Swansea City Supporters Trust Official Statement
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| The Trust wishes to publicly reassure its members, the supporters of Swansea City Football Club and all persons genuinely concerned for the future of the club, that it will continue in and indeed increase, its endeavours to help return the club to local ownership. The Trust Board remains of the view that the current club owner does not retain the public and commercial confidence of the people of Swansea and that despite recent public statements made on behalf of the club are doubtful that the pledged investment will materialize. These factors, we believe, make the current ownership untenable within the city. It is already reported that other financial problems exist within the club and we believe that these will not be addressed through pledged investment nor by the owner who has readily admitted to not having funds himself. This leaves the club with one alternative and that is to systematically sell key members of the playing staff to fund its commitments. The inevitable consequence of such actions will result in a weakening of the squad, an inability to compete at current league level and ultimately will put the club at risk of relegation from the league and / or liquidation. We believe that all persons concerned with the club, be that privately as shareholders or season ticket holders or commercially, should now seek, directly from the owner, whatever written assurances they believe necessary for the secure continuance of their involvement. The demise of the club, to whatever degree, will reflect negatively on all concerned including the City of Swansea. We also call upon the elected body of the City and County of Swansea to declare publicly the level of its concern and to confirm what actions it intends taking. During this continued period of uncertainty, the Trust will endeavor, for information purposes, to explore and research all appropriate avenues of enquiry with relevance to the club and, wherever possible, to bring any concerns or information to the public arena. To the current owner, we would say that local public opinion and commercial confidence is already against him and that this situation will not improve as local resolve on the issue is increased and the lack of proper investment is proven. The opportunity is now here to transfer control of the club to local people, at no further cost to the parties concerned. We openly offer the Supporters Trust as a vehicle for such a transfer, with the confidence that the future of Swansea City Football Club will be secured. We urge the owner to consider this option, either on the basis of a ' gift ' to the supporters or sale at " nominal value only " (given the original purchase cost) to the Trust. We stress however that we would not countenance anything other than a 100% transfer of the owner's current shareholding and in relation to either option, would expect the club to publicly announce its proposals via the South Wales Evening Post. We, in turn, promise to respond publicly and appropriately. We will not however be party to any other form of agreement and will not seek to negotiate with the club. The Trust, its members and all other supporters of Swansea City F C have the club's survival and its place in the future of this city, at heart. The opportunity now exists for the owner to place the club in the hands of those that care and with the knowledge that he will have played a part in that future. This action could go some way to improving the unfavorable impression made so far and would guarantee that he will have made a significant contribution to history by ensuring that the club becomes one of the few in the Football League to be returned to the fans and the local community. When the dust settles, he may be remembered more for his final generous gesture, rather than his earlier unpopular actions. We earnestly hope that he grasps this opportunity. |
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