As Swansea continues to languish in the Premier League this term, The Sun released a report on why the club sacked former boss Michael Laudrup.
For a very long time, Swansea were not in the record books until Laudrup helped the team claim the Capital One Cup in February 2013. The club made headlines and were paraded around Wembley after their victory. That was the zenith for the South Wales side.
From that celebration till date, Swansea have changed several managers and could let current coach Bob Bradley go with the current results the team is churning. Hence, the big question the report set out to answer – why did the Swans sack Laudrup?
Football Leaks revealed documents that suggest that the sack might be connected to the coach’s agent Bayram Tutumlu. The leaks show the club management’s displeasure with Tutumlu who wanted to make money from the club’s transfer deals. The rationale behind the sack seems true as the club chair Huw Jenkins wrote to the League Managers Association in February 2014 seeking to explain why the club dismissed Laudrup.
“The club had suspected that Michael Laudrup did not want a given player to come to the club, unless Bayram Tutumlu was involved in that transfer. The club is still investigating player transfers in order to determine whether they were concluded at the club’s expense during Bayram Tutumlu’s association with the club, and the extent of Michael Laudrup’s involvement,” the letter read.
It is likely that Laudrup lost his coaching role as he benefited from transfer dealings, hence his dismissal. In Laudrup’s 19-month reign as Swans boss, Tutumlu received £3 million in material benefits which the club did not sanction. Whilst Laudrup maintained that he did not receive any benefit from players’ deals, it remains to be disputed that it was a contributing factor to his sack.