Darren Pratley insists it's business as usual as the Ferrie Bodde saga draws to a conclusion

It's been the story that has dominated much of the summer and in some ways it has provided a nice distraction which has allowed Roberto to go about his business of attracting quality players to the club.   The new additions have been allowed to settle in with minimum media coverage as the talk has pretty much been about Ferrie and his desire - or reported desire - to leave the club straight away.

That particular saga seems to be drawing to a close as all sides play their last moves in the process and the Swans get on with the process of their own pre-season plans, one of last season's leading lights Darren Pratley has insisted that it is business as usual with the new season a little over three weeks away.

Speaking to today's Western Mail, Pratley said "We haven’t got involved in it. It happens every year at every club, no matter how big or small and you only have to look at Manchester United and the Ronaldo saga to see that

“What will be will be, but for now Ferrie is getting on with things and so are we and his attitude has been spot on in training.

“He missed the tour to Sweden and I think there were a few family issues so you respect that, he doesn’t have to explain anything and wouldn’t expect him to.

“He hasn’t said anything and neither has the manager but they don’t have to because it’s not something that is a concern to the rest of the players when you’re in the middle of a pre-season preparing to go into a new division.

“Of course we’d all like it to be resolved because it’s the only thing you see when you pick up the papers.

“And the quicker it gets sorted the better in terms of the club and the fans – but this is an important time for us and it’s not going to stop that.

“When you travel and spend time together as a team it’s the best way of getting to know each other, we’ve a lot of new players and they’ve definitely added to the squad.

“In terms of midfield I played with Leon Britton the other night and Owain Tudur Jones, and he is like a new signing after being out so long.

“Then you’ve got Jordi Gomez and young lads like Joe Allen and Shaun MacDonald even though they didn’t get a lot of game time last year.

“We’re all fighting for positions, so even if the worse happened we’ve got the competition in there the gaffer wanted.”

“It hasn’t affected us and it won’t because we are concentrating on getting ready for the new campaign.”

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