LONDON –

Even by the madcap standards of a sport in which too many lunatics have taken over their respective asylums, the news that Swansea City manager Bob Bradley could be facing the sack after just seven matches beggars belief.

Bradley, the first American to manage in the Premier League, is coming under intense scrutiny from the Welsh club's new majority shareholders Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan — his fellow Americans.

Swansea is not doing well under Bradley, having won five points from a possible 21, conceding 19 goals. It was not doing well before he took over from Francesco Guidolin either.

The demise of a club which two years ago seemed on the verge of something big is not sudden and the problem for some seems to be that Bradley is American and, unsurprisingly, speaks with an American accent, New Jersey to be precise. Yes, we now have accentgate.

Just when you think that there is nothing original left in the trash-talk tray, former Swansea striker Dean Saunders came up with this: "His accent isn't helping." And inevitably social media loved it because social media loves such moronic quotes.

Television and radio pay Saunders for uttering garbage like this. It is insulting and cultural snobbery; for the record, this millennium the USA's World Cup record is just about on par with England's.

Major League Soccer may be an elephant's graveyard, but to dismiss a manager because of his passport or accent says far more about Saunders' pea-sized brain than Bradley's solid CV. He is not some rookie coach from across the pond and has done a good job in his homeland, Egypt, Norway and France.

After taking charge of the U.S. national team in 2006 he led it to a Gold Cup win the following year and runner-up spot in the Confederations Cup three years later. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the USA reached the knockout stages, losing to Ghana.

Upon leaving the post the following year, Bradley became coach of Egypt, his arrival coinciding with the Egyptian Revolution. Bradley and his wife decided to stay in Cairo, even after a match erupted into violence leading to the Port Said Stadium riot, which killed 70 people in February 2012.

The Egyptian Premier League was suspended in the wake of the tragedy, yet despite the players having no club football to maintain match fitness, Bradley took the national side to within one match of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Once again Ghana proved his nemesis with the Pharaohs losing in a playoff to the Africans.

Bradley then led cash-strapped Norwegian club Staebek back to European competition and in France missed getting Le Havre promoted to Ligue 1 by a single goal last season. Whatever Saunders and company may think of Bradley's accent, he has earned the right to have a crack in the Premier League.

"The reason we appointed Bob is not because he's American, but because we believe he's the best man for the job," said Levien who is also general managing partner of DC United in MLS. "Neither Steve (Kaplan, also the co-executive chairman of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies) nor I had met Bob before we interviewed him. We knew him by reputation and he lived up to that high reputation."

However, nine weeks can be a long time in football. It has been claimed Bradley's team selections, where he has made frequent changes, coupled with his work on the practice ground have yet to convince everyone that he is the man to take the club forward. It sounds ridiculous, but Bradley is now the bookmakers' favorite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked almost while the ink on his contract is still drying.

On Saturday, Swansea, bottom of the Premier League, plays Sunderland, two places higher, in the first, but not the last, of the so-called relegation six pointers. Last weekend's 5-0 loss at Tottenham was the fourth in Bradley's seven games, but he is too easy a target, not least for the Ignoramus Party. He did not take over a great team and the players need to stand up and be counted, looking in the mirror rather than at each other.

While Swansea lacks quality in too many areas, the players are failing to show the heart, stubbornness and absolute determination to compensate for other shortcomings. Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Iceland midfielder, is a class act, while Leroy Fer is averaging a goal every other game, but Swansea is carrying too many passengers this season.

As Swansea climbed its way up the English football ladder it was held as a club that was doing things right, chairman Huw Jenkins taking much of the credit for shrewd managerial appointments. Roberto Martinez, Paulo Sousa and Brendan Rodgers were inspired choices and when Rodgers left for Liverpool, the club brought in Michael Laudrup.

In February 2013, under Laudrup, Swansea won its first major trophy in its history after defeating Bradford City 5-0 in the Football League Cup final at Wembley. Instead of being the start of something big, things turned sour for the Dane and a year later Laudrup was sacked following a run of six defeats in eight league matches which left the club two points above the relegation zone.

Jenkins gave the job to Garry Monk, initially as player-manager, the defender retiring from playing in May 2014. The following season Swansea finished eighth with a club record points tally. Monk was even being put forward as a potential England manager. However, Swansea lost its momentum in 2015-16 and in December, after one win in 11 league matches which left the club 15th, Monk was fired.

Swansea was no longer the barometer for England's middle classes. It had become a sacking club and next in was Guidolin, the Italian so unknown that captain Ashley Williams admitted he had to Google the new man to find out who he was. Guidolin's task was to maintain Swansea's Premier League status, which he did and he was rewarded with a new two-year contract.

Two months ago, on his 61st birthday, Guidolin, who retained a popularity with the fans, was dismissed after what was Swansea's worst start to a campaign for 25 years. Next in was Bradley and Jenkins has accepted some of the blame for Swansea's demise.

He admitted Swansea could have performed better in the transfer market last summer and said: "I fully understand the fans' feelings, being a supporter myself. When things don't go well, somebody has to take the blame and I fully accept the responsibility. There might have been one or two decisions we could have taken in the summer that may have changed the feel around the club. I'm not going to go into detail, we may have gone down one or two different routes, may have recruited a few players differently."

So, the club bought badly during the last transfer window and now Bradley faces mission almost impossible to retain Swansea's place in the Premier League. It has won nine points from 14 games, an average of 0.64 per match. With 40 points the accepted total to avoid relegation, at its current rate Swansea would finish the season with 24 points, so it needs to improve by almost 100 percent in its remaining 24 games.

Any manager, whatever his accent, would have his work cut out to achieve this.

Christopher Davies was a longtime Premier League correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph.