Stan Collymore makes unfavourable comparison when discussing Paul Clement’s Swansea City appointment

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No one is quite sure what to expect at the Liberty Stadium.

There are two distinct schools of thought concerning bottom of the table Swansea City’s decision to appoint Paul Clement as their new manager.

Either bestowing the reigns onto a young, promising homegrown coach should be commended or, on the other hand, The Swans could pay the price for placing their future in the lap of a man who was sacked eight months into his only other managerial stint. Either way, the decision is a brave one.

Paul Clement may have coached Didier Drogba at Chelsea, Zlatan Ibrahimovic at PSG, Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and Arjen Robben at Bayern Munich, but that does not necessarily mean he will be able to transform Jordi Amat into a sufficient, top flight centre-back in a matter of weeks or ensure limited youngsters such as Jay Fulton and Stephen Kingsley can compete against experienced Premier League opposition?

Good coaches don’t always make good managers after all, as Rene Meulensteen, Sammy Lee and Mike Phelan will attest.

And while Crystal Palace appear to have all but alleviated any relegation fears with the appointment of old-school specialist Sam Allardyce, Stan Collymore has suggested on Twitter that Swansea could pay the price for appointing a man whose coaching ability is unquestioned but his managerial nous unproven.

The situation does bare some similarities with Terry Connor’s ascension to the top job at relegation threatened Wolves when Mick McCarthy was sacked in February 2012.

A long serving member of the coaching staff at Molineux, Connor earned just four points from a possible 39 as Wolves dropped like a stone.

Therefore, it’s understandable that some would question the appointment when Garry Rowett, a gifted manager with an excellent track record before being astoundingly sacked by Birmingham City, remains out of work.

True, Clement may have been hand-picked and ahead of a number of experienced managers. His sacking at Derby County last season may have appeared harsh in the extreme with The Rams just five points off the top.

But he is completely unproven at the top level. Brave indeed.