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Sunday Supplement : Fans react to the south Wales derby, and in some cases it isn't pretty
Sunday, 13th Dec 2020 12:49 by Keith Haynes

Swansea City dealt a huge blow to the belief that Cardiff City would win not only Saturdays game against the swans, it would reinforce their football dominance in Wales. However, all it did was deliver a massive blow to the fans of Cardiff. but does it prove how blinkered they have been for years. ?

Sometimes things are so glaringly obvious to supporters of club sides that they just dont see them at all. In Wales the real problem starts within the Cardiff based offices of traditional sports news outlets. These journalists, some in their late sixties now hold the view that Cardiff City are the same side they followed as kids. The one that beat Real Madrid fifty years ago, or won an FA Cup that nobody at that game is alive today to talk about. Journalists who push the ever decreasing circle of football myth that punters read and believe. It hasn't been the case now for many years that Cardiff City have rivalled Swansea in football achievement.

The stories from these journalists deliver the message that Cardiff are some supreme force capable of Barca like achievements, Sam Hammam who led Cardiff in such an egotistical way reckoned they could be as big as Barca. I know Sam, a bigger brighter character during his time in football you could ever meet, but within the Cardiff fans network of the time he saw opportunity. And they fell for it, hook, line and sinker. It completely flopped And this is the crux of the problem, people believe it. You cannot and will never be Barca with Andy Legge chucking big long balls in to the opponents penalty box. You certainly wont be like Barca with Paul Trollope or Russel Slade at the helm, let alone Neil Harris. Hammam like the journalists in Cardiff played the desire of the fans for success, so much so they believed it. Unfortunately for the gullible at the time there was a club behind the scenes being used and abused at times for personal ego or gain. Swans fans saw it twenty years ago and took action. Cardiff fans just bought in to the party line. It’s been a twenty year journey of learning.


Say it enough times and fans believe it

Yes, of course there is a huge rivalry and nobody wants to be second best, but surely now over three championship games of Welsh derbies the most loyal of Cardiff fan can see the issues. Its not dissimilar to England and their football press spouting ridiculous nonsense about winning the next world cup or European championships, its the same ethos, its absolute nonsense. But fans of the game lap it up, and seek some form of solace in this rhetoric.

Clubs like the swans and Cardiff live month to month on their support, their community strength and of course the way they deal in the transfer market. Swansea have certainly brought through their ranks, be it players signed from other youth outlets or from their kids academies far more success than Cardiff. However, that is not the argument when you talk about football dominance. Its already been mentioned that past glory's will only go so far in reassuring supporters of their teams future destiny. So how did Cardiff fans react after yesterdays game ?


Moore fits the football strategy at Cardiff

Not surprisingly a Swansea born player came in for some stick after Neil Harris openly stated they were not good enough to beat Swansea.

dear nob head harris, why did you play someone born in swansea who had no interest in taking part against his home town club?

A bizarre and ridiculous statement based on the time Cardiff fan David Thomas scored in a 3-1 away win for the swans at Cardiff and celebrated like he had won every honour in the game.

Just get out of our club, absolutely inept

Yes, the usual feedback managers get when their team is whalloped by their rivals, and expected.

nobody was going to accept losing, thats just wishful thinking im afraid...its win or be damned

At last some sense, admit defeat and move on maybe ?

It was the Warnock players that let us down today.And a couple that came to prominence under him.I'll bet the Swansea lads couldn't believe how easy that was today

This comment is interesting as it is possibly only Warnock who has given Cardiff fans some hope in recent times, however dire and long ball the tactic was.

That’s why the Directors should have addressed this years ago.. they seem to think we don’t like watching football played well.. we don’t even try, just keep signing players with lead boots that other clubs don’t want. It’s bizarre

This is where the press in Wales have to take some blame, whilst Cardiff have barely shone as a football team in the league, let alone Europe this century they still pedal the same old, same old. Cardiff are superior, we are the capital so therefore we are the best. Well, tell that to Celtic and Rangers. It doesn't work like that.

There are so many comments regards Cardiff not turning up for the derby game. Okay, well I did see the same amount of players in blue as there were white, they were definitely there. Then there is the 'we were tired' excuse. Okay, again Cardiff players have played the same amount of games as Swansea, so I'm not sure where that all fits in. This goes straight back to an original point in this article, Trollope, Harris, Slade as an example, and of course Warnock. Even Ole ! Compare them to Cooper, Potter, Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers and Laudrup. All of whom developed a football style over many years, it carries on today and bar a few silly appointments, its worked. You cant buy success all the time, you need a carefully managed style and strategy which swans fans have been watching for years, as I said bar a few appointments. You simply wont get that with managers of the ability Cardiff appoint, nor a fluidity of play and style that Swansea have become famous for not only during their premier league years but in Europe too.

The Welsh press are to blame, they are a consistent but unaware thorn in Cardiff City's side. The supporters are also to blame, they have displayed an arrogance of superiority for years based on the fact they have more seats in their stadium or they were never involved in a CVA which the swans were in 2001. None of this matters or mattered come the end of the game on Saturday, all that mattered was the result. Yes, the swans suffered from years of greed and mismanagement in the nineties, but they produced a success story from nothing, from losing at home to Exeter City to beating Valencia in the Europa League. But to do that you need a plan, a long term strategy, and the desire to appoint the right people at the right time and progress that carefully. At Swansea that hasnt always worked but its beginning to bear fruit again. The right appointment at the right time. Daring at times, but who would you rather have ? Graeme Potter, Steve Cooper or Neil Warnock and Neil Harris ?


Laudrup The Swansea revolution

The other culprits at Cardiff will always be the club ownership, never ever promoting a football ethic, just themselves with corporate logos and references to their businesses everywhere. Yes, thats fine, but wheres the ethic for Cardiff City ? Where is the football DNA as its called these days. Where can you honestly say this is WHO you are ? Surpisingly it does bother me, but it also makes me smile, because as long as the old men of the Welsh football press are allowed to deliver their dinosaur bile and as long as it is believed by the fans and the club there will be many more days like this weekend. That is of course if after March the two clubs meet again. Its more than likely because this season is far from over for both clubs. Anything can change, but honestly today as you look back over years of Swansea City success and I mean most recently, what do you think ?


Daringly and obvious ?

Surely the penny has dropped, if indeed the old boys of the Welsh press allow it.

Swansea City AFC



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