His face afterwards said it all.

After watching his side trounced by Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium, Luke Williams looked like a man who could see the writing was on the wall.

A run of eight defeats in 10 games in all competitions is enough on its own to put any manager under pressure, but it was the manner of those results that proved the most problematic.

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Trips to Portsmouth, Norwich City, a Southampton side destined for relegation from the Premier League and, of course, bitter rivals Cardiff City, all resulted in catastrophic thumpings that would ultimately leave Swansea's season in ruins.

It's easy to forget that before the new year, there was actually a fair amount of optimism around the place. Back-to-back wins had just left the Swans four points adrift of the play-off places, and while there was still some doubts over their top six credentials, it was a club very much looking up. Sign up to our Swansea City newsletter here.

But rumours linking Williams with the job at West Bromwich Albion would irreversibly change the complexion of the season.

The naivety with which Williams handled those rumours in the press in particular would put him on the back foot with fans, and indeed the Swansea hierarchy, who were understood to be less than impressed with his inability to rule out the move to the Baggies and commit openly to the cause.

Williams was effectively ordered to nail his colours to the mast by chairman Andy Coleman before the meeting with Albion at the beginning of January, and after taking a late point, it felt that perhaps the club could move on from the saga.

But a string of poor results, and indeed a shambolic January window, would ultimately sabotage any attempts at truly healing those wounds. Williams admittedly had little to do with the club's clear and obvious transfer shortcomings, and the resulting deficiencies in the squad was perhaps the main mitigating factor still in his favour as a miserable run of January results concluded.

Losing captain Matt Grimes, a player so central to the blueprint, was a particularly bitter blow, and the changes Williams made in order to mitigate the midfielder's absence were clearly a key driver in the club's struggles in the last couple of weeks.

The failures in January were a huge frustration to Williams, who made it clear after this latest defeat what he thought about the quality of the squad he was working with.

"We’re eight points away from the bottom but we need to get the job done so we can start building for next season quite honestly because this is nowhere a near good enough group now to be able to have a good season in the Championship. They’ve proven that.”

But rightly or wrongly, many supporters believe this squad is capable of more than it's currently showing.

Some onlookers had even started to question whether this group had perhaps stopped playing for the manager, despite the public displays of unity after the win at Bristol City. The constant criticism of his players in the press certainly felt increasingly counter-productive.

By the time Monday rolled round, and with the squad on a day off, rumours were already swirling that Williams had one more game to save his job.

There was initially an expectation he would be in place for Tuesday's Fans Forum, which has now been pushed back two weeks, but the feeling among many members of staff was that his exit was only a matter of time.

Having arrived brimming with so much enthusiasm and energy, those on the ground claim Williams had slowly started to become devoid of the effervescence that had made him such a popular figure with staff around Fairwood in recent weeks.

The toll of the last few weeks, some claim, had started to show. The overall feeling was that by the end, Williams was merely going through the motions. A broken man awaiting his inevitable fate.

It's understood the decision to part ways was one that was largely pushed by the majority owners, and the question now will be about what comes next.

Alan Sheehan, having stepped in following the sacking of Michael Duff last season, is set to take the reins - on an interim basis at the very least.

The Irishman threw his hat into the ring to get the job permanently back then. It's not beyond the realms of possibility he will do so again. On the face of it, it feels less likely he will be genuine contender this time around given the loss of Paul Watson, who was a key ally. But he remains a well respected figure inside the club.

Whatever happens, and like so many other facets of this basket case of a club, lessons have to be learned from 13 months ago.

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The process of identifying a new head coach shortly before Williams was handed the job was another operation that drifted into the realms of farce, with current Birmingham City coach and previous first choice candidate Chris Davies batting away their advances in rather embarrassing circumstances.

The search for a replacement cannot be allowed to drag on in similar fashion.

Indeed, the consequences of getting it wrong could also be more far-reaching than before.

Having overseen several really concerning errors in direction, including another poor January window, Coleman's own position as chairman perhaps now looks a little more vulnerable, particularly in light of the recent change in majority ownership.

The new regime will surely be concerned by the direction of the club right now, and Coleman's culpability in their recent failings surely hasn't gone unnoticed in the Swansea boardroom.

If he's going to be the man entrusted to lead this alleged new era, he will need to ensure he gets this next move bang on.