The owners broken promises only create further mistrust

Well this mornings column inches made for some pretty dismal reading for Swans fans as the local journalists put pen to paper over the charred remains of the transfer window or more to the point about the deals that never happened that we thought should.

It put a clearer perspective over some comments made by Russell Martin shortly after the Huddersfield game when he talked about a transfer target that never pulled through as he expected.

“I think what we have is a really clear strategy of what we want to do, long-term. We’re not asking for the world in January,” he said at the time.

“We’re really clear in what we want and how we want to do it.

“It’s just hopefully about getting enough support to be able to do that, like we did with Flynn Downes.  Hopefully we get the support we need and we can really add to it (the squad).”

They were the words then of a frustrated man and this morning it is clear to see why.  First, writing on Wales Online, Ian Mitchelmore wrote about the failed move for Matt O’Riley at MK Dons.   The £1.5m release clause for the player was well documented and an attractive instalments package that would have seen the Swans pay just £300,000 of that fee up front proved insufficient in convincing the club’s owners to stump up for the 21-year-old. The remaining £1.2m would have been given to MK Dons in chunks across the next four windows, although it wasn’t to be.  The owners decided that it was not an investment they wanted to make in the squad, O’Riley went to Celtic and the rest is history.

The player though that Martin was referring to at that Huddersfield game was Ryan Longman.   A deal agreed with Brighton at £500k over four installments was in place and ready to be concluded to make Longman our third addition of the month but a late call from the States and the deal was pulled leaving the Swans and Brighton as equally as frustrated as each other.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I completely understand the need to balance the books at any club but this immediately feels more than this.   These are promises that seem to be made to a manager and a recruitment team allowing them to structure deals that get the players the manager wants.   And then the promises are retracted and the club – and the management team – look equally inefficient and frustrated at the lack of backing that has clearly on this occasion been promised.

It is the first – and sometimes only – step to a mis trust between management and club that never seems to end well.   Indeed, as the man tasked with making these deals happen I cannot imagine the position of Julian Winter feels overly comfortable that this is playing itself out in public.  Why did these deals get pulled at the last minute and why was a seemingly tight agreement on finances changed at the last minute.   We can only speculate on the answer but it does appear that the fault can only sit several thousand miles away right now.

Much has been said about our ownership group since their well publicised takeover of the club back in 2016 where they bought a majority share.   Their absence from the club has been as notable since our relegation from the Premier League with visits very infrequent at best (granted in the last two years Covid has not helped this.)  We saw Jake Silverstein over at the end of last year but does he have the power to approve these deals – my experience tells me that Steve Kaplan has always pulled the strings in the ownership group, there is nothing right now that suggests anything has changed on that front.

Russell Martin must be more than a frustrated man at the moment.   Nothing against the signings he did manage to bring in via this window but there are clearly two more he wanted in O’Riley and Longman and he didn’t manage to get either because someone – many miles away – decided that they did not want to pay that money even over four installments over the next two years.   Ladies and Gentlemen, is this really the next level we were promised?

It is difficult, if not impossible, right now to state anything positive about the way our ownership group has played the transfer window.   Everyone would have been aware of the job that Russell Martin wants to do here and the size of the task that means to bring in new players.   For everything we read it suggests that we, or more accurately he, has had the wool pulled from under him and now he sees his key targets playing at Celtic and Hull respectively.   That has got to do more than hurt.

As a club we have been massively let down by the owners, the manager has been let down by his employers.  The transfer window felt a bit deflating last night, this morning the grim reality of where it went wrong made for very depressing reading.

I am not sure now where we go from here.  The mis-trust that no doubt must exist has to be repaired and the backing that was taken away in January must be given back in the summer and this time not pulled away at the last minute leaving the manager feeling it is necessary to bring out his frustrations in post match interviews.

It is doubly frustrating when you consider that the rug is pulled by owners who have seen less than 5 matches in the flesh in the four years since we were relegated.  If the budget was agreed then they should not pull the rug because they do not like the terms.  Getting agreement to a £500k fee over four installments is well negotiated but what we see is someone thousands of miles away deciding that its not good enough for him.   And that is not acceptable, unnecessary interference from the top?

We are though today where we are.   It is difficult to be philosophical about it but I guess we have to be.  Russell Martin will make his views know, you assume Winter will as well. Maybe one day those that hold the purse strings will eventually listen.   Never go back on your promises.

Russell Martin thought he was getting Ryan Longman a couple of weeks ago. Fee was around £500,000, to be paid in four instalments. Deal was agreed with Brighton, who were set to recall Longman from Hull. But it’s understood Swansea owners ultimately decided against it

— Gareth Vincent (@Gareth_Vincent) February 1, 2022