Sunday, May 4, 2008, will hopefully be a day to remember for Swansea City's current squad.

Not only because it should signal the end of a long and memorable campaign that the Swans are aiming to crown with automatic promotion, but it will also earn them a 'day off'!

While British football has tended to stick blinkered by tradition through thick and thin, the 'Roberto Revolution' has seen the Swans coaching staff turn tradition on its head.

"If you paid a visit to most professional clubs in Britain, I can guarantee you'll find it hard to see a player on the training ground on a Wednesday and Sunday,'' explained Swans assistant-manager Graeme Jones.

"It's traditional that they get two days off a week, usually those two days. It's standard practice.''

Everywhere except Swansea City that is.

"We train - or play - every day of the week,'' adds Graeme. "There are no days off here.

"If we are not preparing for a game, then the boys are in warming down and recovering from a game. That could be on the training ground or the gym, utilising the ice baths or masseurs, or receiving treatment on bumps and bruises.

"Being a professional footballer is a 24/7 job because we expect them to look after themselves and perform at the same standard whether they are playing or training.

"It's the first time most of the boys have trained seven days a week. The foreign lads accepted it pretty much straight away, but for the British lads it came as a bit of a shock.

"But they are used to it now. I think they can see what we are trying to do and the benefits they've gained from it, because their attitude and enthusiasm has been first-class.''

Swans fans have certainly seen the benefits as the Swansea flag continues to fly high at the top of League One.

Not only that, they've also witnessed some of the best football played in Swansea colours for many a year.

But being regularly crowned "the best footballing side in League One" by pundits and opposing managers alike, hasn't come easy.

As Roberto Martinez gets ready to blow the candles out this weekend on his first year as Swans boss, his assistant blew the lid on why the Swans have been so successful this season.

"Roberto plans things out so far ahead, he's miles ahead of everyone. He seems to have this masterplan, which is obviously working.

"Everything is planned and worked out meticulously. He has a common sense approach to everything and just lives football.

"He'll tell you he's only had three days off since he took over the managerial reigns a year ago. But I can tell you now that's simply not true. In fact he hasn't had one single day off.''

And that enthusiasm has been matched by the rest of the coaching staff. It's a staff list Roberto has built meticulously with the likes of Graeme Jones, Colin Pascoe, Richie Evans, Inaki Bergara, Alan Curtis, Kevin Reeves and Ailsa Jones forming a close-knit team that is guiding the Swans on to greater heights.

It also helps when the entire team agrees on the way the game should be played - the 'Martinez Way', with the ball on the floor instead of the sky.

"Fortunately, I hold the same beliefs as Roberto on how the game should be played,'' added Graeme. "Just as important, it's also a view shared by the players and the rest of the staff.''

While Graeme admits that his job has been made easier by the quality of the players in the Swans squad, the change of style from the more direct approach they inherited on their arrival at the Liberty Stadium has taken time.

"Our style of play now is very different to when we first arrived,'' he added. "But both me and Roberto are both big believers in working hard on technique.

"I honestly believe that if we had another month last season, we would have got into the play-offs.

"But it wasn't to be and it gave us extra impetus to work very intensely both technically and tactically with the players during pre-season.

"I think the work we did then gave us a really good base. It probably wasn't quite enough time to get where we really wanted to be and that's why it took us six weeks of the season to get going, improve on little things and the results.

"For 12 weeks we put a lot of work into playing the systems we wanted and transferring that onto the pitch - and we always did that with the football out. As I said, I'm a big believer in technical ability and if players are comfortable with the ball in training then they'll get that familiarity on a Saturday.

"I've been a pro at some clubs where you'll probably only touch the ball 50 times in training in a week. At Swansea they'll touch it 500 times a session - and that's important.''

Graeme's own playing career started, ironically, at former Swansea manager Kenny Jackett's new club - Millwall. It also nearly finished there after he was released as an 18-year-old to spend the next five years mixing non-league football in the North East - plus a season in Sweden - with life as a student and jobs as an insulation engineer and postman.

But when he eventually broke back into League football with Doncaster in 1993, the striker went on to hit the headlines four years later as a Golden Boot winner with Wigan after grabbing 33 goals in one season - the highest in the Football League.

And it was at Wigan where he first came across Roberto as the pair helped the club win the old Third Division title, the Autoglass Trophy and reached the semi-finals of the play-offs.

It was a glorious four-year spell before Graeme departed for Southend and St Johnstone, eventually retiring as a player with Hamilton to work extensively as a coach with the English FA and the Middlesbrough Academy after achieving his Uefa 'A' coaching licence at just 29.

He had returned to Scotland and Hamilton as assistant-manager when Roberto came calling to make him his first signing.

"I am delighted Graeme has agreed to join the Swansea City set up,'' said Roberto at the time. "His enthusiasm, knowledge, organisation and demands within the game will be vital for me to achieve all the aims I've got in mind.''

"I was very happy at Hamilton and I didn't want to leave," admitted Graeme on his arrival. "If I did then it would have to be a special situation. I had just signed a three-year rolling contract there.

"But when I made the decision to move my family 500 miles then I had to trust the person I was working for and believe in him ? I do with Roberto 100 per cent.''

And Graeme was pleasantly surprised with what was waiting for him at the Liberty Stadium.

"I couldn't believe the talent we had in the dressing room. I was really surprised and I knew straight away that we had a chance.

"I knew we had a chance of success because of the size and scale of the place.

"We worked hard with the core of players already here and then brought in a few additions during the summer.

"The club and style of play is now very different to the one we inherited last February. But that's down to a collective effort from the staff and the players.''

Roberto, however, is leading from the front.

"He can go as high and as far as he wants,'' declared Graeme. "Roberto has got everything to go all the way.

"He ticks all the right boxes. He knows the physical side of the game through his physiotherapy qualifications; tactically I haven't met a brighter manager at 34; he understands the psychological and mental side; while his technical expertise come from the culture he was born into in Spain.''

So can Swansea as a club keep pace?

"Our reputation as a team and a club is growing every week,'' adds Graeme. "But at the moment we've got to ignore it because we haven't achieved anything.

"The players will earn their reputations on the pitch with every touch and every performance. Hopefully they will continue to represent themselves with pride right up until the end of the season.

"They are getting pats on the back, and quite rightly so, but they know they haven't achieved anything yet.

"Swansea has the potential to be a Premier League club. But you can talk about potential all day long - you have to fulfill it.''

The Championship will do for now though. Perhaps then on Sunday, May 4, 2008, Roberto can catch up on his missing siestas and the rest of his staff and players can have a day off!

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Wilsher