Blog written by waynekerr55
Published: 28th December 2016 22:24
I had planned to write this in a different fashion, but Bob Bradley's departure from the club changes a section of this blog. The conclusion was as expected. A seemingly good man and a tryer who simply wasn't up to the job. In short he should never have been given the job.
Which brings me on to my next point. The accusations of xenophobia and an 'anti American' bias NEED TO STOP. I can't emphasise enough that most, if not all Swansea City fans want success for the club. As I pointed out on Twitter last night, I didn't see any xenophobic behaviour towards Tim Howard, Brad Friedel or Landon Donovan. Funny that, given that they were successful. These cheap shots need to stop, and a more thorough investigation into the reasons that the club finds itself is needed.
Firstly, why hasn't there been more press coverage about the collision between sellers and buyers? For my reckoning, only David Conn and Stan Collymore have picked up on this, with the latter labelling the sellers as 'charlatans' on his BoyleSports blog. I note Gab Marcotti has also contributed with a well written article, bar the part where he said that the 'lack of experience' wasn't why Bob failed. Sorry, Guidolin had top flight experience, Bob didn't. Giving Bob a Premier League job was like putting a Black Cab driver forward to be Mercedes' new F1 driver for the 2017 season, it's simply wasn't going to work out.
Secondly, would it be unfair to state that Huw Jenkins is none other than an urban myth? A chancer who takes the credit for other people's work. If we look back in time, our periods of success between Flynn and Roberto involved Kevin Reeves as our chief in staff of recruitment. The following season with Sousa in charge we signed Kuqi, Beattiie (who both battered Watford at Vicarage Road) and almost signed Bayo Akinfenwa! I'll come back to this example.
We then had two years of Brendan,which were then followed by Tutumlu. Players signed who fitted the ethos of the club. Between then and now it all looks a bit 'Bayo' on the recruitment front. Anyone else notice a pattern emerging?
The conduct of almost all of the former majority shareholders has been unbelievably naive/dim/arrogant/all three (delete as appropriate). There have been many (unconfirmed) rumours as to why they sold. "The accounts tell their own tale", "the Chinese bid is a Red Herring", "take us to the next level". What I cannot get over is that some allegedly cannot understand why people are a tad narked. Nothing to do with the collision, the duplicity, the arrogance on social media, the dividends or the inflation busting pay rises, hey? But we had to sell, as we mismanaged the finances...
Continuing with this theme, on reflection their conduct shouldn't really come as a surprise. I remember talking to a friend who coached at the then centre of excellence. I know the boys were getting paid £25 to work all Sunday. When challenged on this, Huw allegedly said "they should be doing this for free, the honour of working for the club should be enough". If true, how times have changed... Besides, this whole 'we worked for free' line that's churned out as a justification for taking dividends and huge pay rises was a Red Herring for me. They had businesses to fall back on, so it's not as if they were robbing Peter to pay Paul, was it?
Then there was the demise of Caseys, which also took a similar turn to that of our club. Took what was needed then ran into the ground. Coincidence? Pattern? Only Huw can answer that one, and one is fearful of stating opinions as FACT, given that José mkII has a big pot of money!
We also have the shambles that is the commercial side of the club, ran by that upstanding individual Mr Leigh Dineen. This is a man who's awarded himself inflation busting pay rises despite the club being the second worst performer in the non TV money revenue streams. I've heard many excuses from posters such as Xmastree and Dougie (who are every quick to defend him), yet little improvement on the commercial front. I also understand that he's been retained due to his knowledge of the commercial deals we have. I mean come on, this should be intellectual property of the business. How was this allowed to happen? What on earth has happened to the corporate governance of the business?
Which brings me on to the Trust. For balance I'll discuss issues that have been done to death on here. How Leigh Dineen or any board member was allowed free reign on intellectual property is beyond me. This to me is another example of the 'pro bono publico' approach to governance is dead (yes Ressurection - I know you said that 😎). It also adds fuel to the fire about the Trust being too cosy with the board.
How do we move forward? Well some have said that the Trust have not been strong enough in their response in their latest press release. I'm going to disagree, based on the fact that Huw is being referred to as 'the chairman' and it would appear that it's being inferred that he's on his last legs. It also appears that the non appointment of Dineen to the board shows the tide turning against our 'fans'. I'd also like to think that messers Levein and Kaplain want to work with the Trust and there are small steps progressing. I think they now know that we won't be bullied or pushed around.
I also think that it's time that more people got on board and worked with the Trust. Crikey, I've only spoken online to TheResurrection and I can tell he'd be great in any capacity. Granted he makes General Mugabe seem like a diplomat at times but at least he has the balls to say it as it is. He's also indicated that he wishes to get involved, the more the merrier I say.
I do also want to clarify my personal stance. Me personally I have no problem with a sale as such, whatever or thoughts on our former 'fan shareholders' they did put up the cash. My main umbrage is with the way it was done, including the arrogance of asking for the previous SHA to be annulled. I do apologise for some of the comments I've made, and I did have a discussion with a family member on Twitter. If our previous shareholders do have the club at heart, then they know now exactly what has to be done, including their friends/family/themselves posting ludicrous piffle on here defending their actions. Be remembered for the good you did, not your recent performance. Look no further than how Joan Laporta is viewed at Barcelona, despite being the man who brought Guardiola in to manage the club.