A new Swans supporters group - the Swansea City Supporters Alliance was launched last night with a view to "Fight for the pride and integrity of Swansea City" and it made a strong start with a very clear statement of intent
The opening statement placed on their website (scsa.wales) read
The purpose of the Swansea City Supporters’ Alliance (SCSA) is simple — to represent the supporters’ aims, views, concerns and wishes and to ensure that it is vocal in supporting and pursuing these aims at all times.
The SCSA will not operate a closed shop. It will need and seek input and support from fans of all ages, backgrounds and views as the SCSA looks to pursue the aim of bringing Swansea City Football Club back to its fans, a position we are nowhere near at the moment.
The sale of Swansea City to an American consortium in 2016 has left us with several challenges that need to be overcome. These include but are not necessarily limited to:
1. The position of the former shareholders. We should never forget that these people CHOSE to sell the club behind the backs of the supporters. They did this despite the supporters holding a significant shareholding in Swansea City.
2. The continued presence of these shareholders at Swansea City. The depth of feeling against the continued presence of these people is strong. The fact that some of them contimue to goad Swansea City fans on social media, continue to run Swans-related businesses and still receive preferential treatment simply serves to strengthen the feeling of anger among supporters.
3. The supporters’ shareholding, presence and voice have been devalued. The passing of majority voting rights and the inability to cash in on the value in compensation has weakened the position of the Supporters’ Trust, an organisation that we were all once so proud of.
To try and overcome these challenges the immediate aims of the SCSA are to:
1. Work hard to increase knowledge among the wider fanbase of Swansea City about the actions of the former shareholders in the sale of the club. We will achieve this by making efforts to publicise information that is already in the public domain but has been largely ignored by both the local and national media.
2. We will call for the shareholders who sold the club from under the supporters and the privileges currently afforded to them to be removed. This should include boardroom access as well as preferential treatment in ticketing and stadium matters.
3. We will urge the Supporters’ Trust to return to its membership for another vote on the proposal not to take legal action in favour of a partial sale of the Trust’s shares. We are not saying at this point that the original vote should be ignored. However, we feel that recent developments have led to the need for the Trust to consult its members on this issue again, quickly.
The SCSA is disappointed to note recent actions taken by Swansea City, including increased prices for the club’s vice presidents as well as a poor run of results on the pitch that have left us bottom of the Premier League. The SCSA believes that these decisions and the current malaise on the pitch are a result of poor management decisions at board level preside over by the club’s chairman, Huw Jenkins. Such decisions have become the subject of some very public scrutiny this week due to the ongoing court case involving former directors Steve Penney and Don Keefe. who are claiming damages against the football club The SCSA believes that seeing the previous good name of Swansea City being publicly demeaned in this way makes the position of the current chairman untenable, especially when considered alongside the rapid and continued regression in the team over the last few years.
Until a short few years ago, Swansea City was a club that was almost universally admired for the way it was run off the field and the way it played the game on the field. We want that back. We want our club back.
If you are interested in finding out more about the SCSA or you would like to get involved in activities. please contact us at info@scsa.wales
At Planet Swans we would actively encourage you to support the SCSA - you can follow them on Twitter @the_scsa