By this time next week we will have Played 1 next to our name on the League One standings and a total of either 0, 1 or 3 points and the new season will be well and truly underway.

And it's been a strange old close season. In past years, we have seen an influx of new players and many departures between last and first fixtures and that hasn't happened this season. And couple that with the 'house move' and we have a completely different feel to what we have been used to in recent seasons.

White Rock still feels like an away ground, just one that you visit more often but that will change as the season goes on. I also suspect that once we have had a meaningful fixture and maybe a floodlight game then we will wonder how the stadium ever felt new (maybe then it will just be referred to as "The Stadium, Swansea"!)

So was it a good close season this time around? Well I am sure that most Swans fans expected more than three arrivals in the summer but that hasn't happened. I'm sure that everyone also expected a stadium move to go without a hitch even though anyone that has moved house would probably tell you that it won't happen. And I also personally believe this summer that we have seen a rising of "we're a big club" postings on the various sites despite the fact that plying your trade in the 3rd level of the English leagues suggests something different.

So let's have a look at these individual points. The signings. I honestly believed that we needed at least 6 signings this summer to compete at League One level. The thought of Holt and Burgess excited me but never materialised despite the efforts we seemed to put in. Varying reasons I would imagine why and pointless worrying about them now they didn't happen and we move on.

However, in Goodfellow we seem to have acquired a little gem. I am a little confused about those that criticised him first time around. We looked a more balanced side with him in and is it any co-incidence that the end of his loan spell saw probably our most fluent spell of the season? That aside though he has come back and looks a much better player than he was then and has settled in almost as if he had been here for ages. Without a doubt a great addition. In Bayo and OTJ it is probably too early to judge but there are promising signs there.

That aside though what I am impressed with is that the team seems better than that which kind of stumbled over the line last season. A full year together and another pre-season seems to have done them well. And to be fair we have played two decent enough Premiership sides at White Rock and pretty much matched them both. Maybe a strange thing to say considering we lost 4-1 yesterday but until the constant tweaking in the second half we matched Blackburn for 45 minutes. The signs are good and I find myself optimistic that we are not heading into a battle to stay up. I still believe we need an addition or two to challenge at the top end but as this side showed last season if they can get some momentum who knows what could happen?

The stadium move. Where do I start. The site has been beseiged in recent weeks from people not happy about tickets, season tickets, wallets, wording on credit card statements right through to the very emotive issue of smoking within the stadium walls.

Nobody is every going to deny that there has been problems. Indeed anyone who tries to is deluded, blind or just plain dull but as far as I can see there are people working frantically behind the scenes trying to correct this. What we have to remember here is that Swansea City 2005/2006 is not controlled in the came way as Swansea City 2004/2005. We have the same directors but we also have a stadium controlled by Stadco. A company made up of a chairman who is deputy leader of Swansea Council and a company that employs many council people to run it. There will be some dull decisions being made and trust me, some of the decisions will be made against the wishes of the football club. Or to use maybe a better phrase not decisions that the club would have implemented personally.

And that is going to cause us problems as supporters. We know the ticket line ain't working properly, we know the online booking procedure crashed on Friday but I hate to say this and be a little blasé but these things happen. What we have to try and remember is that when they go wrong we do not have people sitting back and thinking 'bollocks to them' we have people working to get them right. And just because they don't go right straight away does not mean they are doing nowt. There are outside influences working on various projects (tickets.com for example) who have failed to deliver what they promised.

I have read a comment today about someone moaning that they joined the ticket queue at quarter to three yesterday and did not get their ticket before kick off. Welcome to the new world where Swansea City get bigger queues. It takes some getting used to but long gone are the days when you arrived at the Vetch at 2.58, got in, had a pee, bought a coffee and still took your place for kick off. A new world and it sounds harsh but get used to it - I hope it gets worse on that basis as it will mean the crowds are getting bigger.

There have been problems but it could have been worse - at least the stadium is still standing ;-) Have a pop at me if you want but I believe we still have the people involved to work through these issues and get it right. Only time will tell if I am right or not but I think I will be.

And finally, have a pop again, Swansea City are not currently a big club. We have the potential to be a bigger club than we are but we are most definitely not a big club. What we are is a club on the up. Attendances are increasing, we have a new stadium and we have plenty of budget available when we choose to use it. We will be one of the best supported sides in League One next season and will have an average attendance to outstrip a fair few championship clubs. All positives. But to read some of the postings and we have people who believe we are (to coin a phrase) Bigger than Barcelona. We have no divine right to get any player we fancy, we have no divine right to beat anyone we play and the constant scoffing at away supports of other teams and the like is a tad embarrassing. Remember the crowds of five years ago? I do and I never want to see them that low again. Let's build, build slowly and steadily and get stronger. We have enough mistakes in our recent past to know the pitfalls of running before we walk.

I am optimistic about what the next nine months will bring and all I can say is bring it on. But let's keep our feet firmly on the ground at the very same time?