The first American coaching stint in the English Premier League lasted 85 days and featured two wins, seven losses, two draws, and 29 conceded goals.
Bob Bradley was sacked by Swansea City after two months on the job and no opportunity to bolster his squad in the January transfer window. The toxicity at the Liberty Stadium reached levels that make distrust of the Philadelphia Parking Authority look tame in comparison.
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By now you've read myriad opinions on Bradley's firing, some of which are polished and professional and others that are knee-jerk and emotional. There's a fascinating dichotomy of reaction, with accusations of xenophobia and myopia coming from both sides of the pond. A gray area of commentary from neutral parties seems to balance out the seesaw of sentiments.
Let's bring an end to the Bob Bradley beat by touching on some of those recurring opinions.
On whether Ryan Giggs was a better coaching candidate:
I actually agree with this.
It's true that Giggs had zero coaching experience, but what he did have was more than one-thousand games of top-flight football on his resume. Bradley coached Egypt, the United States, Stabaek, Le Havre, and three MLS clubs.
How do you compare a decent coaching CV to the experiences of a respected and accomplished player?
You just can't do it. These are two individuals with completely different backgrounds.
In the case of Bradley, he's worked with a variety of players in multiple, unique situations. He took a small Norwegian team to the Europa League, coached a national team during a political revolution, and won a double with an expansion squad.
Ryan Giggs claimed 35 trophies during a playing career that spanned nearly 25 years. He is Manchester United's all-time appearances leader and represented Wales on 64 occasions.
Giggs doesn't need a coaching badge to take a Premier League job. He knows what the hell he's doing.
So, if you're a Swansea player, do you want to play for the respected Welsh veteran or the unknown foreigner?
Players can be fickle, especially those earning a boatload of cash in one of the world's best leagues.
With the European philosophy of managers taking the fall, prima donna players know that they can simply phone it in if they're unhappy. Bradley gets the sack while the players continue to collect their paycheck, even though they're the ones shipping three goals every week.
I don't know if Giggs would have done better than Bradley, but I guarantee that this squad would have played harder for him.
You can't lose the locker room if you never had it in the first place.
On Swansea's lack of talent:
It's true that Swansea is pretty bad, and that's what happens when you sell off the likes of Ashley Williams, Andre Ayew, and Wilfried Bony.
Bradley did have some good attacking pieces in Gylfi Sigurdsson, Mo Barrow, and Leroy Fer. Swansea showed flashes of competence going forward, which you saw in the 5-4 Crystal Palace win and the 3-0 Sunderland win. The real issue was defensive frailty and a pathetically weak spine.
Bob messed up by experimenting with some bizarre lineups and failing to settle on a consistent starting eleven. He tried a false 9. He tried Sigurdsson and Borja Baston on the wing. He couldn't find a way to get the leading goal scorer, Fer, on the field. He couldn't find a serviceable center back pairing despite constant tinkering and rotation. He gave young players a shot, then put them back on the bench. His fullbacks were atrocious and no adjective can describe his team's set-piece defense.
There was no margin of error for Bradley, who inherited Sigurdsson and not much else.
He just didn't do himself any favors with his tactical and personnel decisions.
On not being able to bring in his own players:
Joey Barton, your thoughts?
On Bradley facing anti-American bias:
He absolutely faced bias, but that's not why he was fired.
One of the key issues is that Swansea was recently bought by a pair of Americans in Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien. They own the majority share of the club, and the "Swansea City Supporter's Trust," which is comprised of fans, owns a minority share.
The Supporter's Trust was never consulted about Bradley's hiring, and most fans weren't happy with the sale of the club in the first place. Bradley walked into a fractured situation where he was seen as an outsider, only chosen because of the club's new American ownership. In the same way that he never really had the trust of the locker room, he never had the trust of the supporters.
There were also pointless squabbles about Bradley's use of American terminology, which really wasn't that big of a deal. The Premier League now features 12 foreign coaches, some of whom can't even speak English at all. First place Chelsea features a foreign coach and 10 foreign starters, so I don't think an American coach at Swansea should be the biggest concern in a league where non-native influence makes for a fantastic product but marginalizes the British player and manager.
Some people probably thought Bradley was a clueless "yank", but I think most British fans knew that the only matter of importance was wins and losses, and Bob just wasn't getting the job done.
On American myopia towards the situation:
If British commentary featured shades of xenophobia, then we're also probably guilty of being nearsighted.
Nothing on Bradley's resume suggested that he was qualified for a Premier League job. Francesco Guidolin managed Udinese, Parma, Palermo, and Monaco. Bradley managed Stabaek, Le Havre, the USA, and Egypt.
When Bradley took the Le Havre job, the club had recently been taken over by an American businessman. Bob's appointment at Swansea also took place after an American purchase.
Whether it's fair or not, the reality is that he's been hired by Americans twice in two years, and that results in poor optics.
On Swansea players reportedly referring to Bradley as "Ronald Reagan:"
They might want to take a look in the mirror before belittling the manager. I've seen more prideful performances in MLS preseason games.
On Bradley taking the wrong job:
Some people said that Bob shouldn't have taken the job in the first place, and it's a fair point, but it's just not in his DNA.
Maybe he could have recognized an impossible situation developing, but he's always been a guy who enjoys a challenge and embraces those roles. Egypt, Stabaek, Le Havre, and Chivas USA aren't exactly easy gigs.
I'd imagine that most people would take a promotion and a pay raise while growing their career and taking on more responsibility. Others might be comfortable with their current job situation, and that's fine, too.
If you had a chance to coach in the Premier League, would you turn it down? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.
On replacing Bradley with Alan Pardew, Roy Hodgson, or some other British retread:
One of the downsides to promotion and relegation is the recycling of coaches who really aren't that great. Instead of building something consistent on a year-to-year basis, the threat of the drop forces teams to abandon long-term plans and instead bring in these overrated managers whose only job is to keep their team afloat.
Crystal Palace, for instance, just brought in Sam Allardcye to turn the season around. "Big Sam" will probably keep Palace up, and they'll play boring football while patching up the defense and doing just enough to finish anywhere from 14th to 16th place. When next season comes around, they'll do the same, and Allardyce will eventually be fired with a new manager taking over at Selhurst Park.
Truth is, Guidolin probably shouldn't have been sacked in the first place. Maybe he shouldn't even have been hired. Maybe Alan Curtis should have gotten a shot at the job on a permanent basis. Garry Monk probably shouldn't have been sacked either.
Managers will always take the blame while the owners and the players get a free pass.
In conclusion:
Bob Bradley walked into the wrong situation. He didn't get a fair shake from the start, but he also didn't do himself any favors with questionable tactical and personnel decisions.
I'd like to see him turn down MLS offers and take on another European challenge. Whether it's fair or not, his success, or lack thereof, will have an impact on how American managers and players are viewed by the rest of the world.