Looking at what has happened to Swansea during the past 5-6 years is both heart breaking and against logic. To be transformed from a club held up as the way in which a team should play and be run to the shambles both on and off the pitch is unbelievable both from a fan’s point of view and a purely business sense.
We, none of us will ever know what happened behind the scenes a la Laudrup and the ‘unrest’ that is said to have taken place between him and the players, ultimately resulting is leaving the club but that in itself is where the problems started. In what other sphere would the workers (the players) have the power to remove a manager simply because they did not like him ? What was it about Laudrup that caused such derision ? Has this every been properly explained ? Likewise, I am always slightly bemused when a manager is said to have ‘lost the dressing room’. Really ? Surely if there are signs that this is happening, then the senior players would sit down with the manager and talk it through ? If you are on the pitch as a top professional player and do not like the way the game is going, then, (especially if you are a senior player) you can use you professional footballing brain to instigate whatever tactics need employing at that time and not simply blame it all on the manager ? Staggers me that it is always the manager that gets the bullet and never a player. If you can sack a manager, why not a player ? If they are both on contracts, and need to be paid off, what is the difference ? If players know that they can be sacked, maybe they’ll start giving a damn about what is going on.
I’ve not been as against the takeover as many on here and I have been proven to be wrong. When they took over, I understood as, from a business point of view, why this could take a club to the next step. To me it made no sense why investors would take over a club with no intention to build upon it and invest. They had an attractive club in a unique position (only Welsh club in the league) that would appeal massively to the US audience. My brother lives in the States and they love that type of thing. It made sense to slowly build and ensure that the club is established in the league before expanded the stadium and bringing in more crowds and further expanding etc. What also made sense is selling assets at their peak to top clubs meaning that future prospects would see us as a stepping stone for a couple of seasons before going onto ‘better things’. Annoying, frustrating, but in a business sense perfectly logical.
It would also inevitable that we would suffer a bad season every now and then, which happened and we survived. I could even, possibly, from a completely cold business perspective see why (however loathsome) the shares were sold behind the back of the trust. (not condoning) but maybe why they thought it would be in the best interests of the club to do it. Disgrace, unethical, but again, maybe they were acting in the best interests.
What does not make sense is what has happened since. What does not make sense is why, upon selling the main assets, they have not been replaced with something resembling a player which is approaching a similar standard. May be, they thought that they could ride it out ? Well no, this doesn’t make sense, they may have been new to the game and unsure of how the Premiership works but they also had people within the club who did know how it worked. The Americans would not have been naming the players who were to come in, but probably providing the cash. At least that is what should have been happening. Surely, parts of the negotiating would have been how and what the investment would have been spent on ? The strategy about selling and buying players ? The business plan for the next couple years ? It may be a football club but a business plan is a business plan irrespective of the sector ?
It is dazzlingly short sighted not to protect your assets by not replacing your main players for short term financial gain which will inevitably result in your business losing millions of pounds year upon year. Also the style of football that was part of your brand, part of what will help you sell your product to the US market has been casually tossed away. We have become ‘just another football club’, which is desperately sad.
At the moment, I think we are in a very difficult position when it comes to managers, I’ve seen many messages on the forum decrying every manager that is suggested. Unfortunately, ladies and gents we are in a position where we may not be able to be that choosy. Not many managers are going to want to come here in the current position in which we find ourselves, not just due to the league position but the overall mess in which we find ourselves.
It seems inevitable that Huw Jenkins’ days are numbered, the press have now seem have cottoned onto what has been happening and they, as we know, love a car wreck, the end, I think is nigh.
I don’t think that it is all doom and gloom, even if we are relegated. You can only rebuild a project that has collapsed, you can only put together something that has fallen apart. We have done it before, what is to stop us doing it again ?
I love the forum and I read It every day, I hardly contribute as my knowledge of football is not particularly strong but thought I’d pen my thoughts, such as they are.
Football is fun and a roller coaster, be it bit boring if we finished every year, safe and secure in 12th place wouldn’t it, with no threat of relegation or hopes of Europe ?
Remember you lot are the lifeblood of the club whoever the Owners are and whichever which Division we are in.
Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
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