Leon Britton believes that alleged conspiracies will only serve to bring the Swans closer together

The Swansea City midfielder stopped short of claiming that there was a conspiracy against them - a theory that has been suggested elsewhere - but believes that it would only serve to bring the team closer together as they chase their Premier League dream.

Speaking on the eve of the Swans next clash at Watford, Britton told the Western Mail “It brings us closer together,

“It kind of makes it us against them really.

“The siege mentality can help us. That’s what we talk about and the manager always tells us that we won’t get any favours from the referees.

“It is us against them and we have to make sure we look after ourselves.

“People don’t want us to do well but that brings the group together and builds the team spirit which obviously helps when you are digging in for results.

“It’s working for us at the moment. Forest was a disappointment but there is still plenty to be optimistic about.

“We are still in a very good position and this trip to Watford is a game in hand for us.

“It will be very tough but, if we can get a good result, it will put us in a strong position.

“We are starting to wonder a bit about when we will get a refereeing decision.

“They haven’t been brilliant for us this season.

“People do say they even themselves up but we will need a lot to go our way by the end of the season for that to happen.

“I can’t remember a season like it to be honest.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a conspiracy against Swansea though.

“It’s probably that we are not the biggest club in the Championship.

“The bigger clubs in this league seem to get the decisions. It’s similar in the Premiership when, if you look at the statistics, Man United didn’t concede a penalty at home for years.

“I think the refs see us as a smaller club and maybe they side with the bigger ones.

“It’s not just the big decisions like the penalty incident on Saturday,” he said. “It’s the tackles that fly in throughout the game.

“I didn’t go to Derby but you just look at some of the challenges they put in.

“It’s not just Derby though and these teams just get away with it. The tackles just seem to go unnoticed. There have been so many bad tackles against us.

“Maybe teams think they should just get stuck into us and rough us up. But, if that happens, we need protection.

“You saw the other week with Aaron Ramsey what can happen if you don’t protect players.

“You don’t want to take tackling out of the game but serious injuries will come along if you don’t stamp out the bad challenges.

"I don’t think their (Watford's) pitch is brilliant,” he explained. “It wasn’t a good game last year and this will probably be the same.

“It won’t be the prettiest game of the season to watch or play in. “But you are going to get games like that and you have to scrap, be strong and dig deep for the points.

“If that means we don’t play that much football and grind out a result, then so be it.”

“Last year was awful. We were lucky to come away having just lost 2-0.

“That sticks in the mind and we just need to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.”

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