Swansea City Football Club would like to go on record and "rubbish” today’s story in two morning newspapers regarding the imminent arrival of West Brom striker John Hartson. The stories are full of inaccuracies and the club is extremely disappointed after adopting an "open door" policy towards the media. The statement that Hartson will join the club within 24 hours is untrue; The statement that Hartson will be paid £12,000 a week is untrue and an irresponsible piece of journalism; The statement that Hartson has met with chairman Huw Jenkins and Martin Morgan is untrue, although the club can confirm that Hartson has had a private conversation with manager Roberto Martinez at the request of the player’s representatives; The quotes attributed to Swans chairman Huw Jenkins are inaccurate. "The reports are absolute rubbish,” declared Huw Jenkins. " I did receive a phone call from a journalist last night and all I told him was that the John Hartson story has been going around for a while and that it has been talked about by the club. "But there’s nothing else in that story that came from me because it’s not true. We are not about to sign John Hartson." The Swans chairman aded: "Some clubs may try and seek publicity by prompting stories of this magnitude, but we have tried to move away from this type of things over the last few years. "We try and conduct ourselves in a professional and business-like manner because the last thing we want to do is either raise expectations or upset supporters with publicity-seeking stories regarding possible transfers. "We try and conclude deals before we seek the publicity that goes with it so that supporters are not misled.” The club does not normally comment on individual media reports, but felt that due to the number of inaccuracies in the stories it had to set the record straight. |
