Swansea City endured a rollercoaster of a season after sacking two managers and miraculously surviving on the penultimate day of the season.

And after a dramatic season at the Liberty, we take a look back at some of the best quotes from their campaign.

Chairman Huw Jenkins decided to sack Francesco Guidolin and replace him with former USA coach Bob Bradley after a poor start.

Jenkins said: “He is highly regarded as a coach and has a wealth of experience on the international and domestic front. He is well aware of the club’s footballing philosophy and will provide us with strong leadership qualities.”

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It didn’t get much better for Swansea after Bradley’s appointment but the Swans did take part in one the most dramatic games of the season, beating Crystal Palace 5-4.

“I see the win as a turning point in so many ways,” said Bradley. “Sometimes you feel like you need something crazy and maybe today can be that moment.

“Having said that, we cannot take the good part without looking a little deeper.”

Jenkins sacked Bradley and brought in Paul Clement who made an immediate impact with a win over Palace.

Clement said: “I could have stayed at Bayern as an assistant, but I’ve chosen to come into a very challenging situation. It excites me to do that and that’s the attitude I want the players to have.

“It’s a big task, but I think it can be done.”

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Their most impressive performance of the season came in a victory away at Liverpool, the first league side to win at Anfield last season.

“It’s very important for the confidence of the side that we can come to a big team and get a result. We need to work hard on the training pitch and make sure we get another result in 10 days’ time.”

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Clement’s men survived on the penultimate day of the season with a victory over Sunderland, much to the relief of midfielder Leon Britton.

He said: “I’m relieved. It’s been a lot of pressure on each game so it’s nice going into the last game against West Brom being able to relax – I’m sure this week in training we can enjoy it a lot more.”

His debut campaign may have been disrupted by injury but midfielder Marko Grujic has shown enough to suggest he has a bright future at Liverpool.

The 21-year-old, signed from Red Star Belgrade in 2016, made just eight appearances last season but there are plenty of reasons for fans to be excited.

Liverpool are willing to splash the cash this summer with Mohamed Salah already in place for a costly £36.9million – while the club has chased £50million defender Virgil van Dijk.

But a central midfielder is not on manager Jurgen Klopp’s hitlist – and the reason, many suspect, is Grujic.

“There is mutual trust, Klopp values Grujic and expects him to be part of the team next season,” said his representative Zoran Stojadinovic.

“Grujic’s hard work in training and fine performances show plenty of promise, while his playing time would have been more significant hadn’t it been for the injuries.

“In the end, everyone is clear in their intentions to continue together next season.

“Liverpool are great club and such a high professional level requires great effort as road to the top is not easy.

“However, Marko is well-positioned here and his ‘five minutes’ will come. I have no doubt.”

The Serbian certainly has competition for places, with the likes of Georgino Wijnaldum, Philippe Coutinho, Jordan Henderson and Emre Can all pushing hard for minutes.

But Grujic has something different to offer. Technically gifted with an eye for goal, he is seen by many as an upgrade on Joe Allen – who the club offloaded for £15m to Stoke City last summer.

A loan move away from the club was rumoured late last year, with Hamburg, Real Betis and Dinamo Zagreb all linked, as Liverpool honed in on Champions League football – but that now seems unlikely.

With European football returning to Anfield, Grujic will surely see plenty more than ‘five minutes’ and he has the talent to thrive.

Klopp has a track record of promoting young players and giving them a chance to succeed – if he gives Grujic one, then he won’t regret it.

Marco Silva says the ambition of Watford convinced him that taking over at Vicarage Road was the right decision.

The 39-year-old may have failed to keep Hull City in the Premier League last term after arriving midway through the season but he sufficiently enhanced his blossoming reputation, so much so that he was interviewed by Champions League regulars Porto in his native Portugal.

However, the former Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos manager opted to sign a two-year deal to replace Walter Mazzarri in May and says that he cannot wait to get stuck in to life in Hertfordshire, given the positive signs he identified in his conversations with the board.

“First, I really like the approach of the owner, the board, and the motivation of the club,” said Silva, who will be assisted by Joao Pedro Sousa, with Goncalo Pedro coming in as first-team coach while Hugo Oliveira has been named the Hornets’ new goalkeeping coach.

“What I felt during our meetings was a club with big motivation and big ambition.

(Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

“We will bring our commitment, attitude and ambition. We are really ambitious and this is really important.

“For us, it’s clear that we’ve come here to work hard and to achieve our goals.

“I’m really excited. It’s an important step for us and we are looking forward to working with the boys.”

Roberto Di Matteo’s short-lived spell as Chelsea manager will always be remembered for that famous night in Munich when they defied the odds to win the Champions League.

Chelsea beat Jupp Heynckes’s much fancied Bayern in their own Allianz Arena on penalties to lift the European Cup for the first time.

But maybe Di Matteo’s Stamford Bridge legacy should be remembered for some astute business in the transfer market with the signing of a man known simply as ‘Dave’.

Cesar Azpilicueta arrived at Stamford Bridge £6.5million from Marseille in the same transfer window as Eden Hazard and Oscar and was signed as right-back cover for Branislav Ivanovic.

Chances were hard to come by at the start for Azpilicueta – given the simple nickname ‘Dave’ by the fans due to his tricky surname – but a year later he found himself displacing Ashley Cole as Jose Mourinho opted to switch him to left back.

And such was Mourinho’s admiration for Azpilicueta, he said that he wished he had 10 more and he would then win the Champions League.

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Fast forward to the arrival of Antonio Conte and Azpilicueta was again on the move – back to the right-hand side of the back three.

Conte may have uncovered the fact that Azpilicueta’s best position is as a mobile centre-back but he has also used him as a wing-back and the Spaniard’s forward runs have seen him end up in the goals more than in the past.

Conte has managed the likes of Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci, he had some very high praise for Azpilicueta.

Speaking in February, Conte said: “He’s incredible in his new role. One of the best in the world in this role.”

Yet when the end of season gongs were handed out it was N’Golo Kante sweeping the board at the PFA and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year awards with Eden Hazard running him close. The versatile Azpilicueta’s name was nowhere to be seen.

But Azpilicueta’s contribution to Chelsea’s title winning side should not be underestimated and just as Mourinho had done three years earlier, Conte praised him by saying he would play in goal if he was asked.

Unsung? Yes. Under appreciated? Not by anyone he plays for or with.

West Ham United’s Sam Byram has returned after an eventful summer in the United States to start his pre-season training a week early.

Following an adventure-packed holiday in Los Angeles, Byram is one of several first-team players who is already underway with fitness and rehabilitation work before Slaven Bilic’s squad officially start their pre-season preparations.

The rest of the Hammers squad will be back at Rush Green next week before flying to Austria for some warm-weather training – an experience Byram knows will be physically challenging after a long break.

“We’ve got a programme to do over our holidays and I only live 15 minutes from the training ground, so it’s easy for me to just pop in and use the facilities here to keep me in shape,” the right-back said.

Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images

“I think anyone who says they enjoy the first week [of a pre-season camp] is probably lying.

“It is very tough but you need it to condition you for the rest of the season.”

“It is an important time to go away and rest your legs and have some fun and do some things with your family and friends.

“I’ve had a good four or five weeks, but it’s time to put the work in now.”

After a spell on loan in Germany, Stoke City forward Bojan Krkic has been assured by his boss that he has a future at the bet365 Stadium.

The Spaniard moved to FC Mainz on loan in January but reported back for pre-season training to positive words from manager Mark Hughes.

Bojan joined the Potters for £3million in 2014, making 41 appearances in his first two seasons with the club and scoring 14 goals.

A cruciate ligament injury disrupted his first few years in the Potteries though and when he was failing to impress last season, he was shipped out on loan.

Back from Mainz though, Hughes is hopeful of more to come from the diminutive forward.

“We all have a lot of feelings for Bojan and it was great to see him back here this morning,” he said.

“Although it didn’t quite work out for him here last year, we have to remember that he was still coming back from a serious injury

“We are six months down the line now though and I think that he is in a far better place, having played games during the second half of last season.

“He had a nice sharp session this morning and we all saw his quality technical ability, which always comes to the fore to be perfectly honest.”

With Jay Rodriguez departing Southampton to sign for West Bromwich Albion last weekend, new manager Mauricio Pellegrino will be taking a long, hard look at his frontline options.

Despite their eighth-placed finish, only five teams scored fewer Premier League goals than the Saints last term, suggesting that Pellegrino has work to do to sharpen his troops’ teeth.

Sassuolo’s Gregoire Defrel and Caen starlet Yann Karamoh have both been linked with a move to St Mary’s but do Southampton already possess the players capable of plundering a plethora of goals next term?

We’ve taken a look at the candidates vying to lead the line.

Manolo Gabbiadini

For a short while, Italian frontman Manolo Gabbiadini looked like one of the signings of the season, such was his impact upon arrival from Serie A in January.

(Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

After departing Napoli to join Southampton for a fee reported to be in the region of £15 million, the Italian notched six times in his first four appearances in a red and white shirt, including a brace in the Saints’ EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester United at Wembley.

The goals did dry up for Gabbiadini as he failed to score in his last eight run-outs of the season but having already shown a knack for deft, intelligent movement and a sharp finishing ability, the ex-Sampdoria and Atalanta man will surely be first-choice under Pellegrino in August.

Charlie Austin

Charlie Austin was supposed to pick up where he left off on his return to the south coast in January 2016, but his Southampton career has still yet to truly catch fire.

(Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

He scored all those goals for non-league Poole Town many moons ago and, having returned to the Premier League in January 2016, six months after his impressive 18-goal top-flight campaign for Queens Park Rangers, the striker, who turned 27 today, has been hampered by injury problems.

He still managed to find the net nine times last season before a shoulder injury sidelined him for four months.

Austin, who was called up by England in 2015, has proved he belongs in the Premier League but can he stay fit enough to ram the point home?

Shane Long

Now heading into his fourth season at St Mary’s, pacy Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long needs to be ready to fight tooth and nail for a starting spot.

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Now 30 years old, Long was unable to build on his fine 2015-16 campaign, during which he scored 13 times for Southampton, last term as he found himself repeatedly rotated.

Long only managed five goals in all competitions and has a real scrap on his hands to convince Pellegrino that the natural order of last season should be re-jigged.

Sam Gallagher

Despite seemingly breaking into the Southampton first-team aeons ago, Sam Gallagher is still only 21 and he arrived back for pre-season with a fine season in the Championship under his belt.

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He was unable to prevent them from suffering relegation to League One but Gallagher scored 12 times during a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers.

Last week, he penned a new four-year contract with the Saints and while Birmingham City are credited with an interest in bringing him back to the second tier for another loan spell, Gallagher may just be ready to step up to the plate and add to the 18 Premier League appearances he racked up in the 2013-14 season.

Crystal Palace’s commitment to keeping the Selhurst Park turf lush and green appears to have reached new heights.

The Eagles’ determination to keep a pristine pitch ahead of the new season has resulted in groundsmen laying liquid garlic on the south London grass.

The chemical kills parasites that feast on roots of the blades, causing damage to the turf.

And head groundsman Bruce Elliott has even had to don a mask in order to perform his duties due to the pungent smell of garlic now hanging in the air of SE25.

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

“Like a lot of clubs around the country we have a problem with nematodes, which are a microscopic, parasitic worm-like creature that live within the root zone,” explained Elliott.

“When it gets in there it can distort all the roots system and creates a weak plant that is susceptible to disease and wear and tear so we have to eradicate them, and one of the ways to do that is with garlic.

“This is a liquid form of garlic so we can spray it and it creates a chemical within the root zone which isn’t toxic to us but is to the nematodes.

“The only unfortunate thing for us the pungent smell! Think of your garlic at home and times that by 100. I cope with a mask but it still gets through, but I try and get away from it when I can.”

Jermain Defoe cannot afford to expect to waltz straight into the Bournemouth starting XI, according to Cherries boss Eddie Howe, who insists the competition for places is as fierce as ever since the striker’s arrival.

England international Defoe completed a free transfer to the Vitality Stadium from Sunderland last week, and will join up with Howe’s squad on Friday for the start of their pre-season training camp in Marbella.

It is the second time Defoe, the Premier League’s all-time seventh highest goalscorer, has enjoyed a spell on the south coast, scoring 18 goals in 29 appearances for the Cherries during the 2000/01 season while on loan from West Ham.

Bournemouth fans will be hoping the 34-year-old can form a formidable partnership with last season’s top marksman Joshua King, and Howe is confident Defoe can bring out the very best in his team.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

“Hopefully, they will look at Jermain as many different things,” he said.

“They can look at him as a role model and someone to inspire to them. They can look at certain things he does and add them to their game. I believe everyone can learn from one another.

“They will look at him as a team-mate and as a support – and someone who can bring something different to the team dynamic.

“He will provide competition. Everyone, including Jermain, will have to raise their levels due to the strong competition for places we have in that position.

“There are lots of different things which are all positives for our strikers and will hopefully inspire them all to greater performances individually.

“Jermain brings many things. His finishing is of the highest quality and his movement is excellent. I have always felt that since the very first time I saw him train when he was here on loan.”