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Post by fiveattheback on Apr 4, 2019 11:17:21 GMT
Quite a production line they've got going there at Swansea City  What's their secret? I'd give the credit for him to Maindy Corries, not the Swans! |
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Post by barry on Apr 18, 2019 10:42:42 GMT
Congrats on winning the FAW Youth Cup for the tenth year in a row !!
Beat TNS 2-1 last nite.
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Post by manulike on Apr 19, 2019 16:09:21 GMT
Amazing roller coaster of a game today.
Very lucky to have won 4-3.
I'd say, could have easily ended 5-7 to Rotherham.
Great to see Joe get another 20 minutes.
Conner had a superb game. Totally back to his regular form.
If only James could be more clinical, he could have scored 3 today.
Still, whenever he runs at pace, he always makes things happen.
A real prospect.
What are the thoughts of the Swans out there after seeing Will Vaulks today?
Man of the Match, in my books.
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Post by cymrucg on Apr 19, 2019 23:59:23 GMT
Amazing roller coaster of a game today. Very lucky to have won 4-3. I'd say, could have easily ended 5-7 to Rotherham. Great to see Joe get another 20 minutes. Conner had a superb game. Totally back to his regular form. If only James could be more clinical, he could have scored 3 today. Still, whenever he runs at pace, he always makes things happen. A real prospect. What are the thoughts of the Swans out there after seeing Will Vaulks today? Man of the Match, in my books. Yes, Vaulks played well. Good prospect there, IMHO. He was being goaded by the people near me when he was taking one of his long throws, this particular one resulted in Rotherham's second goal. He turned around at the goaders and celebrated at them. I personally don't believe in booing any Welsh player, so I reckon a lot didn't even know he is a Welsh international. I'm sure that ignorance will change in the not to distant future, especially after today's performance. |
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Post by welshiron on Apr 20, 2019 7:55:44 GMT
Congrats on winning the FAW Youth Cup for the tenth year in a row !! Beat TNS 2-1 last nite. Great effort by both teams Swansea winning 10 on the bounce TNS getting to the final and making a real game of it. The Met also had a good run to the semi final. Couple of questions 1. Why did Newport get kicked out 2. Why didn't Wrexham enter |
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Post by robin1864 on Apr 20, 2019 13:40:36 GMT
Congrats on winning the FAW Youth Cup for the tenth year in a row !! Beat TNS 2-1 last nite. Great effort by both teams Swansea winning 10 on the bounce TNS getting to the final and making a real game of it. The Met also had a good run to the semi final. Couple of questions 1. Why did Newport get kicked out 2. Why didn't Wrexham enter I'm surprised by us not entering as in previous years, but this season I believe we've been restructuring our youth sides and there isn't much organisation to them, to the point where we're asking anyone for a game via twitter. |
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Post by welshiron on Apr 20, 2019 16:17:15 GMT
Great effort by both teams Swansea winning 10 on the bounce TNS getting to the final and making a real game of it. The Met also had a good run to the semi final. Couple of questions 1. Why did Newport get kicked out 2. Why didn't Wrexham enter I'm surprised by us not entering as in previous years, but this season I believe we've been restructuring our youth sides and there isn't much organisation to them, to the point where we're asking anyone for a game via twitter. Not great that. How can little villages have academies and youth teams but not Wrexham. |
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Post by alarch on Apr 20, 2019 17:27:12 GMT
I'm surprised by us not entering as in previous years, but this season I believe we've been restructuring our youth sides and there isn't much organisation to them, to the point where we're asking anyone for a game via twitter. Not great that. How can little villages have academies and youth teams but not Wrexham. Ouch! |
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Post by robin1864 on Apr 20, 2019 17:53:27 GMT
I'm surprised by us not entering as in previous years, but this season I believe we've been restructuring our youth sides and there isn't much organisation to them, to the point where we're asking anyone for a game via twitter. Not great that. How can little villages have academies and youth teams but not Wrexham. They're not chasing promotion to a more lucrative division, that's how. |
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Post by CrackityJones on Apr 22, 2019 14:49:38 GMT
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Post by welshiron on May 1, 2019 15:14:22 GMT
Hope Giggs is at the game tonight.
Plenty of Welsh talent.
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Post by manulike on May 1, 2019 18:26:19 GMT
Disappointing that Rodon still only on the bench, despite very little riding on the game ;-( James, Roberts, Lawrence and Wilson all start. John also on the bench.
UPDATE Declan comes on for final 45'
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1983
steve evans
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Post by 1983 on May 2, 2019 11:35:22 GMT
A true Gent
Well Done Alan
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Post by welshiron on May 2, 2019 12:25:15 GMT
Met him a few times as a kid and he always took the time to speak.
Some player as well
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Post by erasedcitizen on May 13, 2019 8:47:09 GMT
Graham Potter is heavy favourite to take the Brighton job after Hughton's sacking. That would be a huge blow, along with losing Dan James.
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Post by superunknown on May 13, 2019 9:12:10 GMT
Graham Potter is heavy favourite to take the Brighton job after Hughton's sacking. That would be a huge blow, along with losing Dan James. Agreed. Rumours that Dan James will get loaned back to Swansea after signing for United though, great deal for the Swans if so. |
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Post by insertname on May 13, 2019 9:46:26 GMT
Has he even done well enough at Swansea to justify being given the job at a premier league club?
Seems a bit like a Wrexham manager poach- take a guy who is doing alright in a lower league then sack him by Christmas and the only winner is the manager’s bank balance when the compo payment hits.
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Post by iot on May 13, 2019 10:08:43 GMT
Has he even done well enough at Swansea to justify being given the job at a premier league club? Seems a bit like a Wrexham manager poach- take a guy who is doing alright in a lower league then sack him by Christmas and the only winner is the manager’s bank balance when the compo payment hits. I think he's been really impressive, in terms of results (considering everything they've had to deal with), the style of play implemented and the way in which the youngsters have developed under him. He would be a big loss to the swans and to Wales. |
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Post by insertname on May 13, 2019 10:17:39 GMT
Has he even done well enough at Swansea to justify being given the job at a premier league club? Seems a bit like a Wrexham manager poach- take a guy who is doing alright in a lower league then sack him by Christmas and the only winner is the manager’s bank balance when the compo payment hits. I think he's been really impressive, in terms of results (considering everything they've had to deal with), the style of play implemented and the way in which the youngsters have developed under him. He would be a big loss to the swans and to Wales. So failing to trouble the play offs is more of a reflection of the way the club is currently being administrated than any failing in Potter to get the most out of his squad? |
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Post by iot on May 13, 2019 12:14:15 GMT
I think he's been really impressive, in terms of results (considering everything they've had to deal with), the style of play implemented and the way in which the youngsters have developed under him. He would be a big loss to the swans and to Wales. So failing to trouble the play offs is more of a reflection of the way the club is currently being administrated than any failing in Potter to get the most out of his squad? I would say so, absolutely. The squad has been completely decimated. From their first team last season, they've lost their keeper and player of the season in fabianski, the heart of their defence in Mawson and Fernandez; their main midfielders in Ki, Cork, Clucas, Mesa (while Fer was hardly fit), and all their big name forwards in the ayew brothers and bony. They lost, I believe, more than a dozen first team/fringe players and only replaced them with a handful of players. Their main players didn't have hardly any senior football behind them prior to this season e.g. james, mcburnie, grimes. With an incompetent manager, swansea could easily have been fighting for survival, they've done very well to finish where they are. |
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Post by insertname on May 13, 2019 13:30:37 GMT
So failing to trouble the play offs is more of a reflection of the way the club is currently being administrated than any failing in Potter to get the most out of his squad? I would say so, absolutely. The squad has been completely decimated. From their first team last season, they've lost their keeper and player of the season in fabianski, the heart of their defence in Mawson and Fernandez; their main midfielders in Ki, Cork, Clucas, Mesa (while Fer was hardly fit), and all their big name forwards in the ayew brothers and bony. They lost, I believe, more than a dozen first team/fringe players and only replaced them with a handful of players. Their main players didn't have hardly any senior football behind them prior to this season e.g. james, mcburnie, grimes. With an incompetent manager, swansea could easily have been fighting for survival, they've done very well to finish where they are. Ah, the vibe I got from the Swansea forum post-relegation was that the likes of Ki were no great loss but if you aren't going to replace senior players then yes avoiding a struggle has to be considered a good return. Dare I ask what has happened to the parachute payments or is that a stupid question? |
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Post by iot on May 13, 2019 13:56:22 GMT
I would say so, absolutely. The squad has been completely decimated. From their first team last season, they've lost their keeper and player of the season in fabianski, the heart of their defence in Mawson and Fernandez; their main midfielders in Ki, Cork, Clucas, Mesa (while Fer was hardly fit), and all their big name forwards in the ayew brothers and bony. They lost, I believe, more than a dozen first team/fringe players and only replaced them with a handful of players. Their main players didn't have hardly any senior football behind them prior to this season e.g. james, mcburnie, grimes. With an incompetent manager, swansea could easily have been fighting for survival, they've done very well to finish where they are. Ah, the vibe I got from the Swansea forum post-relegation was that the likes of Ki were no great loss but if you aren't going to replace senior players then yes avoiding a struggle has to be considered a good return. Dare I ask what has happened to the parachute payments or is that a stupid question? Apparently it's been used to manage the massive deficit they were running on. They've needed to both use those funds and offload all those players, and hand in redundancy notices to almost all their backroom staff (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47664643) just to balance the books. I've heard that some of the players were earning ridiculous salaries which they just couldn't cope with. It does beg the question, though, what was the point of the american takeover? It was supposed to bring in investment, but there's been no sign of that as far as I can see. Huw Jenkins must shoulder a lot of the blame for the serious mishandling of player salaries and for facilitating the sale of the club which haven't led to any benefits as far as I can see, and it certainly looks like it's done a lot more harm than good. |
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Post by iot on May 13, 2019 13:56:58 GMT
Ah, the vibe I got from the Swansea forum post-relegation was that the likes of Ki were no great loss but if you aren't going to replace senior players then yes avoiding a struggle has to be considered a good return. Dare I ask what has happened to the parachute payments or is that a stupid question? Apparently it's been used to manage the massive deficit they were running on. They've needed to both use those funds and offload all those players, and hand in redundancy notices to almost all their backroom staff (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47664643) just to balance the books. I've heard that some of the players were earning ridiculous salaries which they just couldn't cope with. It does beg the question, though, what was the point of the american takeover? It was supposed to bring in investment, but there's been no sign of that as far as I can see. Huw Jenkins must shoulder a lot of the blame for the serious mishandling of player salaries and for facilitating the sale of the club which haven't led to any benefits as far as I can see, and it certainly looks like it's done a lot more harm than good. I should say that I'm not a swansea fan, so i suspect others on here will be far more informed than me! |
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Post by alarch on May 13, 2019 14:44:08 GMT
No you've summarised things very well there iot. If Potter leaves it will be a massive blow to Swansea and quite possibly to the many Welsh prospects coming through the age groups. Potter is one of a rare breed of visionary and idealistic managers. He's more akin to the Bielsa's and Guardiola's of this world than your average Championship or Premier League manager. I'm not saying he's as good as Guardiola (who is?), just that his approach is a highly principled one, rather than a pragmatic one (an English Guardiola in the same way that Joe Allen was Liverpool's Welsh Xavi). He's perfect for rebuilding the club after the mismanagement of recent years - and a 10th place finish was exceptional given the resources at his disposal.
If Brighton are serious about appointing him then the chances are he'll leave, although I'm clinging to the hope that, as a family man, he doesn't want to put his family through yet another upheaval less than a year after the last one. Even though he'll probably do well at Brighton, he also knows that the project of changing their style of play and personnel may take more time than he'll be given. After all if Hughton can be sacked after getting Brighton promoted and keeping them in the league for several seasons then Potter can be under no illusions about the risk he would be taking.
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Post by insertname on May 13, 2019 19:09:33 GMT
Ah, the vibe I got from the Swansea forum post-relegation was that the likes of Ki were no great loss but if you aren't going to replace senior players then yes avoiding a struggle has to be considered a good return. Dare I ask what has happened to the parachute payments or is that a stupid question? Apparently it's been used to manage the massive deficit they were running on. They've needed to both use those funds and offload all those players, and hand in redundancy notices to almost all their backroom staff (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47664643) just to balance the books. I've heard that some of the players were earning ridiculous salaries which they just couldn't cope with. It does beg the question, though, what was the point of the american takeover? It was supposed to bring in investment, but there's been no sign of that as far as I can see. Huw Jenkins must shoulder a lot of the blame for the serious mishandling of player salaries and for facilitating the sale of the club which haven't led to any benefits as far as I can see, and it certainly looks like it's done a lot more harm than good. But they were always held up as the model club- local businessman in charge, fans trust on board etc. It seemed the case that the wages they were paying were on line with money the club generated from prem football. So all along the club underneath was a basket case? I was expecting your response to be that the American owners had something to do with it but it seems like it is actually plausible that the parachute money was legitimately to service debt? As you say it is yet to be seen what these ‘investors’ have actually brought to the table as their arrival has coincided with a significant decline although it sounds from what you say as if there were problems before they rocked up and it wasn’t what it ostensibly seemed from the outside: a well run club inexplicably sold off for the profit of those involved. |
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Post by iot on May 13, 2019 20:37:06 GMT
Apparently it's been used to manage the massive deficit they were running on. They've needed to both use those funds and offload all those players, and hand in redundancy notices to almost all their backroom staff (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47664643) just to balance the books. I've heard that some of the players were earning ridiculous salaries which they just couldn't cope with. It does beg the question, though, what was the point of the american takeover? It was supposed to bring in investment, but there's been no sign of that as far as I can see. Huw Jenkins must shoulder a lot of the blame for the serious mishandling of player salaries and for facilitating the sale of the club which haven't led to any benefits as far as I can see, and it certainly looks like it's done a lot more harm than good. But they were always held up as the model club- local businessman in charge, fans trust on board etc. It seemed the case that the wages they were paying were on line with money the club generated from prem football. So all along the club underneath was a basket case? I was expecting your response to be that the American owners had something to do with it but it seems like it is actually plausible that the parachute money was legitimately to service debt? As you say it is yet to be seen what these ‘investors’ have actually brought to the table as their arrival has coincided with a significant decline although it sounds from what you say as if there were problems before they rocked up and it wasn’t what it ostensibly seemed from the outside: a well run club inexplicably sold off for the profit of those involved. I suspect the populist gripe among swans fans is that the americans have come in and asset stripped the club to line their own pockets, a la the glazers. But from what I've heard, that hasn't been the case, they've merely used the clubs aseets (i.e. parachute payments and the playing personnel) to service the debt, as you say. However, swans fans should still feel aggrieved as the whole purpose of the turnover at the time was to invest in the club, and that hasn't happened. From my understanding, the swans did operate as the model club throughout their rise to the premier league and the first few seasons their. They then gradually turned into all other lower prem clubs, panic buying when results were poor, meaning they paid over the odds for players in terms of transfer and salaries, causing significant financial liabilities year on year that they weren't big enough to deal with. |
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2019 10:40:55 GMT
We were badly run and spending far beyond our means before Levien and Kaplan bought their shares. The sorts of contracts handed out to new signings post-Laudrup were insane. The "free" signings were anything but, and once the dam burst every player was getting big pay rises. We had the highest wage-to-turnover percentage in the division, and were in a far more precarious position than West Brom and Stoke coming down, regardless of any backing from the pockets of board members.
There has been no asset-stripping. The players we sold barely qualified as assets as their wage obligations would have bankrupted the club. No money has been taken out in the form of dividends. Loans provided by the Americans to cover cashflow shortages (which have always been needed to keep the lights on) have been charged at standard bank rates (confirmed by Trust people).
Not that the Americans have improved matters. Spending on duff players last season was horrendous. Andre Ayew in January for £20m and and £80k/week 3.5 year contract will be an anchor around our neck for a long time. He was awful for West Ham, should have put our trust in the kids instead. Might have stayed up, or at least would have been much stronger coming down.
Potter has been built up by many fans as the only significant factor in making us a presentable football team again, but in reality our transformation has been built on not just his work but the squad we've developed here over the last 3/4/5 seasons, and the opportunities given to players as a result of relegation. It's a blow to lose him (should he choose to make the step up) but we're not doomed without him. Players like Rodon, Roberts, James, McBurnie, Byers, Celina etc. have been playing progressive pass and move football their whole careers, it wasn't a new concept revealed to them by the messiah Graham Potter.
The trick is to pick a new manager who will iterate and improve upon what Potter has in place, like we used to do in our rise through the divisions. Instead of a conservative firefighter desperate to keep us where we are.
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Post by iot on May 14, 2019 12:03:19 GMT
We were badly run and spending far beyond our means before Levien and Kaplan bought their shares. The sorts of contracts handed out to new signings post-Laudrup were insane. The "free" signings were anything but, and once the dam burst every player was getting big pay rises. We had the highest wage-to-turnover percentage in the division, and were in a far more precarious position than West Brom and Stoke coming down, regardless of any backing from the pockets of board members. There has been no asset-stripping. The players we sold barely qualified as assets as their wage obligations would have bankrupted the club. No money has been taken out in the form of dividends. Loans provided by the Americans to cover cashflow shortages (which have always been needed to keep the lights on) have been charged at standard bank rates (confirmed by Trust people). Not that the Americans have improved matters. Spending on duff players last season was horrendous. Andre Ayew in January for £20m and and £80k/week 3.5 year contract will be an anchor around our neck for a long time. He was awful for West Ham, should have put our trust in the kids instead. Might have stayed up, or at least would have been much stronger coming down. Potter has been built up by many fans as the only significant factor in making us a presentable football team again, but in reality our transformation has been built on not just his work but the squad we've developed here over the last 3/4/5 seasons, and the opportunities given to players as a result of relegation. It's a blow to lose him (should he choose to make the step up) but we're not doomed without him. Players like Rodon, Roberts, James, McBurnie, Byers, Celina etc. have been playing progressive pass and move football their whole careers, it wasn't a new concept revealed to them by the messiah Graham Potter.
The trick is to pick a new manager who will iterate and improve upon what Potter has in place, like we used to do in our rise through the divisions. Instead of a conservative firefighter desperate to keep us where we are.I think that's a fair point, but I think Potter's a rising star and I can't see you getting an improvement in. You're right that the success of the academy players isn't solely down to Potter, but you may very well be in a situation of losing potter and those young stars to balance the books. If that happens, you won't have hardly anything going for you at all. |
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2019 13:15:27 GMT
That's football, isn't it. Do well and clubs higher up the food chain come courting. There aren't many clubs in the Championship capable of hoarding their stars. And those that do haven't found promotion a simple task, even as FFP sanctions loom.
Norwich and Sheff Utd sold key players last summer. The former had an unknown first year professional in the Championship team of the season. Turnover is not a death penalty in this division.
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Post by alarch on May 14, 2019 20:31:12 GMT
Managers like Potter don't come along often. Swansea's success in recent years was very much down to the inspired managerial appointments that Huw Jenkins made - in Martinez, Rodgers and his role in appointing Potter. All three were first and foremost idealists rather than the bog standard pragmatists that account for the vast majority of managers in the EFL and Premier League. For a club such as Swansea, that has the profile of a mid-Championship club, to punch above its weight, a visionary manager is an essential ingredient. With Huw Jenkins no longer involved with the club (not that he deserves to be given his many other deficiencies) the chances that Swansea will bring in a manager that's as good as Potter is very remote. I'm still clutching at straws that he'll stay - it's certainly not a given, given his emphasis on family life and desire to be involved in a project. Going to Brighton will all be about results and staying in the Premier League, as the chairman has already pretty much stated.
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