Russell Martin urged Swansea City to move forward with their strategy for the future after conceding the club is not being proactive enough ahead of a pivotal summer.
The Swans have hit peak form in recent weeks to ensure they are ending the season as strongly as possible - with Martin's troops collecting 19 of the last 21 points on offer.
Following what was a disastrous January transfer window, the head coach stated the need for the club to be fully aligned and learn from the mistakes made in the past ahead of the summer.
However, the 37-year-old remains concerned over the club's lack of conviction when it comes to issuing new contracts while stating that "a little bit of help" will be sufficient to take Swansea to the next level.
"The growth in us as a group of staff and the players this year with what they've been through, they've been through some tough periods, we'll look back on them and be really frustrated," said the Swans boss.
"I've said to you all season, we could be there or thereabouts, and even when we were going through the tough period, we really felt that. We'll fall a bit short because of two tough runs that went on a bit too long really. So that'll be really frustrating.
"But the improvement and courage they've shown is incredible. I'm so proud of them. I love working with this group of players, the energy they have. They're a really brilliant group. If you keep enough of them together for a while, it's really exciting for the future of the club.
"I hope that we've convinced people that we have really strong foundations to build on. When we came into the building we said it would take time and I think we're starting to seeing the rewards of that work now.
"What we have to do is get moving forward with the strategy and what we're going to sign because, even now, we're probably not being as proactive as we could be or should be. We need to really nail down that and fix ourselves on what we need because we're showing in this run and the run we had earlier in the season that we can compete, but we need a little bit of help to take us to the next level."
Meanwhile, Martin allayed concerns over the fitness of midfield duo Jay Fulton and Liam Walsh who both missed Swansea's emphatic 3-0 win over Norwich City at Carrow Road.
The pair were both absent from the matchday squad for the contest in Norfolk, although the visitors produced a sublime display as goals from Joel Latibeaudiere, Liam Cullen and Olivier Ntcham ensured Martin secured a stunning victory over his former employers - who had Sam McCallum sent off late on in the first-half.
"Jay was precautionary. He's had a tight calf for a while," explained Martin. "He's been amazing and he's just kept going, but why risk it at this stage. He still felt sore after the other night (against Preston) and it affected him when he came on.
"Walshy's the same. He just felt when he came on, he stretched when he got an assist for Joel Piroe's goal.
"He just felt a little niggle, it's nothing too serious but, to put him on a two-day journey on a bus to try and get 10 minutes out of him, or maybe nothing depending on how he felt, it was the best decision to leave them both back home."
Swansea return to action against Hull City on Saturday afternoon before hosting West Brom in south Wales on Monday, May 8 in what will be their final fixture of the 2022/23 campaign.
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