New Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal is a tactics nerd who loves Jose Mourinho... and a duffle coat

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Carlos Carvalhal arrived in English football two-and-a-half years ago with a reputation as a restless wanderer, having skipped through 15 different jobs in as many years.

Just like his playing career, which started with home-town Braga and never stayed anywhere for very long, his managerial career has been wildly nomadic.

He left his native Portugal in the post-Mourinho wave of coaching exports and ventured briefly into Greece and then to Turkey before landing at Sheffield Wednesday in 2015 after three fallow years. 

New Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal seemed in buoyant mood when he addressed the media

Carvalhal was the first non-British manager to be appointed at Hillsborough, an appointment inspired by Doyen Sports, the agency which acts as close advisors to the club’s Thai owners.

His brief was to lead the Owls back to the Premier League and he came close at the end of his first season, losing 1-0 against Hull in the 2016 play-off final at Wembley.

Wednesday reached the play-offs again last season, beaten by Huddersfield on penalties in the play-off semi-finals.

Carvalhal certainly restored hope and optimism at Hillsborough, backed, it must be said, by a substantial increase in investment in players which followed the Thai takeover.

Chairman Dejphon Chansiri and the board have paid some of the biggest wages in the Championship.

The wandering Portuguese coach has skipped through 15 different jobs in as many years

They have spent big on experienced striker such as Fernando Forestieri, Gary Hooper and Steven Fletcher, and signed Jordan Rhodes on the January transfer deadline to push the team towards promotion.

Wednesday fell short, however, and this campaign has been a disappointment with injuries to key players. Overall the team appears no better than it was when it lost at Wembley, 18 months ago.

Carvalhal seemed likely to leave in the summer and the tide of opinion started to turn more convincingly against him after losing 4-2 at home against Sheffield United.

His team were developing a bad habit of freezing in the biggest games, when the pressure was on and expectation was high.

Wednesday have played some wonderful, positive football in their time under Carvalhal, each year gathering momentum through the season and yet were terribly flat in the play-offs and froze in the Sheffield derby.

The ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss restored hope at Hillsborough but was sacked recently

His strong connection with Doyen seemed to be keeping him safe but a home defeat against Middlesbrough proved to be the final straw as the Owls sank closer to the relegation zone.

When the 52-year-old was fired on Christmas Eve most agreed it was time for change but his two-and-a-half years in South Yorkshire had left an impression few expected.

Carvalhal stuck around for the first time in a long time, developed an affinity with Sheffield and the club, and its fans captured a place in his heart.

In return, he was a popular Wednesday boss. He was always well-mannered and polite, and occasionally fiery.

He was approachable, active on social media and eloquent, even with his quirky command of English and wore his winter duffle coats and furry upturned collars with an element of panache.

“Carlos had a dream” became the terrace soundtrack to his first season at the helm as his team beat Arsenal in the League Cup and threatened a return to the top-flight for the first time since relegation in 2000.

Carvalhal always prefers to talk deeply about tactics than his famous friends in management

The Portuguese soon grew tired of national media interest in his friendships with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and his trusty side-kick Rui Faria.

Carvalhal and Faria studied together at university and they remain in close contact but the Wednesday boss always preferred to talk about tactics than the famous friends he will meet again when he takes Swansea to Old Trafford at the end of March.

As opinion turned against him this season, Carvalhal’s obsession with deep tactical explanations began to come across more like a cold list of excuses and a way of avoiding the real issues inside the club.

He always seemed content with his limited input into the club’s recruitment strategy, coaching the players signed by the club, and it was an easy way to dodge pointed questions.

It will be interesting to see when he steps into the Premier League spotlight how much of this was his way and how much it was down to the Wednesday operation.

It will be interesting to see how he performs with Swansea in the next six months.

Carvalhal is experienced and certainly confident in his own coaching ability and he will bring personality to the touchline.

Whether that it is enough to survive the drop is another matter.