Swansea City goal is to achieve ‘something special’ – Richard Montague

Montague left Notts County, of League Two, to try his hand in the Championship with Swansea.

The thinking was that he would be reunited with Williams, who he had worked with successfully at Meadow Lane.

As it turned out, Williams’ exit meant Montague was handed the task of leading a managerial search from the moment he arrived.

Ultimately, Swansea’s upturn meant the search led back to Sheehan – and allowed Montague to switch his focus to player recruitment.

He says that during the many transfer-related conversations which have taken place, it has been clear the Swansea name carries weight.

“You speak to players and agents from all across Europe and they all know Swansea City,” he says.

“They all associate Swansea with being a place where you’d want to play football. The pull that Swansea still has is incredibly powerful.”

The fact that Luka Modric is now associated with the club, having become a co-owner in April, has not done any harm either.

“I think the Championship is so incredibly demanding – the financial realities are such that you need something a bit different,” Montague says.

“I think that comes down to how you want to play, how you want to recruit players and how you want to operate, but also how you want to run your business side and how you bring extra eyeballs on to your product.

“Luka Modric’s name resonates with people the world over. He is a superstar, so that’s really powerful to be able to say ‘look, Luka believes in this project, so you should as well’.”