Laudrup is sacked!

A club statement read: "Swansea City and manager Michael Laudrup have tonight parted company.

"Garry Monk will take up the reigns as head coach alongside current first team coach Alan Curtis for the foreseeable future.

"The club will be making no further comment at this stage, but will endeavour to keep our supporters updated with any future development."

Chairman Huw Jenkins added: "It is a decision we have taken reluctantly.

"But it's a decision made in the best interests of Swansea City Football Club and our supporters. It is the first time in nearly 10 years that the club has parted with a manager in this way, but we had to remove the constant uncertainty surrounding the club and Michael's long-term future with us.

"I had a meeting with Michael today in a final attempt to support him and establish a way to improve the work of the backroom team to secure the results we need over the final 14 Premier League games.

"However, after thinking long and hard about the best way forward, I felt it was unlikely we would achieve a stable environment at the club to allow us to get back to basics and produce the performance levels that have served Swansea City so well over the last few years.

"Now we need to put that uncertainty behind us and move forward as a united football club on all fronts, while placing on record our gratitude to Michael for the work he has done over the last 18 months and wish him well for the future.''

"I hope all our supporters can fully understand how difficult this period has been for us and I would urge everyone connected to the football club to get behind Garry Monk, the staff and players.''

Absolutely cracked me up reading that. This is why:

"we had to remove the constant uncertainty surrounding the club and Michael's long-term future with us"
You could just show support to your manager.

"I had a meeting with Michael today in a final attempt to support him and establish a way to improve the work of the backroom team to secure the results we need over the final 14 Premier League games."
So they attempted to support him? Then sacked him?

"I felt it was unlikely we would achieve a stable environment at the club to allow us to get back to basics and produce the performance levels that have served Swansea City so well over the last few years."
Nothing says stable like sacking your manager after 18 months.

"Now we need to put that uncertainty behind us and move forward as a united football club on all fronts"
Uncertainty? Only uncertainty I've read is that one board member doesn't like him, so that's not really united on all fronts is it?

I am devastated. What a terrible decision by the club. You don't just sack someone because of a string of bad results. Have they forgotten that Laudrup brought us our first piece of silverware and European football?

I don't think we'll survive the Premier League now. We have Garry Monk in charge, which is fine with me, no-one knows the club better - but I hate this idea that a string of bad results is automatic dismissal. We need to think long term. We could have easily survived the season and recovered next season.

But now I think the players will be demotivated, as a fan I am demotivated, and to sack him days before our home match with Cardiff... I just don't understand it.

Crazy decision. As much as I wanted him to see what it was like being in Europe and the injuries you get, after his comments about how Pardew was just making excuses last season, I didn't want him to get sacked as I actually like him as a manger. He seemed like a great fit for Swansea. Really is a shame.

He was  a great fit for us. Best manager we've had since Toshack. I've always respected Huw Jenkins and the decisions he made. His choice of managers and when to sack them is what made us so successful and given us four promotions in ten years - but this is a decision I just can't understand or get behind.

Our match against Cardiff is crucial now. We need to win. If we draw or lose, the team will be demotivated and it'll all spiral from there.

Wouldn't surprise me if you lost to Cardiff. They've just come off a moral boosting win, and you've just come off a loss to West Ham (who have been shit all season) and have just sacked a very talented manager. I'll probably end up putting a bet on Cardiff to win, which I wouldn't have done before this.

Feel for ya bud, hopefully though they have a good replacement lined up. Although there's not that many good managers out there without a job.

Coincidence that Joe Kinnear resigns just before Laudrup get's sacked? Wonder what the odds are on him becoming your next manager. I shouldn't even joke about that really haha. That's just be the nail in the coffin for your season.

I don't think Huw Jenkins would be THAT stupid. 😄

I wouldn't be surprised if Garry Monk remains manager for the remainder of the season. He's a club legend, been with us for 10 years, can't see anyone who knows the club better and I think if we can get a result against Cardiff, the team will feel alot more motivated going forward with Monk.

I may be biased here, but we don't deserve to go down. There are definitely more than 3 teams worse than us - so I really hope we can stay up - we can rebuild next season.

Easily 3 teams worst than you. I'm still hoping that Sunderland will be one of them. If Poyet wasn't there manager I'd want them to stay up as derbys are great, sometimes heartbreaking, but great. But Poyet is someone that I really can't stand in the slightest. So I really hope they're one of the teams that's worse than Swansea this season.

Only a matter of time before Laudrup got sacked. His teams usually are quite poor in their second seasons compared to the first, Swansea was no different. The guy will probably get a good job on the back of this because of the trophy and good European football results but Swansea will be lucky to survive. I saw them as certainties to go down with Fulham and West Brom and still believe it to be the case. Good football only works if the results are backing it up and Swansea have been pretty crap this season.

We haven't been crap. Our first couple of months were fine we just slipped over the last two months and injuries have crippled us. Once the full squad is back we should level out.

We've been a darn sight better than West Ham, Fulham, Sunderland (who only recently improved), Cardiff and Crystal Palace.

We have had a bad run of form but we've had far from a crap season. We have victories over Valencia and Man United and have looked good in the majority of our matches before we had five injuries in the span of a couple weeks.

I read somewhere that since the Carling Cup win he's got 33 points out of 35 from Swansea or something like that. Which is a terrible statistic, I think it was justifiable. I'd love for him to have stayed for longer but in this world of football results speak louder than building for the future.

Michael Laudrup: Ex-Swansea City manager 'sacked by email'

Ex-Swansea boss Michael Laudrup claims he was sacked by email, hours after being told his job was safe and shaking hands with chairman Huw Jenkins.
Laudrup, 49, led the club to League Cup victory last year, Swansea's only major trophy in their 102-year history.
However, he was dismissed this month after a poor run of form and amid arguments over his coaching staff.
"It happened just a few hours after we shook hands and, of course, I'm very, very confused," said Laudrup.

The Dane admitted he had disagreements with Jenkins and said he had to wait nine days before receiving an official letter explaining the decision.
Laudrup says he has still not been allowed to speak to his former players, but has written to them.
Swansea, who have placed club captain Garry Monk in charge, finished ninth in the Premier League last season, but had only won three of their past 13 matches in all competitions when Laudrup was sacked.
The former Real Mallorca manager claims he had discussions with Jenkins, who wanted Laudrup to sack his coaching staff. The former midfielder disagreed, and another meeting was called for Tuesday, 4 February - the day Laudrup was dismissed.
"At the meeting we ended up saying we have to stay together and we shook hands," said Laudrup. "[Jenkins] said 'thank you very much because you want to help the club'.
"Later that morning I received a mail that said 'due to a breach of your contract, with immediate effect, it's terminated'.
"I called the club and said 'what's going on'? I asked what 'breach' meant, but he couldn't explain it. While I was on the phone, my wife said she saw the story on the internet.
"I then spoke to someone from the club, who later brought me my things. I said 'could I speak to the staff and players?' He called me back and said 'the chairman thinks that's a bad idea'. I still have not said goodbye to anyone."
Laudrup, speaking at a news conference in London, said he had received messages of support from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and ex-England striker Gary Lineker, like Laudrup a former Barcelona player.
"You get a lot of knocks to the head but I've been very happy for the help and support from people that have called me, including Sir Alex Ferguson and Gary Lineker," added Laudrup.
"The LMA (League Managers' Association) have been there for me from the start. They said unfortunately some clubs are using things [to sack people] but you are not a special case."
Swansea City have declined to comment.

I don't think either party is completely innocent. Don't like the way this went down if Laudrup is truthful but as for the Swans, they are just moving on and focusing on their survival which I think is best. Monk could do a decent job yet.