Why Swansea City's appointment of Carlos Carvalhal raises many questions for the fans

Last week, something very strange and unique happened. Sheffield Wednesday played host to Middlesbrough in the EFL Championship.

The game ended 2-1 to Middlesbrough, with Ryan Shotton getting the late winner in the 83rd minute. Both sets of fans were thinking of a calm period over Christmas for their clubs.

This was not the case. Only hours after the match and winning the game Garry Monk was sacked by Middlesbrough - a quite shocking decision due to the timing of the sack.

A day later, the news broke of a mutual agreement between Carlos Carvalhal and Sheffield Wednesday that saw the manager leave the club immediately. This must have been the first time in football where both managers left their respective clubs immediately after playing each other - especially after one team had beaten the other.

72 hours after the Carvalhal news, he was involved in another piece of breaking news. He had been appointed head coach of Swansea City who had recently sacked Paul Clement after a very poor start to season. Initial thoughts revolved around whether Swansea were admitting defeat.

Carvalhal is a quality Championship manager. What he did at Sheffield Wednesday wasn't too short of a miracle. He got a team, that everyone expected to have an alright season and finish mid-table, to the playoffs - not once but twice and they narrowly missed out back in 2016 when they lost in the final against Hull City.

The start to this season wasn't the greatest, they are currently sitting 14th in the Championship - 11 points off both the play-off spots and the relegation zone.

However, Carvalhal hasn't even experienced a Premier League game, never mind a relegation battle. So what qualifies him to pull Swansea out of the relegation places and keep them up for another season in a highly-competitive league?

This brings me back to the question: 'Are Swansea admitting defeat and preparing for next season in the Championship?'

If this is the reasoning behind the appointment, and I obviously do not know for certain that it is, then how is that giving your loyal, season ticket holding fans the hope and belief that they currently need?

Should Swansea fans prepare for the Championship?

The only thing that goes against the previous statement is that Carvalhal has signed a contract until the end of the season, with the option of a further year after that. However, this does not help with the situation at all.

How will he get that second year? Will he be awarded a new contract when he keeps the Swans up or when he takes them down?

And if they do go down, and I think they will (especially after their latest performance against Liverpool), and they sack him, who will they bring in, who has more experience than Carvalhal at the Championship level?

Swansea are rock bottom of the league - five points from safety. And they now have 18 games to get it right.