Darren Pratley shrugged off suggestions that the Swans league position was the sign of a poor division
It has been reported that Swansea City's fourth place in the Championship is the sign of it being a poor division - reports that Pratley just ignores as the Swans have for most of the season and got on with the job in hand.
Right back to September and October there has been a sense that the Swansea bubble is about to burst but as the season moves steadily towards its conclusion the bubble appears to get stronger with the Swans currently the 4th best team in the league.
And that is something that Pratley knows should be acknowledged even if it has not been so far
“The experts can say whatever they want,” he told the Western Mail.
“If people look at Swansea in fourth and say it’s a sign the Championship is a poor division, they are entitled to their opinion. We’ll happily be a poor side in a poor Championship which gets promoted to the Premiership.
“After everything that went on in the summer, nobody, apart from us and our fans, thought we would be where we are now. We’ve surprised a few people.
“But I do know one thing: this city deserves Premiership football, our supporters deserve to be watching Premiership football.
“It would be life-changing for us all and a chance to show what we are capable of.
“But there’s 20-odd games left. When it comes to the end of May that is the time when you can say if you’ve over-achieved or not.
“You say things like that now and it can come back to bite you. Talk is cheap, as they say.
“The boys are playing well and no-one would have thought we would be in fourth in January, but if we start saying we are over-achieving or doing well then that’s when problems start.
“We are nine points off second and we are not even going to rule it out. But I’m not going to say we can finish top two or top six because there are just so many games left.
“We are going to keep working hard and, fingers crossed, come the end of the season we will be there or thereabouts.
“When you come down from the Premiership it can be tough,” said Pratley.
“For a lot of Championship sides playing against them is a cup final.
“Teams are going to their place wanting to upset them, maybe giving a bit more than they would in a normal game.
“I do think in this division clubs can be a bit quick to change managers.
“To be where they were in the league and then sack your manager is a strange one, but I guess they just wanted a change.
“Strachan has come in and is trying to get the players playing the way he wants to play. He’s brought in some new players too.
“I think Middlesbrough are a good side and come the end of the season I believe they will be up and around the play-offs.
“They’ve got a good squad of players and we’ve got to be very wary of them.
“We can’t go there thinking that because they are below us in the league we are going to beat them.
“You could say we owe them one,” he said.
“They beat us at our place and now we want to put the record straight.
“OK, they’ve lost some of their bigger names since then, but sometimes that makes you stronger.
“People could say we lost Jason Scotland and Jordi Gomez and that we are a weaker side.
“But look where we are in the league now – higher than we were at any time last season.
“It can help a side, it can make a team pull together, so I would not agree they are a weaker side now.”