Luke Williams says taking over at Swansea City is his “perfect move” as he sets sights on the top end of the Championship table.
Swansea ended their long search for a new head coach by appointing Notts County boss Williams on Friday.
Williams, 43, returns to the Welsh club having previously been on Russell Martin’s Swansea coaching staff.
“I’ve had experience with this club already and I know how fantastic it is,” he said.
“And when the chairman drives to your house and spends three hours in your living room [showing] passion, explaining everything he wants to achieve – it’s very, very difficult to turn down.
“After that I was so excited. This is the perfect move.”
Assistant boss Ryan Harley has also left Notts County for Swansea, as has first-team coach analyst George Lawtey.
They will join Alan Sheehan, Kristian O’Leary and Martyn Margetson in a new-look coaching line-up Swansea feel can improve results as well as the club’s style of play.
This season has been a struggle so far for the Swans, who sacked Michael Duff on 4 December with the club languishing in 18th in the second tier.
They are now 16th having taken 11 points from seven games under caretaker boss Sheehan.
Yet with 20 league games to come this season, Williams is looking up rather than down.
“The target is to finish as high as we possibly can,” he said.
“I don’t know where that can be, we’re not going to put a ceiling on where we can finish.
“Yeah it’s going to be difficult to finish number one position, but we are going to push as hard as we can.”
Former Swindon boss Williams will lead a team in the Championship for the first time having previously managed in the National League – he led Notts County to promotion from the fifth tier last season – League Two and League One.
“This is a first for me to be head coach in the Championship. It’s an incredible feeling and I am looking forward to it,” he said.
“I am going to tick off the Premier League hopefully.
“I’m trying [to get there]. From this morning I’m trying, for sure. Let’s be honest. We need to work properly smart together. I need to do my job really well and the players need to do their job really well.
“It’s not like we just cruise along and we get there. It is going to take a lot of work, but we’re all committed to doing a lot of work. So why not?”
A key factor in Swansea’s decision to appoint Williams is his desire to play the sort of possession-based game which has been the club’s trademark for the majority of the last 16 years.
They moved away from that approach under Duff, but Williams – who will be on the touchline when Swansea host Morecambe in the FA Cup on Saturday – aims to change their style immediately.
“My teams score a lot of goals and normally play with the lion’s share of the possession of the ball,” he added.
“But I think one without the other is kind of irrelevant, so I need to try and bring a style where we dominate the ball and we try to use that domination to create a lot of chances to score goals.
“That’s the idea. And I think that is something that when we think about Swansea in their peak, they were like that.”
Williams held a four-hour meeting with Swansea’s hierarchy on Thursday to discuss transfer plans, with chairman Andy Coleman saying the club “expect to be making moves” this month.
Williams said there will be no move for Notts County’s leading scorer Macaulay Langstaff this month, although he refused to rule out a future move for the 26-year-old striker.
He says he is content with the budget available at Swansea for squad strengthening.
“We are working together,” he said.
“We say okay what am I trying to achieve on the pitch… the style and so on. Then okay, let’s see if we can help and strengthen the group and bring the perfect people in, so I am very happy with that.”