The Swans take on Hull City this Saturday at the Swansea.Com Stadium ( KO 3pm ) and to be perfectly honest this seasons excuses are wearing a bit thin.
We had an update from Chairman, Andrew Coleman which basically implied they were the driving force behind the Swans Women’s team. Untrue, but don’t let that get in front of a manufactured strap line. Then there’s the case of ‘readying’ excuses for January, when - let’s make it simple no investment other than received in the summers transfer fees has been made. So, based on the current situation there’s little chance of that improving. And then there’s the team, a squad of players who in general are on £10,000 plus a week who at times look like they’ve just met each other. Playing players out of position hasn’t worked, the persistence with Jerry Yates is wearing a bit thin and the injuries suffered in training or in games has been unrivalled in many years.
We are looking to those players who have hardly played in the past two months to drop the ‘We play too many games’ moan and knuckle down to convince us they are worth the shirt they are well paid to wear. The constant manipulation of the reasons why the Swans lose games, and we include the coach here as he is also a part of the bigger picture which at times is exploited and taken in by some fans. That’s possibly to be expected in football terms, these deflections we see and hear every week. The ‘Everything is rosey in the garden approach’ when staff employed at the club remain unconvinced as their awareness to the contrary is common knowledge displays further a lack of respect to those staff, and more importantly the fans.
The Leeds United ticket ‘fiasco’ highlighted just how much the club considered the travelling fans when they made their decision based upon their own personal financial goals at the club. Some will point to the Stoke City agreement, however you should know that had this website not highlighted it and reported certain information the club witheld from the paying public then nothing would have been done. Our article prompted a rapidly arranged meeting between the trust and the club which in turn masked the non deal with Leeds and supplied a ‘more feasible deal’ with Stoke City. That smells of more conjuring from the club to mask their decision making and once again distract fans from the real story. And for some it has worked. But you make your mind up.
We don’t play games with a collection of bendy mirrors to distort the truth, others with a history of double bluffs do that now in the name of Swansea City. For us here the club are no longer being held accountable by the fans. The doors are closed to supporters who live and breathe the name ‘Swansea City’ the leadership have been cleverly manipulated by certain staff members and there will be a lot more on that as the month progresses. It won’t read well.
Then there are the ever decreasing attendances being boosted by very decent away followings. But what price on some proper effort to embrace the missing thousands ? We don’t see anything at all. Another red flag which supports the belief that the Jack Army are well down the list when club business is discussed. The very lifeblood of the club being ignored will never pay off in the long run.
We now have a club with a model that is losing around a million pounds a year to pay the Chairman and his trusted assistant. Both have club paid housing, cars, removal expenses, family relocation and schooling all factored in to make matters even more expensive for Swansea City. There are other yet to be disclosed quite shocking finances which are not coming in cheap as well. But we have people ready and willing to disclose them, Timing is of the essence here, and it’s us who will dictate when and not Swansea City. In fact the investments bar Nigel Morris are factoring in another treasure trove with drip fed information on Swansea City LLC. There is no open access to that information, and a desire not to impart the true facts of the LLC just shows the upper echelons of the club in a poor light.
When a business doesn’t disclose the full facts of investments, eyebrows are often raised. We’ve seen enough of that in the history of the club. That makes certain people hardened as veterans of purposeful campaigns that has seen off many shysters who thought they too could blag the fans. In most of those cases it took a prolonged campaign before fans saw what was happening right in front of their eyes. But when you are dealing with calculating and less than transparent individuals you have to play a long game, and add up your own calculations ready for the battle ahead.
And as it stands, there will be one.
The Swans support may well be more meeker and milder after the success of the Premier League and a major trophy, maybe some have lost the will to fight ? But there are always others to move in and put their beliefs to the test. And we mean hundreds of people. What we now need is more transparency because currently it’s a one way flow of misleading and manipulative buzz words to keep everyone happy.
Well, we are not smiling. The clubs fans deserve a lot more for their buck and a lot more consideration. Not everyone likes to be a walking pound note only welcome when they have to fork out nearly a hundred pounds for ticket, travel and basic sustenance on a midweek night in Leeds. A night that the club could have managed far better had they not applied a financial spreadsheet to the average Swansea supporter instead of respecting their input week to week.
It all starts on the pitch this Saturday - and of course we realise that if the team is winning even the most manipulative mind will feel far more comfortable to carry on their business. So, maybe Michael Duff does hold the key that allows a free passage to our current ownership, but it won’t last forever, we here at the Indy are watching and with very helpful people more than happy to assist to boot. From previous experiences with numerous Swansea ownerships we keep our powder dry, because discontent, even within a loyal supporters base like Swansea have.
Nothing lasts forever.
Especially at Swansea City.