Despite the grown up world accepting the fact a player wants to leave Swansea City, certain purveyors of immature comment can’t handle the fact - it’s a fact. Matt Grimes is leaving. He made it known to the Swans dressing room after the defeat to Norwich City on Saturday.
If we are to be kind to Grimes he initially made his thoughts known by way of a transfer request on Thursday. That aside the amount of social media abuse flying about between alleged adults on this subject has to be mentioned. The majority clearly in a mindset of not worrying about the real world as they type away in the safety of their mother’s womb with meals provided. Of course none of this is directed at every person on Twitter, and most certainly not at the accounts of many young people who live their lives courteously and with a modicum of awareness.
We will put that to one side and see how these others handle this.
Matt Grimes most certainly has put in a transfer request, and it’s not only because he doesn’t like the way the club is going, it’s because opinionated Swansea fans with a real bugbear or love in regards Grimes are hardly helping. To read so much trash on social media as an example from people who have hardly stepped outside the family home is nothing short of hilarious. Obviously anyone who has gone through those apron string days (not me) will testify that that facts are only facts when they are true.
To get a quick conclusion and a pay rise to suit Matt has pushed the transfer through at a rate of knots, not something our erstwhile club captain is used to, although does possess. If the fee is around three million pounds, there will be add ons but Grimes is determined to leave. People are coming up with reasons, with no proof, making long shot statements without any foundation whilst this website asked questions yesterday and explored possibilities. That was hard to take for some. A sensible review of the information to date was greeted in its usual social media way. We always stand firm but some of these twitter accounts are clearly being run with one eye on what’s for dinner downstairs.
Grimes wanting to leave whilst the season edges towards the precipice of relegation tells you a lot about the individual, but of course the individual hasn’t made any comment. To be in the control of a head coach who can’t be sacked due to profit and sustainability will be frustrating. Yes, he is also going to be unhappy with the situation he has found himself in at Swansea City, being thrust into the limelight as he has been if late. Taking pre match and half time talks in an unprofessional attempt by Luke Williams to take the pressure off his own duties was a poor move. The very fact he was trying to show a united front with the captain hasn’t worked well, the captain is off and the overall pressure placed upon him can’t have helped.
Grimes does have two and a half years left on his contract, and he is the highest paid player at the Swans. Rumoured to be on around £18,000 - £20,000 a week has made him a multi millionaire when his time is counted at Swansea. At 20k that’s eighty thousand pounds a month equating to a million a year. That’s available to him until the summer of 2027. Of course there are tax implications but Matt Grimes and his family will never be worrying about inflation and the cost of living.
We believe the board have welcomed this transfer news for the very reason Matt Grimes financially makes a huge dent in the club coffers every week. The money coming in for him is more than helpful but not for this years profit and sustainability. These figures will be factored in next year. That will include the money received from the sale of Morgan Whittaker to Middlesbrough from Plymouth (est £900,000) and Kyle Joseph Blackpool to Hull City (est £400,000) These are as accurate figures as we can find but not confirmed. However, the fact is the sale of Grimes plus these totals could come in at around four and a half million pounds. Staggered payments we are certain in the case of Grimes but more money in the clubs coffers over this financial year.
When presenting certain facts to people who read this site they do comprehend the detail, and will of course weigh it off with other sources, most of which are going to be saying similar things that create a bigger picture. Unlike a few social media accounts they won’t be banging their nuts off their keyboards and screaming ‘lies’ purely due to the fact they cannot comprehend any detail other than a paragraph left on their social media account. Any more than that and the mind bends, conciliation a word they don’t understand but screaming like mummy’s hasn't left them the right sandwiches for their lunch that day seems to be the answer.
The drama that comes out of some of these accounts becomes a twisted performance of a life where they feel protected and allegedly safe - and the big wide world outside will never happen upon them. The real world though isn’t about Matt Grimes who has been a pretty average player over his career with glimpses of perfection, and that will be the majority verdict on his time at Swansea. People stating ‘we will never see the likes of him again, he cannot be equalled’ are openly suffering some sort of bereavement or loss they cannot manage or have the insight to be aware of. In a world that revolves around constant twitching and reaching for their phone every time something happens most certainly delays anyones personal development and their ability to understand what real life interaction actually is.
Losing class players, not those within the same parameters as Grimes has always been a thing that happens at Swansea. Over the years real Swansea memories are invoked by the likes of Alan Curtis, Robbie James, John Toshack, Jeremy Charles and that wonderful season with Michu. There are so many more lost in time which makes the fall out from this transfer news astonishing.
And all the time Matt Grimes drowns in his million a year, whilst under developed people crow on about the vagrancies of who said what and when. In time and hopefully before they get too old to be something there will surely be a common understanding that a life of social media is unhealthy. And their personal life too has suffered. Matt Grimes won’t care, he’s moving on, he will say all the right things but you can be guaranteed that the pining for a little bit more of his breast milk will continue.