Phil SumblerIt is never pleasant to see a player leave the pitch on a stretcher. But it becomes doubly unpleasant when that player is Wayne Routledge and you realise that the moment he was strapped into the stretcher could be the last time he pulls on a Swans shirt after ten years with the club.
That news seemed to be confirmed by an emotional Steve Cooper who talked about the sour point on a night when the Swans set up a return to the Championship play-off final with a 1-1 draw against Barnsley, a result that was good enough to earn them a match with Brentford at Wembley next Saturday.
Routledge appeared to suffer a knee injury after landing awkwardly during the second half of the game and the Liberty crowd soon realised the potential implications of the injury after the long serving player laid motionless on the floor.
After some brief treatment on the pitch the stretcher was called for and whilst Routledge hobbled off the pitch it was a brief respite before he took his place on the stretcher and was taken down the tunnel potentially for the last time as a Swans player.
A clearly emotional Cooper said after the game “First and foremost I have massive respect for Wayne, and he was the main talking point when I was speaking to the guys in the dressing room,
“It looks like he is going to be injured for next week, but he deserves so much respect, credit and love.
“I have been lucky to work with him, and I will forever be in debt to him because the support he has given me over the last two years has been invaluable.
“He is a really good guy, he sits in between the dressing room and the management team and does it so well because he is a brilliant bloke.
“He has had a great career, he sees the game well, he wants to help and after 10 years at the club everyone thinks the world of him.”
