Running a football club is like building a house in a hurricane. Put one wall up and the roof blows off. Fit a new door and the television flies through the window.
It's almost impossible to make plans. People in the game talk of establishing foundations and 'long-term objectives', but we live in a world afflicted by attention deficit disorder, a world where the phrase 'long term' refers to a time span somewhere between the career of an X Factor winner and the life of a mayfly.
Players and managers come and go with dizzying regularity, but a few not only set out their masterplan but also cling to it with a grim determination even when crucial parts are being swept away by the wind.
Charismatic: Swansea manager Michael Laudrup could be persuaded to leave the Libert Stadium More from Des Kelly... DES KELLY: Well, nothing lasts forever... it's been a blast! Sportsmail's brilliant columnist bows out after almost a decade at the top 31/05/13 Des Kelly: When it came to the most important tick of his career clock, Sir Alex bowed out at the perfect moment 10/05/13 DES KELLY: The idea that governing bodies are serious about exposing drug cheats is a myth... the cover-up makes my blood boil 03/05/13 Des Kelly: Sorry Liverpool, this isn't a conspiracy by the PM, FA, MI5, British Dental Association, and Society Against Cannibalism in Sport 26/04/13 Des Kelly: An immense river of humanity will flow through London... the marathon must produce mighty roar of defiance 19/04/13 DES KELLY: Fans come a distant second to Cup cash 12/04/13 Des Kelly: Forget his politics... is Paolo really up to the job? 05/04/13 Des Kelly: The evidence is so subtle many missed it... is this bonfire a case of smoke and mirrors? 29/03/13 Des Kelly: British taxpayers have just handed West Ham a stadium worth half a billion pounds... where's my bit of this £630m council house? 22/03/13 VIEW FULL ARCHIVESwansea City chairman Huw Jenkins is one such figure.
After helping rescue the club from bankruptcy in 2002, Jenkins has been forced to watch a succession of young managers head for the exit - Roberto Martinez to Wigan, Paulo Sousa to Leicester and Brendan Rodgers to Liverpool.
In five seasons, he has seen four bosses depart.
But, through every enforced change, Jenkins has moved his club forward, winning promotions through the four divisions, claiming that precious Premier League status and now heading to Swansea's first-ever domestic showpiece in the Capital One League Cup Final against Bradford City on Sunday.
It's a wondrous achievement. For a change, the powerhouses of the English game are notable only by their absence.
In the past decade, at least one from Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham has featured in this final, barring the encounter between Middlesbrough and Bolton in 2004. So it is a rare day to cherish.
The fans wandering along Wembley Way will be full of hope and excitement. The flags will wave with more enthusiasm. The songs will be sung with more gusto.
And the chairman of either side will be wondering if he is going to lose his flourishing boss some day soon. Success has a price and while everyone involved will be quite rightly told to 'enjoy it', drinking from the trophy can leave a bitter-sweet aftertaste.
Over-achieving managers and players attract attention and chequebooks are soon waving in the air.
In the spotlight: Laudrup could lead the Welsh club to their first major domestic trophyIn training: Swansea's players are put through their paces ahead of the Capital One Cup clash with Bradford DM.has('rcp',"twitter"); Loading tweets...
Throughout Swansea's rapid ascent, no manager has stayed with the club for more than three seasons. The norm is fewer than two.
Their current 'star boss', the charismatic and calm Michael Laudrup, is being touted for every big job going - and even some that aren't - with Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all mentioned.
If he wakes up on Sunday morning to find he is being touted as Sir Alex Ferguson's potential successor at Manchester United, he will have a full set. But that is where Jenkins seems to have achieved an ideal scenario many other clubs can only dream about.
He has set down a template the manager must fit into, not the other way round. Losing Laudrup would not be such a devastating setback.
The financial structure at Swansea is not built on foreign investment or wild spending, but prudent investment.
The football is essentially the same passing game that became the hallmark of the club under Martinez back in 2007 and was adapted by Rodgers and Laudrup along the way.
The Dane may decide to stay. He may think his grounding at Swansea will stand him in good stead. Or, more likely, he may find the challenge of Madrid too alluring to resist if they call. And who could blame him?
But Jenkins says he already has his sights set on possible replacements. I hear Bradford City's Phil Parkinson is a promising young coach.
What about me: Bradford boss Phil Parkinson would fit the bill at Swansea, should Laudrup depart
Sure enough, Di Canio's huff calls his bluff
Late one night, Paolo Di Canio stormed into the offices at Swindon Town to tear down some old pictures and recover other memorabilia after quitting the club in an angry huff.
The Italian has painted himself as a martyr, forced out by intolerable interference from the board.
But former club owner Andrew Black presented a more measured portrait of an unmanageable individual who scorned budgets, 'thought he was bigger than the club' and 'was an accident waiting to happen'.
Justified: Paolo Di Canio left Swindon in a huffJustified: Paolo Di Canio left Swindon in a huff
Black even admitted he was 'pleased' to see him go. Nothing in Di Canio's behaviour contradicts Black's view.
As this newspaper revealed, Swindon had to change the locks after CCTV captured Di Canio's night raid on the County Ground.
Coincidentally, the TV news in the West Country has been reporting that 150 cars in Swindon's city centre had their tyres slashed in the dead of night by a mad, mystery attacker.
It has to be a complete coincidence. Obviously.
The sideshow rolls into Paris
The focal point for English and French sporting combat is at Twickenham on Saturday.
There is no other place to be. But an amusing sideshow is taking place across the Channel on Sunday when Marseille visit Paris Saint-Germain.
Hype: France Football published this image of Joey Barton (left) and David Beckham (right) ahead of the clashSideshow: Barton (right) and Beckham should go head to head this weekend
It should pit Joey Barton against David Beckham - if Barton is still on the field when Beckham makes his expected debut as a PSG substitute.
The match is not a sell-out, but the press box is overflowing, which tells us something. France Football magazine have also done their best to hype the encounter, with a front cover depicting Beckham as an angel and Barton as a devil.
At least they've got it half-right.
Boast of the week
It's difficult to knock the amusing arrogance of Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who claimed he has so little work to do during many matches that 'sometimes I don't even have a shower'. That's cockiness for you.
Cocky: Bayern Munich's goalkeeper Manuel NeuerHarry's an admirer
Harry Redknapp says that if John Terry leaves Chelsea, 'there will be a queue of clubs as long as your arm to take him on'. I'm guessing Harry's arm is 3ft long. Mine's about the same. That's not a very big queue.
Let's be honest, Gill's hands were tied
Manchester United chief executive David Gill is to depart at the end of the season and many of the tributes commended him for 'allowing Sir Alex Ferguson to do his job'.
I'm sure he is just as amused as I am by the idea that he had a choice.
Arsene's here to stay... can we talk about something else now?
Arsene Wenger is not going to be sacked - and he will honour his contract, which runs until the end of the season in 2014. Can we move on?
Moving the goal posts: Arsene Wenger is staying at Arsenal SHOWMAN OF THE WEEKIf you haven't seen Adrien Broner, the WBC world lightweight champion, believe me, you soon will.
The 23-year-old fighter makes Floyd Mayweather look like a shy, self-effacing introvert.
In Atlantic City last weekend, Broner rapped his way to the ring via a microphone while dressed in the kind of robe Liberace would dismiss as 'a bit over the top'.
But after he climbed through the ropes he treated his plucky Welsh opponent, Gavin Rees, with the kind of contempt Benny Hill used to reserve for his bald sidekick, Jackie Wright.
Broner is beyond good. Annoyingly, he has everything in his armoury: power, speed, technical finesse and sublime defensive skills.
You'll love and loathe watching him in equal measure, but you'll definitely watch him.
All's dandy on planet Audley
Audley Harrison is back! Like winter flu, Keith Chegwin and cockroaches, he appears indestructible.
If an asteroid ever obliterates the planet, I fully expect the first television broadcast in a scorched, post-Armageddon landscape to feature Harrison declaring how he has finally been vindicated in his belief that he would one day be crowned world champion.
Chegwin will probably be doing the interview. Having said that, Chegwin might fancy his chances.
One punch would do it. It's a contradiction that a man so fragile inside the ring can be so resilient out of it when it comes to criticism, or even common sense.
However many times Harrison is knocked down, he still pops back up somehow through a fog of scorn to deliver baffling TV interviews forecasting imminent global domination.
He was on Sky Sports declaring that the Prizefighter scrap this weekend is part of some grand plan, just weeks after being knocked out by David Price in the first round.
You'd think the all-too-familiar, self-deluding claptrap about proving the doubters wrong would have played out by now. But in the absence of planetary annihilation, I have a solution.
Someone should just create a new boxing authority especially for him - and declare Harrison the undisputed world champion of the Audley Boxing Organisation.
Then he'll be happy and the men in white coats can quietly lead him away and administer the appropriate medication, leaving Harrison to rock to and fro clutching his ABO belt.
Really? Audley Harrison will be back in the ring... againNike flailing after hasty Pistorius axing
Nike urgently need to find themselves a new advertising slogan. Having backed Lance Armstrong to the hilt in the face of overwhelming evidence of his serial drug taking, the sportswear manufacturer have now suspended Oscar Pistorius from their books with indecent haste.
Their decision has been made long before any court verdict on whether or not Pistorius's girlfriend was killed in a tragic accident.
Hasty: Oscar Pistorius has been dropped by Nike, before even going on trialThe circus that played out all week is only a bail hearing and yet it feels as if the concept of justice in any future trial is being trampled underfoot by a voracious, rubbernecking mob. Others have been more measured.
BT and The Mineseeker Foundation wisely deferred any decision on their existing sponsorship deals with Pistorius.
Nike elected to do otherwise, but then their Pistorius advertisement stank the place out anyway. It said: 'I Am The Bullet In The Chamber'.
So what should the new Nike catchphrase be? 'Just Do It - Badly'? 'Just Do It - Without Class'?
From the MoBot to the SloBot
Mo Farah is being paid between £100,000 and £250,000 to run only half of the Virgin London Marathon. People are asking why would the sponsors pay him this amount of money?
I think the welter of headlines generated answers that. A few months back the lovely (sadistic) folk at Virgin invited me to take part in the event.
However, one of my knees decided to come out in protest at the idea. But I could still make it halfway like Farah. Maybe I could pick up where he leaves off? From MoBot to SloBot?
Lucrative: Mo Farah is set to make between £100,000 and £250,000 to run half a marathonMore... Stephen Darby: Can Bradford win the Cup? It will be tough, but we are not here to make up the numbers Something for the weekend: Bradford seek to lift season's first major trophy... Beckham set to take on Barton... Mario's out to sink Inter... and will Barca bounce back? Guest of honour Muamba to present League Cup trophy at Wembley Read the latest Swansea news and views here
