It’s a big window – Alan Sheehan expecting busy summer as Swansea face revamp

Phil Blanche, PA

New boss Alan Sheehan said Swansea are facing a “big window” this summer after losing club greats Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton.

Wales midfielder Allen, 35, played the final game of his distinguished career as Swansea closed their Sky Bet Championship campaign with a 3-3 home draw against Oxford.

Swansea led three times through Eom Ji-sung, Ronald and Liam Cullen, but Oxford revived on each occasion as Greg Leigh, Michal Helik and Przemyslaw Placheta struck – the final equaliser coming in the third minute of added time.

Allen was replaced after 70 minutes by fellow veteran Naughton, who joined from Tottenham in January 2015 and was making his 329th and last Swansea appearance before he leaves the club.

Sheehan later confirmed the departures of experienced out-of-contract trio Cyrus Christie, Jon McLaughlin and Kristian Pedersen.

“It’s a big window. We need to make a lot of right decisions,” said Sheehan, whose interim appointment was made permanent on Wednesday after seven wins in 12 games secured Swansea’s Championship status.

“We are going to have to get the right blend and we are all very clear on that, because we have lost players with incredible experience.

“We all agree we want to bring in potentially really good players and give them that opportunity to thrive.

“In order to do that, you have to have the right culture, the right experience and the right blend.”

Swansea’s 11th-place finish delighted Sheehan, who was drafted in to replace the sacked Luke Williams in February.

He said: “A top-half finish is incredible progression in a certain amount of time.

“Sometimes when we get that momentum, we want more. It gives us a taste of what winning is like consistently.

“When you go ahead three times, you are waiting for us to kick on. I really enjoyed a lot of our attacking play and we scored three really good goals.

“But I didn’t like us defensively at all, which is out of character for us.”

Oxford were one place off the bottom in 23rd when Gary Rowett took over in late December following a 4-0 thrashing at Leeds.

The U’s eventually finished 17th and four points above the relegation zone.

Rowett said: “We knew when we came in it was going to be a big task to keep the team in the division.

“But we’ve shown an incredible spirit and today was no different. We went behind three times and we responded.

“Form-wise over the last 25 games we’ve been a top-10 team, and that’s quite amazing really considering where they were.

“We’re hoping to kick on and strengthen further and hopefully our trajectory is up.

“It’s not going to be a straight line quickly, but we have the opportunity to be stronger again next year.”