Why Bob Bradley's Appointment at Swansea Could Open the Door for US Coaches

When Bob Bradley is presented to the media for the first time as Swansea City’s new manager, a silent sense of satisfaction may spread across the American’s face as he takes his seat. For that seat is one he has craved for quite some time. The Premier League is where he has long wanted to be, and he is finally there.

The 58-year-old’s career has built gradually over time to this point, with Bradley announced as Franceso Guidolin’s replacement on Monday. Overlooked for more than one Premier League vacancy over the past few years, the American has a platform on which to truly prove himself.

There is an extra dimension to Bradley’s appointment at the Liberty Stadium, though. He has become the first American manager in the history of the Premier League, carrying on his shoulders the footballing reputation of an entire nation. That might seem a somewhat hyperbolic claim, but there is a wider significance to Swansea’s hiring of Bradley.

Of course, the pragmatic among us wouldn’t write off an entire country on the basis of just one coach, but football excels in the craft of generalisation. Look at how so many are opposed to the possibility of a foreign England manager after the failure of Fabio Capello, implying that every foreign coach would fail in charge of the national team because one did. The same theory could be applied to Bradley and the American game should things go badly for him in south Wales.

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Bradley isn’t alone as the vanguard of the USA’s current coaching contingent, though, with Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner reported, per Daniel Taylor of the Guardian, to be at the top of Aston Villa’s wish list to replace Roberto Di Matteo. It has been said before that American coaches don’t travel well, but that stereotype is now being challenged.

But why have American coaches failed to make an impression in English football until now? Consider that the USA is the 22nd country to boast a Premier League manager, and it would appear the country has punched well below its weight when it comes to contributing touchline figures over the years. Why is that? Is it a failing on their behalf or the result of a discrimination against those from across the Atlantic? There are still those who can’t help themselves. 

Much of it is surely down to a certain footballing prejudice. Former USA international turned television pundit Alexi Lalas was quick to point this out soon after the announcement of Bradley’s appointment at Swansea. 

"

Bob Bradley is American. It’s baggage. U.S. players know it well. Performance can confirm/change perception and open/close doors. It’s life.

— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) October 3, 2016"

This is the pressure piled on Bradley at Swansea. Star-spangled success in the Premier League could see more and more clubs look across the Atlantic, while failure could close off a route that has only just been opened.

It’s unreasonable for that to be the case, for one man to carry the prospects of an entire nation, but that is the unfair reality for the Swans’ new manager. He arrives from French Ligue 2 side Le Havre with more than just his own reputation to concern himself with. 

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It’s not as if a generation of top-class American coaches have been denied their chance in England, with Bruce Arena perhaps the only manager who could have feasibly commanded a Premier League job at one point or another, but Bradley could now blaze a trail for compatriots to follow. The likes of Jason Kreis, Caleb Porter and Jesse Marsch might one day come to benefit from that.

As for Bradley himself, he is the ideal candidate for the situation Swansea find themselves in. They have taken just four points from their opening seven fixtures of the 2016/17 season, teetering above the relegation zone purely by goal difference. Bradley has the qualities to turn round their slide towards the bottom.

As manager of the Egypt national team, Bradley forged a reputation as a crisis manager, taking the country to within one game of the 2014 World Cup finals despite civil unrest in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab spring. After such a challenging experience, Swansea’s troubles pale in comparison. This will be nothing to him. 

After all, Bradley is a man certain in his own convictions. Never short of self-confidence, he even went as far to compare himself to Pep Guardiola not so long ago.

“When I have a chance to observe different managers, the ones that do good work, I mention Pochettino, Klopp, Tuchel,” the American said in an interview with radio station Sirius XM in May (via Adam Shergold of MailOnline). “We haven’t even talked about the Guardiolas and the Ancelottis. But I’ll tell you what—maybe I’m stupid—but I think I’m a manager in and around that level.”

Hussein Malla/Associated Press

He might lack Premier League experience, skirting round the mainstream for the majority of his coaching career, but Bradley will have no difficulty in imposing himself as soon as he walks into the Liberty Stadium dressing room. That’s just the kind of person he is. The American is a straight-talker, as well as one of the most compelling thinkers in the game right now; that will come across quickly.

And yet Swansea fans seem largely unconvinced with their club’s latest managerial appointment. Many see Bradley as under-equipped for such a position and unproven as an elite coach. Indeed, many of their questions are justified, but they must see the American for his qualities rather than his track record, which is more impressive than any are giving him credit for. That is the frontier Bradley must overcome.

The American game continues to grow, with the barrier that once stood in the way of their best players making the move to the Premier League broken down some time ago. But the same hasn’t happened yet for American managers. Bradley can smash through at Swansea City.

They say the first one through always gets a little bloody. Bradley might get a little bloodier than most.