After the "Swans" were promoted to the Premier League, Dobbie made his league debut for the club in a 4–0 defeat versus Manchester City. Dobbie had seven appearance in the Premier League without scoring a goal. Dobbie twisted his left ankle under a challenge from Kyle Naughton and suffered an injury. Dobbie's injury kept him out of action for a week until he returned to action versus Manchester United. After eight appearances in the Premier League, Dobbie found himself down the pecking order behind strikers Danny Graham, Leroy Lita, Luke Moore and new signing Rory Donnelly. Finding his first-team appearances limited, manager Brendan Rodgers allowed Dobbie to leave on loan after his former club Blackpool had enquired about his availability. Birmingham City also enquired on his availability, although lack of finances meant that the club could only get Dobbie on loan with a view to a permanent deal at the end of his loan spell. However, neither the "Blues" nor the "Seasiders" signed him on loan before the close of the transfer window on 31 January 2012. After failing to find a loan deal in the January transfer window, Rodgers understood Dobbie's frustration at his lack of first-team opportunities, although he did not allow Dobbie to leave the club on loan, as he could be required to play in the first-team if other players were out injured.