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Comment | The Swans are brave and earn all three points at Hull
at 18:19:20
Fine and deserved result. Crossed fingers today’s performance of fight, togetherness combined with a touch of flair continues over the forthcoming difficult run of fixtures. Nice report also from the indie journalist. |
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Comment | Swansea City : Welcome to the world of incompetency and excuses
at 17:38:19
As this article makes clear - it is the incompetence and abject failure of the owners which is the root cause of any ‘division’ as you put it. Don’t put the blame on the fans as many of us invest both financially and emotionally by buying season tickets and travelling long distances just to support ‘our’ club.
The American owners are custodians and what a miserable performance they are making of this as far as the playing fortunes of the club and the well-being of its loyal supporters are concerned. We are going to struggle to avoid relegation this season but if we do avoid it, unless there is a massive change of heart and strategy by the owners in terms of investing rather than taking out of the club, and by making intelligent and timely football decision, relegation for next season is a certainty.
There is no avoiding the fact that we are a failing club on sustained decline over several years, attracting ever-growing reputational damage, and whose future is looking increasingly uncertain. The future under these American owners is becoming extremely worrying for the many thousands of loyal, long-term supporters (the life-blood of the club). The only way these owners will get the message is if it hits them directly in their pockets - and ironically they are heading in the right direction for L1 will mean greatly reduced attendances, less profile in the game, lower commercial revenue, less money for their shareholders. They will probably sell at that point - but the stupid thing is that they could easily have avoided all this by showing some football and business intelligence, and empathy and respect for the history of the club and its community. The American owners have created this problem - not the fans! |
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Comment | Swansea City : Is there an answer to any of this ? 💲?
at 20:21:50
I’m a fan (in my case of over 60yrs). Entitled to express my view - which is shared by an ever increasing amount of people (including it appears Swans Independent) that this American ownership is dismantling the club for their own financial benefit. It’s not unusual in British football for American owners to do this of course as it seems to be the American business model (with the exception of Wrexham where philanthropy in part operates).
The facts as far as SCFC is concerned speak for themselves. Under American ownership the fortunes of SCFC have progressively declined in terms of performance on the pitch, lower attendances, considerably lower squad value, reputational damage to the extent that we can’t attract decent managers, and consistently poor decision-making. It can be seen as incompetence but cynically it can also be seen as ruthless business practice designed to take as much out of the club as possible, then getting out when there is nothing left to take.
So whatever the personal views people hold about the American ownership of SCFC - the facts remain the same - we have gone under their ownership from being a good PL to looking to avoid relegation to League 1. It’s sporting failure. To support the American ownership and to also claim support for SCFC is rapidly becoming incompatible.
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Comment | Swansea City : Is there an answer to any of this ? 💲?
at 00:18:21
We are staring at relegation to League 1. What more is there to know? My first match was at the Vetch in 1963. Seen the good times underTosh and then Laudrup, and the bad times under …..oh that’s right I’m seeing the bad times again under the current owners.
Dont hide behind pseudo-accountancy - maybe though you consider our current position to be a sign of success (and lets give poor Andrew more time) but maybe the reality is that your loyalty is more to American owners than to our club. These Americans don’t fool me or many others for a moment - they are here for one thing only and it’s certainly not sporting ambition.
Their reign has been characterised by sustained incompetency and failure. The Crown Jewels have all be sold. We don’t have Siggi’s, Bony’s, James, Rodon’s we can sell anymore. The cupboard is getting bare and when there’s no profit to be made - these owners will be off elsewhere and not give a stuff about us and our beloved SCFC. Americans OUT NOW! |
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Comment | Swansea City : Is there an answer to any of this ? 💲?
at 21:42:15
These Americans are a lesson for us in here in little Wales of how to take an attractive PL club, League Cup winners just 10yrs ago, wiping the floor with Valencia in the Mestalla, to quite probably League 1 for next season.
The insular and distant decision-making of the owners continues after 6/7yrs to reek of greed and arrogance, incompetence and continued failure, and a lack of transparency with the occasional touch of PR thrown in (and even getting that wrong at times!). A lesson for us all - of how not to run a football club. Levien and Co OUT. |
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Comment | Swansea City’s puppet masters in conflict with themselves
at 20:12:56
I think this a useful and insightful piece by Harrison as it looks closer at the Levien factor which we have been forced to suffer for the past 6/7yrs or so. It is undeniable fact that we have gone from the PL to becoming Championship relegation fodder. Around £150m in player sales since relegation yet only approx £20m reinvested in the team. This is a club sailing fast into dangerous waters, the like of which we haven’t experienced for the past 20yrs (and I have supported SCFC for over 60yrs). I have also kept an eye on what Levien has been doing over in Washington - he is not well thought of. Presumably he must be a very rich man as a result of his various sporting activities, because he certainly doesn’t display any sporting ambition. As a result we are not a club which can now attract any young, ambitious manager, or a manager with proven track record of success. Potter, Cooper, Martin were not supported by Levien the distant decision-maker. All three walked out (and to his credit Cooper walked out without another job to go to). Despite all his sporting business interests, Levien clearly doesn’t “know” football and as an owner of the Swans consistently has made the wrong decision, otherwise we would have been back in PL by now, not staring at a drop to League One for next season. Yes, up to now the self-serving incompetence of the American ownership has been dreadful for SCFC, but it’s about to get a whole lot worse. Americans OUT!
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Comment | Rob Page is at a crossroads he has to navigate positively for Wales
at 10:46:56
But of course this all points to the incompetence of the FAW last year when they handed Page a 4yr contract on an already abysmal record (saved only by Bale against Austria and the Ukraine). It was a decision based upon emotion and not fact, and Mooney got it really wrong at the time. Since then the FAW’s appalling judgment of Page’s abilities as a manager has been amplified by an embarrassingly poor performance at the World Cup and now again in this qualifying campaign. Crossed fingers for the Croatia game (who will have been stung by the defeat to Turkey) but planning ahead for the next campaign without Page is the only logical thing to do. I wonder what Osian Roberts is doing these days (apart from a bit of S4C)? |
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Comment | Jason Levien : A warning for Michael Duff from the recent past
at 17:45:26
Yes. Levien continues to be a real danger to the club, which just proves to illustrate the grave error made by Jenkins and Co in selling out to him. Under his ‘leadership’ we have gone from being a successful PL outfit to being ‘also-rans’ in the Championship (for several years now). Similarity DC United have been ‘also-rans’ in the MLS (and that’s when they are not propping up the bottom of the league). The American owners have no long term strategies in place to create sustained success for either club, with the common-denominator appearing to be that they are simply ‘cash-cows’ for the shareholders. Duff will be vulnerable to Levien’s poor football decisions, just like his predecessors were. Ultimately I still blame Jenkins, Morgans et al for the Levien predicament. I did back 7/8 years ago and do now. The decline has been all so predictable. And good luck Newport with Jenkins. |
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Comment | Why do Swansea City’s majority owners fail time and time again ?
at 03:25:24
Good article, though many of the points made were apparent long before 2021. In fact from the time that Levien, Kaplan etc were disgracefully sold the club by Jenkins and Co (good luck Newport with Jenkins - you are going to need it!) that the club was in deep, deep trouble. And many of us were saying it at time.
On the one hand these owners seem to have made mistake after mistake and never learned from them but on the other, it has been apparent that since relegation with player sales of circa £132m and incoming of £18m in player purchases, money has seemingly simply disappeared from the club. The lack of transparency as to where the £110m+ surplus has gone, which appears untraceable, heightens the suspicion and lack of trust that many of us supporters have in these owners (and in the American model of business for British football clubs generally eg Glazers et al).
The fact remains that from having only 10yrs won the League Cup and wiped the floor with Valencia playing free-flowing, imaginative football under Laudrup (whom that great football guru Jenkins ruthlessly sacked), we are now almost at the bottom of the Championship, and quite probably facing relegation to L1 this year. This is a shocking decline characterised under these arrogant and grasping owners by missing millions, repeatedly making awful football decisions, combined with a consistent failure to support really good managers in Potter, Cooper and more recently (and rather more questionably Martin (will he survive at Southampton?).
The downward trajectory will continue under these American owners - who are all talk (and they can’t even get that right!) and when they finally do seem to get a plausible structure in place with Watson and Coleman, it appears to have come far too late to save us. Face up to reality, we are in free fall and have been for many years and it’s all due to these avaricious, distant and frankly incompetent owners. The only way forward is for them to sell (please get out of our club!), though they will probably mess that up as well - but then that won’t worry them as long as they end up taking in more money.
But then, I have supported Swansea Town/City since watching my first match at the Vetch in 1963, so what would I know? It is my opinion that American model for supporting British football stinks!
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Comment | Can the Swans get in their three key targets this week ?
at 10:15:20
What do you mean when you say ‘with Andrew Coleman back in fold and able to apply his business acumen to situations’? Crikey the guy has only just joined the club, apparently moved his family to Swansea only on 1st August, declaring his passion for the area. Then at the most critical time in the summer transfer market, he is suddenly as you say ‘back in the fold’ like the US Cavalry to apply his supreme business intellect to try to get 2 or 3 players over the line. And I wonder what we will end up with…
For all those who have to work for a basic living during the so-called summer months as care workers, drs, nurses, shop workers, employee in hospitality industry etc, so many with families of their own to support in difficult times, such a comment by Indy is careless and patronising. Frankly, the guy should have been here in Wales throughout the transfer window, making sure he is doing his financial due diligence on players and not leaving it to the last moment to apply his ‘business acumen’. If you are correct and Coleman has only just returned then I wonder how long Paul Watson will suffer the arrogant and distant approach which tripped previously up Potter, Cooper and Martin before he and Duff came on the scene? I thought Coleman represented a new and ‘hands-on’ approach from the owners - but if your comment is factually correctly then clearly not. |
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Comment | Great expectations at Swansea City or flawed thinking on Duff ?
at 23:03:18
This seems a reasonably balanced analysis especially in relation to Steve Cooper whom I never felt Swans Indy supported with same level of belief they subsequently applied to the so-called visionary but far less successful Russell Martin.
One of the several constants throughout the American ownership of the club has been a failure to make the right decisions on buying and selling players at the right time. The classic (amongst many examples) being the failure to back Cooper in his second year in the January transfer window with the proven striker we desperately needed to make the push to automatic promotion. Instead of investing wisely and with ambition, they brought in two crocked, unfit Americans who had no experience outside of the US - were fish out of water, inevitability got injured and made absolutely no contribution to the push towards a return to the PL. I remain convinced that Levien et als incompetence cost us promotion back to the PL, (yet Cooper still managed to get us to play-off finals). Then what does he do next year - only goes an achieves promotion with a rock bottom Forest, again illustrating that our club’s owners do not invest properly in the club. Had they done so, they would have reaped far higher financial returns for their shareholders. Their incompetence however, is pretty standard practice for most British clubs owned with American owners.
It’s important to stress that since relegation these owners have sold £130m of players and reinvested just £18m on new players. £112m profit. Their pattern of financial behaviour is never going to change under Duff’s playing stewardship, for if they failed to support Potter, Cooper and Martin, then the quite probably less able Duff, is going to have no chance. Based upon past performance under these owners, the future for the club is becoming even less certain and potentially more worrying as the downward trajectory will continue, though at a faster rate. |
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Comment | Joel Piroe rejects new Swansea contract and is ready to sign for Leeds
at 17:28:54
Call me a cynic but what proportion of the incoming funds from the sale of Piroe will be reinvested in playing staff? The history under the past 7 yrs or so of the current ownership suggests that the answer will be very little, if any at all. After this will follow the likely sale of Nathan Wood.
Therefore this next week will be the defining moment of Watson and Coleman’s tenure at the club. Will they be permitted to reinvest in quality (rather than players for future and loans), will they fight their corner, or will they be walked over by Levine et al and the surplus disappears (think parachute payments, Joe Rodon etc)?
No doubt the usual pseudo-financial protagonists will argue that this is about the sustainability of the club, but the basic fact is that since relegation the club have sold £130m worth of players (if Piroe is included but the sale of Whittaker to Plymouth is not), and purchased just £18m (including Yates). So £112m profit on player sales. Financial sustainability or perhaps something else?
As for Piroe, good luck to him as he has served us well over the past couple of years, but I am disappointed that he is being sold to a direct rival. Not really the actions of an ambitious club. But of course as a diehard fan for the past 60yrs very happy to be proved wrong and we find ourselves back in the PL with a Laudrup type of flair. |
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Comment | What will stall Michael Duff coming to Swansea City ?
at 08:53:59
No doubt Sheffield Weds will be hovering around this morning. Rumoured to be looking at Steven Gerrard but Barnsley is just a few miles up the road from Sheffield. A big test for our new American chairman if he is to build up a bit of credibility with supporters - he will need to act today if Duff is to be the chosen one. |
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Comment | Has Russell Martin got any choice but to do this ?
at 13:25:54
I am certainly not as ‘green as grass’ resolvenswan1. If only, as my first swans match was at the Vetch in 1963… and I suspect you are just one of tiny number apologists for the American owners. The facts don’t lie - in 7 yrs these owners have taken us from PL down to the lower reaches of the Championship and most probably to L1 next season. We are suffering from enormous reputational damage under these owners and their tenure can only end badly.
And the Wrexham story is about philanthropy to date - though this may well change as Wrexham hopefully progress from the conference up to the championship over the next 3-5yrs. |
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Comment | Has Russell Martin got any choice but to do this ?
at 14:19:15
It is not too difficult to broadly agree with the sentiments expressed in this article and with the comments posted in response, for the reality is that SCFC is now beginning to drop like a stone. But there again we have been consistently edging downwards since the owners came in 7yrs ago. The systemic and withering decline of the club on the pitch, in financial worth, and damage to the club’s reputation is totally down to them. But the difference now is that the speed of the decline is increasing under Martin’s tenure and i can’t imagine Cooper making the same mistakes nor indeed Potter before him.
But let’s get it in perspective. The sustained decline of the club is the fault of the owners, the current position is added to by the failure of Russell Martin to make the best of the very poor hand he has been dealt with by the Owners. He was after all their third choice when they couldnt get in Eustace and I think, Jody Morris - hardly setting the managerial world alight themselves. Martin came with at best a moderate reputation from MK Dons. He is a talker and an ideas man but as yet he hasn’t proved that he can deliver on the pitch, in fact far from it.
So I agree that for the rest of season Martin has to blood the youngsters (and we are already a young side), give Grimes a break and make Allen or even Fulton captain - but the danger is that if Martin doesn’t change his tactics the young players may well lose confidence as the defeats continue to roll in and the crowd continues to get on their backs as we witnessed against Rotherham.
And what on earth is Winter doing with his time at the club? He us certainly not managing, supporting and enabling Martin to reflect on his mistakes and through tactical adjustments and better decision-making get some spine and aggression in the side.
But the big picture is not about Martin. Managers, as is stated above will often get big payoff’s, the big picture is about the Owners as it is they who have driven us down into this position. When they took over 7yrs ago I said then that American ownership of British football clubs NEVER works. The American business model is self-serving and self-indulgent, extremely arrogant, and because it they ‘manage’ from a great distance lack the connection, empathy and understanding to provide effective oversight of British clubs who have often served their local communities for decades before the American cavalry arrived. And before anyone quotes Wrexham at me - they have a very different financial model which is based on philanthropy and is part Canadian owned anyway!
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Comment | Osian Roberts and his gift to Morocco ‘Could it be Swansea next’ ?
at 13:52:53
Insightful piece. I would be very keen to see Osian at Swansea though the biggest need for his foresight and skill in development and leadership is with the Welsh national team. It is beyond belief that after the (predictable) disappointment of performances at the World Cup the FAW have not announced a full review into not just the very poor showing at the World Cup, but also the poor track record under Rob Page and the fact that we have ageing world class stars soon to move on, without similar world class quality players coming through to replace them (though some decent players with promise to be fair). The FAW need to have a clear plan in place for the next 5-10yrs to secure the future of welsh football so we can continue to compete at the highest levels of international football.
Osian Roberts has already been there with Wales and Gary Speed. Add to this his Morocco success, it would seem the obvious call to make by the FAW. Whether the FAW have the insight to make that call and whether Osian would listen to that call is another thing altogether.
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Comment | Wales : Getting knocked out ? A bitter pill or a chance to rebuild ?
at 14:15:27
Completely agree. Wales have reached a pivotal and critical point in time and the FAW must show proper leadership by carrying out a forensic analysis of the recent past, by identifying the mistakes made, learning also from what we gave done well, and establishing a firm plan for the next 5-10yrs which covers all of welsh football from under 8’s through to the national team. We have been very fortunate to have had great and challenging coaches in the past like Toshack, Speed, Coleman and the understated Osian Roberts. In recent years numerically we have had our greatest generation of players with Bale, Ramsey and Allen with Williams never been replaced at the back and Davies won’t be around for too many more years. We can’t rely on these now and a far less optimistic future is going to hit us in the face if the FAW don’t act now.
Failure to grasp the initiative will undoubtably mean that we will muddle through the next couple of years, and find ourselves back into the also-rans of European and world football, alongside the likes of Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Rep Ire. Big decisions have to be made now.
Far sharper brains need to be brought back into the fold - like Osian Roberts. As it stands Rob Page seems a nice chap but his record is increasingly and worryingly poor and it was of little surprise to me and many others in the very poor performances given on the pitch in Qatar. In fact it’s been embarrassing. The FAW have only just given Page a 4yr deal - an emotional gesture if there was ever one because it wasn’t based up any objective analysis of his tactical performance and capacity to lead and drive a togetherness on the pitch. What’s the betting that the FAW don’t act and complacently do some minor tweaking and ignore the big danger signs that are currently flashing for Welsh football?
My first Wales match was in 1964 but I hadn’t experienced anything like the highs of Euros16 (apart from 1976 and the European Nations Championship match against Jugoslavia at Ninian Park). We can only hope that the FAW don’t throw away the gains of the last 10yrs by being complacently oblivious to what is so obviously needed now - leadership and a firm sense of direction for the next 5-10yrs |
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Comment | Wales 0 Iran 2 : That’s surely it folks
at 11:03:48
The writing has been on the wall for some time and the performances in last 6 or 7 matches have simply not been good enough and the signpost that we have reached the end of our ‘golden generation’. There is nobody of top ability coming through to replace the world class talent we have been so fortunate to have playing for Wales over the past 6-10yrs. I have an awful feeling that we are soon going to be back running amongst the Northern Ireland’s of European and world football unless some very big decisions are made and a strategic plan for the future of welsh football is out in place.
Notwithstanding the lower calibre of players who will be replacing Bale, Ramsey, Allen the biggest issue concerns the future of the manager. Page remains wholly unconvincing from a tactical perspective and must be replaced after this World Cup though the FAW as usual will be reluctant to take difficult decisions, especially with Page who seems a nice guy and will not present any challenge to ‘the committee’ (as Toshack successfully did in the past when he brought through Bale amongst others). We have been so fortunate with Gary Speed and Chris Coleman - though Giggs and Page have been poor appointments by comparison.
Let’s hope for a performance of fire and fury against England and after that the FAW’s shows some proper leadership by taking clinical analysis of where we are and what we need to do and have a plan to completely rebuild Welsh football. At least now we have some recent history of success to learn from. |
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