Leon Britton believes rediscovering the Swansea Way is more important than immediate promotion back to the Premier League.
The Swansea City legend brought down the curtain on his 19-year career at the weekend when he played his final match for the club before retirement.
Britton, 35, will now take up an ambassadorial role but looks destined to join the coaching staff, possibly as soon as next season.
That will be spent in the Championship following the club’s relegation from the Premier League, bringing to an end their seven years spent in the top division.
With the Swans looking certain to find a replacement for manager Carlos Carvalhal, Britton says the main priority should be restoring their renowned passing style.
“I think what is important is that when we do get back to the Premier League, we get back with a philosophy and an idea like we had before – a clear idea of how we’re going to go about things.
“If that takes two or three years, then so be it.
“If it’s next year, then great. But the main thing is that when we come back we have a clear idea and direction as a club.
“In the Premier League, you are always looking to just staying in the league. In the last three years, we have come away from the football we were always renowned for previously. It was our style.
“In the Championship, maybe we will have the opportunity to rebuild again and try to get back to that style of football associated with Swansea.
“There will be players coming and going as happens with the majority of teams that drop into the Championship.
It’s going to be a rebuilding job, but we’ll be aiming to come back into the Premier League the season after.”
Swansea insist there will be no fire sale of players after dropping back into the Championship and the loss of millions of pounds in TV revenue.
But it is expected that Lukasz Fabianski, Alfie Mawson, Jordan and brother Andre Ayew will all be sold.
And South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng said his goodbyes on Monday with his contract up at the club.
But even with a big turnaround of players – the squad will no longer include Britton or club captain Angel Rangel – the club’s favourite son insists he is not fearful for the future.
“No, I’m optimistic for the future. We have been in worse situations than this. We have been having to win a game in League Two to stay in the Football League.
“The situation of the club now, the facilities that we have now, the personnel, I am optimistic. I think it’s case of rebuilding and get back to the Premier League.
“I would love it if I was retiring and the club had managed to stay in the Premier League. But when I look back over my 15 years at the club, I’ve had so many highs.
We have come from league two to seven seasons in the Premier League, so I can’t complain.
“I have been very fortunate in my time at Swansea that we’ve achieved so much.
I would have loved it if we were leaving with Swansea in the Premier League and not having relegation on the CV, but football is football. These things happen.
“We have found the last two or three years difficult. We have avoided relegation narrowly in the last couple of years. In the last couple of season, we have left ourselves with so much to do in the last five months.
“Last year we did it and we came close this year. But when you have such a bad start then you leave yourselves with a massive task.”
