Suck-it-and-see for Sousa and Swans

PAULO Sousa has been to more top clubs than Jordan.

And he's made almost as many headlines.

Sousa looks like a star, and he performed like one during a playing career which took in stints with some of Europe's finest sides.

The bloke was dressed for the dancefloor when he was unveiled a couple of months ago, and his CV glitters like a disco ball.

He's got almost as many Champions League medals as I've had hot dinners, and the microwave worked until I was six.

Juventus, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund — Sousa's stats read like the Rough Guide to European football.

And then things get a little rough.

Sousa's coaching career to date has not produced much to shout about.

After a stint behind the scenes with the Portuguese national team, he took over at Queens Park Rangers and found strange things behind the scenes.

He arrived at Swansea City this summer with damp remaining behind his managerial ears.

And this is the guy charged with replacing Roberto Martinez.

The Spaniard may not have turned out to be as loyal as we he was, but he definitely knew what he was doing in the dugout.

Can Sousa fill those famous shoes?

We all hope so, but for now the jury's out.

We can't really judge from his time at QPR — Sousa didn't have time to get his feet under the table at Loftus Road.

So it's going to be suck-it-and-see for Sousa and Swansea in the next few months.

In Martinez, he has a hard act to follow.

Optimists would point out that Huw Jenkins hasn't got too many appointments wrong since he took over in the boardroom.

Those with a less bright outlook might suggest that he is due a duff call.

The pressure is on Sousa too try to match last season's achievements — to improve them even — in his first full campaign as a manager anywhere.

And he has to do it without Jason Scotland and Jordi Gomez, two of Swansea's best performers last year.

It's a big ask for a relative novice, but then Martinez had done nothing in management before he came to Swansea and look at him now.

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AT the Liberty last Saturday, before Swansea's friendly with Kilmarnock, the man on the mike's tribute to Sir Bobby Robson was interrupted.

Kevin Johns, the Swans' MC, was stopped in his tracks by spontaneous applause from 5,000 Welsh fans and 100 or so Scots.

And all this for a former England manager?

Robson must have been a top man.