtis and his future at the Welsh club, as in all likelihood he will not be manager of Swansea next season. Hopefully he resumes his coaching role at the club when the Welsh club hire a new boss.

A highly-respected boss

Francesco Guidolin is a highly-respected boss in Italy, having overachieved with the likes of Udinese and Vicenza in his homeland. He guided little Vicenza to a Coppa Italia victory, before guiding the minnows to the semi-finals of the Cup Winners Cup, where they were eliminated by Chelsea.

One of his other achievements was helping Udinese to qualify for the Champions League in consecutive seasons, and helping the club from Udine achieve their highest ever finish in Serie A.

The 60-year-old has a reputation for being a very good coach and for helping teams overachieve in Italy. Guidolin looks set to come in alongside Curtis and assist the caretaker boss in managing the team.

Swansea fans will be hoping the Italian’s arrival will spark an improvement in performance for the Welsh side, as they have underperformed since October. The club as a whole needs a lift at the moment and it seems they are looking to Guidolin to give them that lift.

A vital clash

Monday night’s clash with out-of-form Watford offers the Swans the perfect chance to record a rare victory and move out of the bottom three. The Hornets have lost three consecutive Premier League games and that poor run of form will have affected confidence.

The Swans are favourites to record a victory against Watford at odds of 7/5, but the Welsh side have struggled badly to win games in recent months. I for one will not be backing the Swans to claim a victory against the Hornets.
Confidence is low and that can make everybody at the club very nervous. The players suddenly doubt their ability and the fans come to the stadium with a sense of trepidation when a team is struggling.

I really like Watford and I think they could actually go to the Liberty Stadium tonight and pull-off a win. With the likes of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo they will always have a chance to win games.

No disrespect to Watford and their fans, but I hope that things turnaround for Alan Curtis at Swansea. The imminent arrival of Francesco Guidolin will hopefully give the veteran coach the help he needs to succeed in keeping Swansea up this season.

Then he can return to a role that he is more comfortable with next season and the Swans can find somebody who can take the team forward in the future.

Will the imminent arrival of Francesco Guidolin improve fortunes at Swansea?