Bob Bradley: American coach who took the long road to the Premier League

Ryan Giggs, perhaps, would have been the easy appointment for Swansea City. Bob Bradley, however, was the interesting appointment. He’s always the interesting appointment.

The 58-year-old becomes the first American to manage in the Premier League, and has forged a career for himself by refusing to accept the orthodox. Few managers can boast the US national team, the Egyptian national team, Norway’s Stabaek and Ligue 1’s Le Havre all on the same CV, but Bradley is a figure who thrives on the offbeat. It’s what gives him his cult status.Bradley’s career has skirted the mainstream, but now he finally has his chance at the big time. That opportunity is one he has desired for some time: he’s long bemoaned the nature of the Premier League’s tedious managerial merry-go-round. “There’s certainly a network,” he explained in an interview last year. “There are some very good managers but also some others that aren’t very good but still manage to get jobs and opportunities.”

Now he has that platform. Swansea City are a club accustomed to making interesting appointments, and their hiring of Michael Laudrup and Francesco Guidolin both came from left field. Bradley can be classified in the same way. Yet with the Swans enduring something nearing a crisis, their American owners Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan have decided their American compatriot is the right man for the job. He is a crisis manager, after all.

Given all he faced as Egypt manager, Bradley will likely view Swansea’s current troubles as a storm in a South Wales tea cup. Appointed the Egyptian national team boss in the immediate aftermath of the Arab Spring and the uprising that engulfed Cairo, Bradley drew plaudits for the way in which he galvanised a divided country, becoming a symbol of hope and transcending his role as a football coach. Consider that the Egyptian Premier League was also suspended during his time as manager, following the Port Said Stadium riot of 2012, and his stewardship of the national team, only missing out on World Cup qualification in the play-offs and finishing with a 67% win percentage, looks even more impressive.

From there, Bradley took charge of Stabaek, a club that at the time had only just won promotion to Norway’s top flight. He left two seasons later, having led a club whose stadium only has room for 7,000 fans to the Europa League. France was the next country stamped on his passport, taking charge of Le Havre last December, having been sought by the Ligue 2 club’s millionaire American backer Vincent Volpe. What is it they say about American football coaches not travelling well?

He just missed out on promotion with Le Havre, but in truth, it felt like something of a holding pen until something bigger and better came along. Swansea City are that bigger and better thing. This is the opportunity Bradley’s career has been building up to, but with that comes the pressure of not fluffing his lines. A public speaker of conviction and presence, lines are unlikely to be an issue, but with Swansea taking just four points from their opening seven Premier League fixtures, the task to avoid relegation is a sizeable one.

There has been backlash to Bradley’s appointment. Prejudice or not, the appointment of the Premier League’s first American manager has provoked a sceptical reaction from some. “It’s baggage,” former USA international Alexi Lalas said in light of Bradley’s appointment at Swansea, referencing how American footballers and coaches have to handle the burden of stereotype. “US players know it well. Performance can confirm/change perception and open/close doors.”

Indeed, there is a greater significance attached to Bradley’s appointment. Along with David Wagner, Huddersfield Town’s manager and a man currently linked with the vacancy at Aston Villa, there is a sense that a breakthrough for American coaches could be close. As Lalas says, success for Bradley at Swansea could open doors. Equally, failure could close them.

Of course, questions over his suitability are entirely reasonable. Bradley possesses no previous Premier League experience, and the majority of his background rooted in American soccer – stints with Chicago Fire, MetroStars and Chivas preceded his appointment as US national coach. Many insist his dismissal from the top job, having led USA to the last 16 of the World Cup in 2010, was harsh, but it’s true that his success, by and large, has come with small clubs in small leagues. Swansea fans are entitled to reserve judgment.

However, Bradley, the father of current US captain Michael, should be assessed on the basis of what he has achieved, and how he has achieved it, rather than who he achieved it with. Bradley has long implored Premier League clubs to look at a suitability of a coach rather than their reputation. In Swansea, he found one that did exactly that.