Exclusive: Swansea City warned against Alan Sheehan sack call - Sky Sports pundit would 'definitely be sticking with him' | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie gives his views on whether Swansea should look to replace Alan Sheehan in the dugout

EFL pundit Lee Hendrie has urged Swansea City not to make any rash decisions regarding a change in management, despite their current middling form.

The Swans are currently sitting 16th in the Championship, winning three and losing four of their opening 11 games. Those three wins have come against both Sheffield clubs and Blackburn Rovers, who have all endured tough starts themselves.

Therefore, some alarm bells are starting to sound, as some Swansea fans are worrying that once they begin to take on some of the better sides in the division, as seen recently at home against Leicester City and QPR, they'll fall to defeats and slump down the table.

Alan Sheehan's Swansea side were one of the best in the division under his tutelage towards the back end of last season. Now officially the manager and facing his first full campaign at the club, has the honeymoon period faded away?

Signs point to it doing so, but former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie doesn't feel that it should result in Sheehan losing his job.

Speaking exclusively Football League World, Lee Hendrie gave his opinions on Swansea's start to the campaign, and feels that, despite there being some inconsistencies, there's still plenty of time for them to be ironed out.

And even despite these, the Swans are still in touching distance of achieving their goals. In Hendrie's view, Swansea should stick with Sheehan, and dispensing of him - despite ever-intensifying pressure from supporters to do so - would not represent the right call as the Jack Army look to realise their ambitions of breaking into the top-six.

"Alan Sheehan's coming under a bit of pressure, but they're 16th in the table and are only five points off the play-offs," Hendrie told FLW.

"All it takes is a couple of wins, or even just one win, to turn that round, and that's what he needs to do. They've played Leicester and Southampton during this dip in form, too."

Hendrie wants to see the 39-year-old given more of a chance in the dugout, as the young manager is still adjusting in the infancy of his managerial career.

"I hope they stick with him, I really do," he continued. "I like his style of play, the squad's not a massive one, so he can't chop and change things. He's just going through a bit of a period where, like most clubs, they're on a bad run.

"I'm sure he can turn the corner, so I'd definitely be sticking with him, and I don't think changing the manager is the right call."

Alan Sheehan should be given time — Swansea City can return to early success

Given Alan Sheehan has only officially been the Swansea boss since late-April, removing him after the first bump in the road would be a massive knee-jerk reaction, and one which the Welsh side doesn't need to make.

The 39-year-old should still have some credit in the bank for what he managed to achieve when he took over from Luke Williams in mid-February. In the 13 games he took charge of last season, only Millwall, Leeds United and Burnley picked up more points, and only the record-breaking Clarets conceded fewer goals, too.

Therefore, it's not like Alan Sheehan has been mediocre for a long period of time. In fact, he had his side in play-off form towards the back end of the campaign.

With the Swans still within touching distance of the top six with the majority of the campaign left to play, there's plenty of scope for him to turn the small bit of poor form around and guide his side back to how he had them playing in the latter months of the 2024/25 term.