Brendan Rodgers has had little time to prepare for the new season
By David Dulin BBC Sport Wales
Another summer and another new manager for Swansea City with Brendan Rodgers filling the void left by Paulo Sousa, who quit after only a year in charge for the job at Leicester City.
The Swans now start their third season in a row with a different man at the helm and will be hoping it will be third time lucky in terms of attempting to clinch a Championship play-off place.
They came agonisingly close during the 2009-10 season under Sousa, finishing seventh - their highest league position in 27 years - missing out on the play-offs by a point in a campaign during which they set a new club record of 24 clean sheets and had one of the best defences in the division.
Despite a largely successful campaign, except for the distinct lack of goals, few tears were shed on Sousa's departure amid continued speculation of unrest in the Liberty Stadium camp.
But that is in the past now and Rodgers has now begun his third job in less than two years following brief stints at Watford and then Reading, and there seems to be a new air of optimism around the club.
Defender Alan Tate is the Swans' longest-serving player, who will be starting his ninth season in south Wales, and is looking forward to working under Rodgers, who learnt some of his trade from Jose Mourinho when the pair were at Chelsea.
"It's been good," said Tate, who is also the club's vice-captain. "He's come in with new ideas that no-one at this club has come in with before.
"He's a little different to the previous management training-wise and probably tactics-wise in games.
"It's something that in two weeks the lads have come around to really quick. They've enjoyed the two weeks that he has been in.
"Training is a lot shorter, a lot sharper and a lot more based on the game we want to play.
"Paulo was a lot more tactical. Obviously, he's played in Italy and Germany where things are like that, and he tried to bring what he did in Italy over to the way we play which sort of took us away from the free-flowing stuff that we had under Roberto Martinez.
"I think this manager wants us to get back into playing a 4-3-3 system rather than 4-5-1.
"He is trying to get us into the areas to score goals. It's not just once you get one just sit back and kill the game, we want to go more for the throat this time.
"We don't want to be happy with one, but get two, three or four and hopefully that's what we can do."
Tate will once again be a key figure in the Swans defence
After going so close to a top six finish last season, some will expect the Swans to go one better this time around.
But they will face much stiffer competition this time around with the likes of Middlesbrough and Reading expected to mount stronger challenges than they did last term.
The Swans have also lost the services of key midfielder Leon Britton to Sheffield United along with left-back Fede Bessone to Leeds United, while right-back Angel Rangel appears to be on his way to Premier League new boys Blackpool.
However, before Rodgers' arrival, the Swans brought in Neil Taylor from Wrexham to replace Bessone while Aldershot's Scott Donnelly is being tipped as the man to succeed Britton.
If he completes his free transfer, Dutchman Kemy Agustien is also set to join the battle for a place in a central midfield that already consists of Darren Pratley, Joe Allen and Andrea Orlandi.
And if the Swans can fill that gap and rediscover their goal-scoring touch - starting with the trip to Hull City on the opening day - they could be up there with a shout.
"We have set targets but I'm not going to say what they are," added Tate. "We will keep all that in-house.
"We are just looking over the first 10 games and I think if you ask most players at most clubs they will tell you, you will get a fair idea of where you're going to be after the first 10."
In: Scott Donnelly (Aldershot, out of contract), Neil Taylor (Wrexham, out of contract)
Out: Leon Britton (Sheffield United, free), Fede Bessone (Leeds United, free), Marcos Painter (Brighton, free), Lee Trundle and David Edgar (end of loans), Guillem Bauza (released)
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?