Bob Bradley writes about his Swansea City tenure

Bob Bradley shared his thoughts on his time with Swansea City in an article he wrote for the Players’ Tribune. In it, Bradley details his long career starting as a college soccer coach to managing in the Premier League. While he has had success at almost every level he coached at, Bradley did poorly with Swansea City.

This contrasts with his time as US Men’s National Team coach when the team played with an identity built around speed and creating chances after winning the ball. 85 days is a short time to institute an identity but Bradley pulls no punches when he assesses his time there, he writes that, “I failed. Failed to put my stamp on the team at Swansea. To give it a real identity. A real personality. I never managed to find the right balance between attack and defense. I couldn’t find the answers for this group to play with the commitment and passion that so many of my other teams possessed. We never found consistency or confidence.”

For an article with the title “I Am an American Coach,” Bradley seems to recognize that his nationality worked against him in the Premier League. Despite doing his best to fit in, wearing a blazer on the sideline rather than his more typical track suit attire, he was mocked for using American soccer terminology which he says “only made matters worse” after Swansea lost 3-0 to Middlesbrough. In typical fashion, he doesn’t shy away from this and discusses it head on and describes how that loss and the following one to West Ham led to his firing. Perhaps having a little fun with British parlance after being criticized for using the American term “road game,” he notes about his firing, “I got the sack.”

The article is everything you would expect out of Bob Bradley, honest, positive, and thought provoking.