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Thread | London Jacks
at 20:36 13 Sep 2023
There used to be a thriving community of London Jacks who'd gather regularly to watch games or just have a pint. Apparently we have lost our adopted home, the Hercules Pillars in Covent Garden, and it's a while since the last fan forum in London. The Trust (don't shoot the messenger, just passing the word on) would be happy to arrange a session in London where we could meet senior people from the club and ask them questions, but right now there isn't an active London Jacks community to engage with.
Anyone in the London area interested? If so PM me. Likewise, if you fancy watching the Derby at a pub somewhere central but don't want to commit beyond that, me and my small band of west/northwest London Jacks are happy to join you. Going to post the same on Planet Swans. Only caveat is it has to be north of the river and west of Charing Cross, as it is unnatural for Jacks to be far from Paddington Station or J1 of the M4. |
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Thread | Duff all
at 12:13 23 Jul 2023
There's an increasing amount of posters talking about 'Duffball'. Interestingly, most of them seem to be die-hard supporters of Russell Martin, trying to spin a narrative that Duff (a) has only one style of football and (b) it's a reversion to the Monk/Cooper style of football (what we might call the Roundhead approach, as opposed to the Cavalier style of Martinez/Laudrup/Potter and (supposedly) Martin).
I actually think it was fair to describe Martin's approach as 'Martinball' as the man himself said that there would only be one way of playing under his watch, and that was the way Man City play under Guardiola.
Trying to pigeonhole Duff on the strength of one friendly is, IMO, just a lame attempt to undermine confidence in him before the season has even begun. Good managers adapt their tactics and strategy according to the strengths of the players in their squad and the opposition they face - between and during games. That's not Duffball, it's Football.
PS Apologies for uploading this without any content the first time!
This post has been edited by an administrator |
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Thread | Oxford tonight
at 14:52 21 Jul 2023
Anyone else going? Thinking of stopping at the Turf for a pint before the game if anyone fancies meeting up |
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Thread | I was wrong about Russell Martin
at 17:23 17 Jul 2023
I said he’d paint us into a corner with an unbalanced squad with no wingers or FBs, and it would take the next manager a season to put it right. Well I was right on the first count but glad to admit that I called the second part wrong. Thank God the owners had the sense to lock the club safe in the last transfer window and wait for a manager who prefers The Swansea Way to The Zombie Way. |
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Thread | RM's comments after the Kaplan meeting
at 14:59 25 May 2023
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/russell-martin-insist
I suppose, if you read it carefully enough, he says that the Board like the general direction that the club is going in (translation: they like passing football, but not necessarily his passing football), and that lots of new faces will be coming in this summer (well that certainly looks accurate). When he says he has Kaplan's support, that could be qualified as 'til the end of this season'.
So as ever with RM, I'm left feeling that he didn't actually lie, or if he did it can't be proven, but it still feels off somehow - and the question remains why he said anything at all other than 'Yeah, Steve and me had a great chat, can't say any more than that sorry everyone'... |
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Thread | Bob Bradley v Russell Martin
at 20:03 11 Mar 2023
Russell Martin today equalled Bob Bradley's achievement of gaining 8 points from 11 games.
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Thread | Then and now
at 13:44 8 Mar 2023
Martin enthusiasts often refer back to the run of seven games from Hull on 17 September to Cardiff on 23 October. Six wins and one defeat. Automatic promotion form. Then it all went wrong, the argument goes, because the squad was asset stripped/we didn't plug the gaps we needed to/confidence was shot by the mess of a transfer window (delete where applicable).
Looking back at the squads for those seven games, I was surprised to see how much continuity there was - then and now.
Benda, Wood, Cabango, Grimes and Fulton all started all seven matches in that winning streak, Sorinola 6, Cooper and Piroe 5, Naughton, Latibeaudiere, Manning, Cundle and Obafemi 4, Darling 3, Ntcham 2 and Allen 1.
In the last seven games (one win, one draw, five defeats - relegation form), he's started Fisher, Wood, Cabango, Manning and Piroe every time, Cooper and Grimes six times (Grimes would have been seven I am sure if he hadn't been ill), Fulton 5, Allen, Latibeaudiere and Sorinola 4, Darling and Cundle 3, Cullen, Whittaker and Ntcham twice and Naughton once.
In other words, it's not just the core of that team that won six out of seven that's intact and (Benda aside), still available to this manager: Obafemi is the only player who started during that winning run who's not currently with the club.
The idea, then, that our current failure on the pitch is due to asset stripping or failure to plug gaps does not hold water. We were able to win then with these players, so why not now?
OK, the loss of Benda was a major blow, although between the Cardiff win and Benda's injury at QPR we let in 15 goals in 11 games and only managed two clean sheets, so let's not pin everything on his absence.
Unless you are going to go down the absurd rabbit hole of complaining that our form went west in late October because of the confidence-sapping effects of a transfer window that didn't even open for another two months, there's really only one coherent explanation: the tactics we've employed. During that winning streak in September and October the players we abandoned Martinball and played football as though we enjoyed it. We can - and should - do it again.
[Post edited 8 Mar 2023 13:46]
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Thread | What would you like to hear RM say at his next press conference?
at 22:14 1 Feb 2023
Like him or loathe him, no one can say that Russell Martin has pulled his punches when it comes to his opinion of the professionalism and the performance of the players that he manages - men and boys whose future earning power depends on what he says about them and whether he selects them to play.
Every Swansea City supporter will be watching his pre-match comments before the next match to see what he has to say about the absolute joke of a transfer window we just witnessed. Will he be as bold and brave when it comes to commenting on the people who decide his bonus and whether he gets a contract extension?
What do you hope he’ll say? [Post edited 1 Feb 2023 22:15]
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Thread | What would it cost to part with Martin?
at 14:45 28 Aug 2022
Interested in what those with sources inside the club think it would cost us to part company with our current manager.
Apparently we paid £400k compensation to MK Dons. He still had a year left to run on his contract (they gave him a three-year contract too). They offered him a new one in the April before he left them but it doesn't look like he took up the option.
He has two years left with us, so I'd guess it could be a figure of around a million to settle with him?
No reason why we would have to pay anything to his backroom staff. They would be welcome to stay under a new manager, or go without compensation if they chose to follow Martin. And no reason why we'd need to pay compensation for the incoming manager, there are plenty who are not currently in jobs. |
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Thread | What was the turning point for you?
at 20:53 25 Aug 2022
For those of us who have concluded that Russell Martin is probably not the Messiah (and I appreciate that not everyone has got there yet), what was the moment at which you decided the Emperor was naked?
For me the turning point was Fulham away last season. Match Day 10, so hardly a snap judgment - nearly a quarter of the way through the season. Silva saw us coming and we were lucky to lose by just two goals. Our wingbacks were hideously out of position the whole game and the worst thing was, everyone could see what was happening. Apart from the manager, apparently.
Afterwards I was slated for criticising Martin. Apparently it was ‘fine margins’. Their first goal was offside, we hit the bar, if either of those had ended differently we could have come away with a point or even three. If, if, if.
In reality they could have carried on scoring all night. We were that bad. |
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