John Harbin To Join Sousa At Swansea?

According to the Kilburn Times, the Australian that Paulo Sousa is appointing is QPR's performance manager John Harbin.

John Harbin worked with Paulo Sousa at QPR as a performance manager and looks set to join Swansea City within the next week.

Chairman Huw Jenkins has said that an Australian and a Spaniard will be joining him in an all-new managerial team, after Martinez took the lot with him to Wigan Athletic. Bruno Oliveira has already joined us as Sousa's assistant.

John Harbin started out coaching rugby league but later moved to football, and followed Iain Dowie regularly throughout his managerial career.

He first worked with Dowie at Oldham Athletic before joining him at Crystal Palace. Dowie was on the move again in 2006 when he joined Charlton Athletic along with Harbin. He linked up with Dowie for a fourth time at Coventry City. Harbin then worked with both Iain Dowie and Paulo Sousa at QPR.

John Harbin was born in Yorkshire but he spent most of his time in Queensland, Australia as a rugby league coach.

In April 2009, Harbin spoke to the Football League website and told them about the 'One More Round' poem by American boxing legend James J Corbett that sits in his office.

He said:

"There's a saying that I have taken to every club I have been to which really comes into play when the odds are stacked against you.

"It's simple but it's effective. 'One more round.'

"I've used the saying for the past 20 years. It means that no matter what your situation - be it in sport or life - there's always one more round to fight."

"I received a text recently from Zesh Rehman, who is doing very well on loan at Bradford. It said 'One more round.'

"An hour later, I got a phone call from Jake Cole, who's with Barnet right now, and putting in some impressive displays. The first thing he said to me was, 'One more round, John.'

"It's a saying that you're never being beaten. It doesn't just apply to sport, it goes much further than that."

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