The informative but not that well received article by Mark Allen from the official Swans site yesterday, for me did pose a number of questions, some of which are now answered as a result of taking time out to reflect on his thoughts.

There is a collective negative mindset especially within the internet support towards the club, and those who are in that state of mind purvey their thoughts continuously almost three times daily on numerous websites. To be able to analyse a situation as supporters of Swansea City without this negativity seems lost, it’s a shame. Nobody on this website, and there are hundreds who contribute, and thousands who read it is devoid of that ability. We have been saying it all season, we have what we have, and we know what direction we are going in. Regardless of the negativity attached to that final sentence.

And, Mark Allen confirmed this on the weekend. This would have been an endorsed article from at least Julian Winter’s level, not a random post because there’s not a lot happening.

This is a roll of the dice at Swansea that nobody expected this season before Cooper left, we should be applauding those within the stadium walls for their bravery in attempting to reintroduce us all to a football philosophy long lost. It’s not as of they are using this as a conspiracy to bring Swansea down, if it fails their own football futures are at risk. But there is a determination to succeed, and with that determination does come clarity.

And for all the digs aimed at Allen and Winter let’s not forget they ( and their predecessors) have a superb success rate in sourcing and bringing in players. Including Russell Martin. If anyone has issues with Olivier Ntcham, Flynn Downes, Joel Piroe, Michael Obafemi, Jamie Paterson ( early season) Hannes Wolf ( not firing on all cylinders ) Cyrus Christie or indeed Ethan Laird before his biggest football career decision to date ( good choice ) then maybe you need a bigger mirror in your place of abode ? And those players reflect this season, not the one before. There are more examples there.

But then I suppose not everyone is going to be on board as the season has progressed. It’s obvious sacking Martin is not an option, it would cost the club heavily in finances. We all can see this football philosophy works, we’ve seen it on numerous occasions this season. The pace is boring mostly, and with that brings frustration I agree, but we are trying something unique for the first time in a long time. And we have seen progress. Not constant progress, but there is progress.

It’s a bit like driving to Newcastle but getting out of your car at the services north of Birmingham and looking round complaining you haven’t reached your destination. You know what the journey entails but lost interest because the drive got boring on the way and you gave up. And there you are, stranded mid journey having lost your will to complete it. You could apply that analogy to anything, but it makes sense.

You don’t know what you don’t know, and even when it’s explained in simple terms it seems there are those who really can’t be bothered to listen. Maybe they are stuck in the services repeating the same thing over and over again to anyone who will listen ? But why would anyone give up now having endured what they have to date ?

It makes no sense, none whatsoever.

Artwork by Swansea Independent

Bluswan added 12:17 - Mar 28 And it makes absolutely no sense to write an article with it’s (slightly paranoid) tone - without mentioning the owners and their demonstrable track record of taking us from the PL to the mid-lower reaches of the championship. Russell Martin, his team and protagonists like you can crow about transformation and revolution as much they like but the bottom line will always be the willingness and capacity of the owners to invest rather than take out, and to make the right decisions at the right time. For the past two seasons we have been in the play-offs, now we are moderately relieved that Derby’s points reduction has not made us vulnerable to relegation wobbles. We will have to see if this is really a ‘turnaround’ season. Let’s hope so - but success or otherwise will be largely determined by matters off the pitch, not on it, and in particular the summer transfer window.

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ReslovenSwan1 added 13:43 - Mar 28 The club do not need to spent big money in the Summer. The bottom has fallen out of the market. O'Reilly went to Celtic for a pittance in relative terms. Many many player will be out of contract and others running down their deals. Swansea kept their powder dry in January. The owners have performed well. Huw Jenkins did miraculously and it was not reasonable to expect that to go on for ever. The club is financially stable with no debt with a youngish playing roster and decent prospects in the academy. Look forward not back. The club trajectory is temporarily down but should again be upwards. The clubs prospects were artificially inflated with super elite loan players but they have gone. The management structure looks pretty solid to me. This now has to be translated into consistent performances.

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Bluswan added 14:23 - Mar 28 At the end of the day the evidence supporting either view will be in place come the autumn. We’ve fallen a long, long way in just 6 or so years. Most of it through poor judgment and decision-making. We will have to wait to see whether the decline continues and L1 beckons next season. Or perhaps the Martin disciples are correct and his so called European approach (of which he has no personal experience unlike Potter and to a lesser extent Cooper before him), starts to consistently pay-off and Martin can begin to emulate his predecessors. At the moment he is showing himself to be quite naive. I desperately hope he does succeed but it will be very difficult for him as he has one hand tied behind his back - as did Potter and Cooper. 6 years of decline under these owners. The evidence at present does not suggest the decline will change.

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KeithHaynes added 19:28 - Mar 28 You make valid points bluswan but the reaction is to the latest mumbling from the sporting director, we have to have some faith, blind or otherwise. What else can we do ?
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