A dramatic upturn in form over the course of the latter stages of the 2024-25 campaign, combined with the club’s unusual capability, since relegation from the Premier League at least, of getting several of their ducks in a row during the earlier stages of the summer gave Swansea City fans real cause for optimism heading into the new campaign.
Alan Sheehan was appointed as head coach on a permanent basis having collected 24 points out of a possible 36 prior to the final day thriller with Oxford United.
Director of football Richard Montague and chief executive officer Tom Gorringe have now been in situ for several months, too, both joining after the largely wretched reign of Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien had finally come to an end.
On the pitch, the Swans welcomed Swedish midfielder Melker Widell to the club permanently following his signing from Danish club AaB Aalborg in January.
Zeidane Inoussa, Bobby Wales, Cameron Burgess, Ethan Galbraith and Ricardo Santos also secured moves to the club and were present for Swansea’s pre-season preparations.
The fresh faces were much needed, too, given the absence of such experienced men including Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton who left the club in June.
But after an encouraging spell, the early optimism has slightly dissipated of late as Swansea’s Championship opener against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium draws ever closer.
Defensive injuries have been hugely problematic during the summer schedule, although the picture doesn’t appear as bleak as it may have on that front given the positive update given by Sheehan following his side’s 3-1 loss to Ligue 1 side Lorient in their final game of pre-season - a fixture the Irishman described as the "toughest test" of pre-season but the "right" test.
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Ben Cabango, Zan Vipotnik and Filip Lissah will all be assessed ahead of the clash with Rob Edwards’ Boro - while Eom Ji-sung and Inoussa both got minutes under their belt at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday.
In the build-up to the trip to Teesside, Swansea announced the capture of England Under-20 defender Kaelan Casey on a season-long loan deal from West Ham to ease concerns over the club’s defensive situation.
But the stark reality remains. The squad is still lacking to cope with the rigours of a 46-game Championship season.
Arguably the biggest concern surrounds who will lead the line, particularly following Jerry Yates' exit to Luton and Florian Bianchini's loan switch to Portsmouth.
Liam Cullen and Vipotnik are more than capable of delivering the goods at Championship level - but neither appears destined to hit the 20+ goals in a campaign required to propel Swansea towards the play-off places.
It makes the fans’ desire to see a top quality forward join as swiftly as possible - with free agent Oli McBurnie and Wycombe’s Richard Kone among the options to have been considered to fill the void - all the more understandable.
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Unfortunately, it does mean Swansea will almost certainly require some business dealings in the latter stages of the summer window, although that will undoubtedly apply to the majority of clubs in the division.
The loan market is yet to be fully utilised, with Sheehan and Co. likely to explore the option of bringing in further talent from the Premier League or other top tier leagues on a temporary basis to bolster the numbers and quality within the ranks.
It means, as has so often been the case in SA1 over recent years, there is still a real deal of uncertainty heading into a new campaign - despite the impressive work done earlier in the off-season.
But Sheehan believes it's all part of the building process as his side look to get back on track following two testing campaigns, and patience may well be needed from the outset given that Opta state the Swans have the most difficult opening nine fixtures of any side in the second tier.
"We had wonderful momentum at the end of last season," Sheehan said after the Lorient fixture.
"There's been a lot of change, but within that, we're trying to build something different.
"We've brought in some good players and some really good lads.
"We're going to bring in a couple more, there's no doubt about that. but within that, we want to be a good team, and I'm sure we will be."
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