Bob Bradley beats Ryan Giggs to Swansea City manager's job as Francesco Guidolin sacked

Bradley had reportedly been up against Ryan Giggs and ex-Villarreal boss Marcelino, both of whom were interviewed.

But Swansea's owners Steve Kaplan, Jason Levien and club chairman Huw Jenkins decided to go for the 58-year-old Bradley, who had most recently been manager of French second tier side Le Havre.

"We are delighted Bob has agreed to join us," Jenkins said.

"He is well aware of the club's footballing philosophy and will provide us with strong leadership qualities and a renewed belief to compete at this level.

"It is never easy changing managers, but we are looking at a long-term appointment and we are confident Bob can settle us down and stabilise matters on and off the pitch."

The news was broken by sources in the USA, with Swansea confirming the story shortly afterwards.

Bradley becomes the first American to manage a side in one of Europe's 'big four' leagues.

And he faces a baptism of fire: his first match in charge will be an away fixture at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

As for Guidolin, the former Palermo, Parma and Udinese boss paid the price for losing six of his last eight matches - with the sole bright spots in that time being a League Cup win over Peterborough and a spirited 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

Guidolin had hope to be given more time: both against Manchester City last week and Liverpool at the weekend his team played well for long spells before succumbing .

But the Swans clearly decided that he had been given enough time, and his nine-month reign at the Welsh club has come to an end.

"We are obviously disappointed to part company with Francesco," Swansea chairman Jenkins said, after delivering the axe on the Italian's birthday.

"We felt he deserved his opportunity after the work he did last season.

"Unfortunately we have not been able to carry performances over from last season and we felt we needed to change things as soon as possible in order to move forward."

For most of his career Bradley has worked in the USA, first in college soccer and then in the MLS with the Chicago Fire and MetroStars.

He then took the reigns of the USA national team in 2006, leading them to the second round of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 - and also masterminding a rare victory over then-unbeatable Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup.

He took the USA to the final of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but was fired after his mean blew a 2-0 lead as they eventually lost 4-2 to Mexico.

After that he became manager of the Egyptian national team until 2014, after which he managed Norway's Stabaek for almost two years before moving on to Ligue 2 side Le Havre in November 2015.

Le Havre were 15th when Bradley took over, but came agonisingly close to promotion to Ligue 1. They came fourth in the table, missing out to Metz on goals scored after both sides finished level on points and goal difference.