| Some realities? Measuring Success 12:59 - Mar 27 with 6100 views | jacksfullaces |
The last few weeks has been a real eye opener for me in terms of re-evaluating what supporting the Swans is all about, but I think needs a bit og grounded thought.
Like many others I want my team to succeed, but am beginning to question how we measure success. For many it appears to be a winning side who plays good football, although the emphasis over a period of time is on the former. This begs the question that long term can we actually sustain the expectations of our fan base in the Premier League? As with the best will in the world it is unlikely we are going to be challenging for honours on a regular basis, and mid table safety likely to be as good as it gets. This leads to problem number 1 for many - people lose interest if we are not on an upward trajectory. (points/tables/trophies wise)
Which leads to a second point in relation to stadium expansion and attracting new fans. One of the upside of the PL is also a downside in media exposure. A team like Swansea will generally be battling to get to mid table, and that is often not a particularly attractive product to bring on new fans. In fact one can argue that attendances both home and away this year have dropped already, so a groundswell of new support is not necessarily in the offing. Appreciate more community stuff can be done but wouldn't expect this to necessarily create huge numbers.
Strangely as I write this I can therefore see some of the issues the board are having to deal with, and whilst I was as annoyed as the next person as to the almost personal vendetta that seemed to be developing betweeen Jenkins/Laudrup, I can also see that maybe they accept some of these practicalities and have to make on the face of it disappointing decisions relating to stadium expansion and player purchases. So i go back to the first questions, measuring success? jenkins et al clearly do so on football values and possibly even community values, whereas many others are doing so in terms of success, player purchases, ground size.
Is it time for people to re-evaluate how they measure success/progress if they are to continue to enjoy watching their club. I think I might have to, it doesn't mean wanting to be relegated, it robably means enjoying the moment, and accepting that even with progress we probably will be relegated at some point. For that benchmark to change, I'd be interested in some reasonable views as to what would need to happen. | | | |  |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 01:53 - Mar 28 with 1380 views | SwansNZ |
re the OP " In fact one can argue that attendances both home and away this year have dropped already, so a groundswell of new support is not necessarily in the offing."
is that correct? I don't know what the away numbers have been like, but was stil under the impression that we sold out every home game? | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 05:20 - Mar 28 with 1362 views | dameedna |
Success for me was winning the Welsh Cup.
Not sure how much more stadium we need but sure as eggs if we do not make money we will not last long.
At the moment we are lucky to have success, whatever way that is measured.
Wins against Norwich and Hull will be HUGE. | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 07:24 - Mar 28 with 1343 views | Andy1300 |
I saw that, our total spend was less than most teams transfer fees.
The graphics looked like giant fags | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 07:51 - Mar 28 with 1330 views | jacksinceever |
I know I constantly whing on about this but where are these thousands of fans desperate to see Swans play in the PL ? Still tickets available for Norwich, as with many games this season. This "build it and they will come" nonsense is old-hat.
We have IMO reached our capacity for most games | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 08:08 - Mar 28 with 1325 views | 1jack |
You must be one of those "fan" people then. | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 15:31 - Mar 28 with 1281 views | jacksfullaces |
wasn't sure for certain, just seemed easier to get tkts for home games via Jack Army, and fairly sure someone did a like for like study on Away games and they have definitely dropped.
Poster just above also talking about tkts still been available for smaller teams matches up until the day before much more commonplace now.
There was always going to be a novelty factor for some, sustained a little bit by unlikely wins - I'm not getting into all this plastic nonsense as people are entitled to go to whatever games they can afford or find accessible, but novelty will wear off for some. And even the kids, our next generation of fans, will still find that the playground will be dominated by peers following the success stories, and kids work in balack/white, they won't be interested in the swans 'relative' success story when they can claim to support the PL Champions. | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 17:47 - Mar 28 with 1240 views | Oldjack |
To become a bigger club it's a must too stay in the top flight and win the odd cup now and then ,the longer we stay there the bigger we will become but it will slowly take a long time .
I'm more than happy just surviving in this leauge along with turning over the big guns every now and then  | |
| Prosser the Tosser dwells on Phil's bum hole like a rusty old hemorrhoid ,fact
You Greedy Bastards Get Out Of OUR Club!
|
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 18:11 - Mar 28 with 1227 views | airedale |
Yes, I think that's right. I have wondered in the past how long it would take a debt free club to achieve the status of clubs like Arsenal though. | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 18:52 - Mar 28 with 1210 views | Oldjack |
those spoilt gits have never had troubled times like us and many others, it amazed me to hear their fans boo their team when little old Swansea town whipped their arses last year ,
Many many years of success will one day see us make it to their status [not in my lifetime though] | |
| Prosser the Tosser dwells on Phil's bum hole like a rusty old hemorrhoid ,fact
You Greedy Bastards Get Out Of OUR Club!
|
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 18:55 - Mar 28 with 1209 views | Darran |
Blimey Oldjack talking sense.
Bookmark it it's rarer than rocking horse shit. | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 19:04 - Mar 28 with 1205 views | Oldjack |
I have my moments you've never had one yet kannnnnnnnttttt | |
| Prosser the Tosser dwells on Phil's bum hole like a rusty old hemorrhoid ,fact
You Greedy Bastards Get Out Of OUR Club!
|
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 20:11 - Mar 28 with 1185 views | NOTRAC |
I think that whilst obviously a degree of perspective is required, we should not under estimate our potential.
Whilst we struggle to compete financially on customer income because of the present limited size of our stadium,we are on a fairly even playing field with most clubs in the Premiership as far as media income is concerned, and we have an advantage on most clubs as far as debt control is concerned.
The team that I would like to compare ourselves with is Everton. They have managed to compete at the top end of the table for many years without spending huge money on transfers.Admittedly their income from customer income is probably nearly twice ours , this equates to about £10m,they have proved that it is possible for a team to maintain a consistency in performance without having the imput of vast sums from outside investors.
To achieve that consistency we need to increase the Stadium size to about 30'000 as quickly as possible, and improve our sponsorship income.
If we continue to think that we are only in this League for a limited number of years, we can only go one way and that's downwards.
If we are positive, I can't see any reason why we can't be the Everton of South Wales. | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 20:59 - Mar 28 with 1165 views | FearOfAJackPlanet |
Success for us is staying in this division. Unless we get taken over my billionaires or successfully expand to 30,000 then we're always going to be minnows in this division and fighting against the odds to stay here.
We've done amazingly in the first two years to be so comfortable while bigger richer clubs flounder into the Championship, but that shouldn't distract from that case that we're punching above our weight with our current set-up.
I still feel like I'm living a dream with the Swans at the moment. Just incredible that we are were we are. I'm sure I wasn't the only one walking up to the magnificent Emirates Stadium on Tuesday and thinking, 'holy sh*t, we're playing here, on equal terms, in the league....' and shaking their head, then going into the away end and seeing familiar faces from League 2 grounds.
My main wish in terms of attitude-adjustment from some fans is that they focus more on the club and being one of us, rather than constantly slating the team for not adhering to their Sky Sports ideal of what a Premiership player should be, or not being so insanely judgemental of the players all the time - it's so tiresome. There's a balance of course, these players are representing our club, paid loads and have the immediate fate of our club in their hands, but I wish there was more support, more pride in being a jack, more tribal pride and less of a rush to criticize and make everyone miserable.
I know this is open to 'small-time' accusations, but as I say, until we either massively expand or get taken over by the Russians, we're always going to be up against it...we're always going to be a little different....to butcher a quote from Withnail and I 'We've gone to the Premier League by mistake' | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 07:07 - Mar 29 with 1105 views | NOTRAC |
Here is a reality .It is now 55games since we last had successive wins in the league.In the whole of the football league only Tranmere with 58 games has a worse record than us. | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 07:30 - Mar 29 with 1094 views | Lord_Bony |
Shoah
If true that is a brutal fact | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 09:40 - Mar 29 with 1005 views | Catullus |
I can understand why some people think we have reached capacity. games not selling out was always likely to happen.
But we can and will sell more tickets for top 6 teams and certain other games ( a good cup run, Cardiff ) and filling a capacity of at least 28000 could be achievable more regularly if our ticket prices are sensible.
And I think people aren't taking into account the last year when performances and results have been poorer overall than the previous years.
I hope we expand and I hope on doing so we see season ticket prices drop. Hopefully to a level where there is still a small overall profit but a big enough drop to entice new people in. And the possibilty of getting a seat with your mates or 2/3/4 seats together so you can take your kids would also help.
I am one of several I know who want the expansion so we can take our family along.
Of my group of friends (roughly 10 of us sit together) there would be at least 4 new season tickets if we could get seats for our kids.
I don't know how many others there are in that situation but I'd guess there are several hundred at least. | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 10:56 - Mar 29 with 998 views | AngelRangelQS |
Absolutely 100% bang on the money | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 11:10 - Mar 29 with 988 views | AngelRangelQS |
Personally I think we need to use the Premier League money to improve the club wherever possible.
Invest in training grounds, youth facilities, increase the capacity by a few thousand and ensure that when we go back into the Championship we are bracketed in with the Leicester/Southampton/Reading/FEC Nottingham Forest/Middlesboroughs of this world (which in itself was a distant dream only 5 years ago), rather than your Barnsley/Yeovil/Bournemouth/Scunthorpes etc.
The current Premier League years aren't about this season or next season but the next 10-15 years. We are getting virtually all of it right or are at least on the right road. The more seasons we can stay here, the rosier the future looks, providing we stick to our principles and keep the long term picture in mind.
If some supporters don't see that, then as Darran would say, "f*ck em" | | | |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 11:21 - Mar 29 with 980 views | Joe_bradshaw |
The only reason the likes of Cardiff and Palace don't have similar records is because they were in the Championship last season. | |
| |
| Some realities? Measuring Success on 11:39 - Mar 29 with 968 views | Starsky |
Absolute Bollux | |
| It's just the internet, init. |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
