The Swans may well have disappointed the majority of fans who turned up to watch their team yesterday afternoon. Indeed they may well be finding it hard to attract supporters this close to Christmas with just 14,864 attending the Swansea.Com Stadium yesterday. The attendances are slipping far beyond what would be considered okay.

However, some of the football the Swans played was very decent especially in the first half which saw them take a 2-0 lead in to half time. It’s hard these days to gauge what Michael Duff is saying pre match for games like this. Josh Key is a good example. Nobody expects Duff to give away his game plan, but there’s a clear paranoia creeping through the club with a desire to misinform wherever possible. One minute Josh Key is two weeks away from an injury return, a day later he is named in the Swans match day squad. We know the reasons for this, and that’s the issues the club are facing with staff unhappy at the way this season is going. Constant Americanism business practice being introduced in to the club, and a general fear of what websites such as this can do. The opportunities for this to be mended has always been there but it’s a bridge that is burning very quickly.

It’s getting to the stage where the club are closing ranks at the top, which in turn is alienating the fans and associated support - and the upshot is falling attendances and the club selling off Christmas jumpers which look like they have fallen off the back of Del Boys ‘dodgy motor’ This whole situation can be arrested quickly but the latest tick box event the ‘Intimate Dialogue’ sessions are another poorly thought through club ‘initiative’ Yes you can be included, but only if you fill in an application of your personal details and give advanced warning of the questions for vetting. So, the club aren’t paranoid ? It’s crawling in to a dark corner trying to beat people away from all sides. There’s even some form of a bizarre attempt to fight back in the wrong way by encouraging fans to state that Andrew Coleman doesn’t get paid. And all this whilst shipping his whole family to Swansea ( along with Ken Gude and his ) changing the drama of his kids education, and multiple other commitments he has made to join the Swans.

All for free.

This whole summer move and investment situation which is fast becoming a seriously flawed idea is going to explode in their faces if they don’t take ownership of things properly - and not just by sounding like they do, by actually rethinking their whole strategy properly. There needs to be clarity and reassurance, not a bargain bin philosophy which may well work in the USA, but it doesn’t here. The mistakes are now putting the club in to a perilous position with the Swansea City fan base, that’s proven by a drop in crowds and indeed we hear in products being purchased in the club shop.

And in amongst all this we have a Swans side that has won just twice at home in the league all season. We cannot accept that as the money made from the summer isn’t being reinvested, and more ‘caution’ from the clubs hierarchy being the Christmas buzz word. Well, some may buy it.

I will never forgive or forget the total contempt that was shown to the clubs fans before the derby day fixture. Utter nonsense being spouted by the head coach who hasn’t experienced anything like this fixture in his career. And no, don’t say Burnley have one. The fans mix together before their derby games, some even have pubs where both sets of fans could mix. So that was a poor excuse. The reaction by the players was equally as dreadful, that was an early watershed moment for the fans as well. ‘I would give up two wins for promotion to the Premier League’ was as daft a moment than we’ve heard in many managerial years. It was the voice of inexperience trying to play down a fixture that has burned across the south Wales landscape for years. That was never going to play out, ever.

These aren’t good times for Swansea City across the board. They are now trying to knock down the bizarre demands of Yannick Bolasi whose last experience was eighteen months in Türkiye with second division side Çaykur Rizespor. He’s thirty four, and has had no profile for a number of years, yes a good idea to get him in and have a look but for me if he isn’t of the quality we saw five years ago - why bother ? We have a good few academy players busting a gut to play for Swansea City, why can’t we blood them ? There’s a clear reluctance to do that. Hardly fitting in with the clubs statements this year about this being a thing. With such a drastic injury list surely now or in the recent past was the time to test the credentials of several youngsters ?

If you would like to see the extended highlights of yesterdays game click on the link below.

The Swans take on Leeds United in the ‘£45 derby’ on Wednesday, we have a pre match day thread already running for this fixture. One which has seen the Swans earn just two away wins throughout the history of this fixture, in 1949 and 2019.

Click below for that thread.

Leeds away

The fans can turn this around, but it will take some painful decisions.

Photographs Open Source

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