Alan Sheehan: Swansea City boss poised for first full Championship season

Sheehan’s ambition is obvious. The sense is that having missed out on the very top level as a player – and having been there only briefly as a coach – the 38-year-old is determined to work his way back to the Premier League.

Achieving that goal at Swansea will be no easy task given that there are many other clubs in the second tier with more financial clout.

Take the case of Lewis O’Brien, for example. The midfielder excelled during a loan spell with the Swans last season and was open to the idea of coming back this summer.

The club tried to land O’Brien on a permanent deal, only for Swansea’s offer to be dwarfed by the deal which has seen the 26-year-old join Wrexham.

Swansea, therefore, have once again been left trying to unearth players who have the qualities to thrive in the Championship, with just one summer recruit, Cameron Burgess, arriving with a proven track record in the division.

Nevertheless, Sheehan believes that given time, the top division is a realistic target.

“We all want to get to the Premier League,” he says.

“You have to build momentum and belief, and you have got to improve in every window over a course of time to build that momentum to get there.

“But the mindset has got to be, why can’t we together get to the Premier League in time?”

They have come too far, after all, to only get this far.