Phil Sumbler
As the Swans fans were made to suffer a pretty weak capitulation to Blackburn at the weekend many eyes turned to the directors box where the presence of Chief Executive Julian Winter and Jake Silverstein were watching arguably the worst performance under Russell Martin.
71% possession and 600+ successful passes ultimately meant nothing as the away side scored three goals and eased their way to the three points that their performance deserved and left the Swans much nearer the bottom of the table than the top albeit with the league table very much in it’s fledgling state.
Maybe there is somewhat of an irony that the picture above shows the two men charged with making the decisions that will almost certainly dictate the season ahead for the Swans and they are pictured next to the financial officer who is charged with balancing the books and keeping the club on an even keel financially.
A task that is not working at the moment with the loan from Silverstein very much part of the books at Swansea and the fact that the significant sale of a midfielder cannot be backed with any meaningful investment into the playing squad. A position that simply tells you that we are spending more than we are bringing in and that fault lies with many people.
We can all point – and we do – to the club’s desire to move on the likes of Jay Fulton, Ryan Bennett and Nathanael Ogbeta to name but three but the fact that we cannot move them on must leave questions to be answered not just at the three people in the photo but managers past and present and maybe even a former CEO who would have sanctioned at least one of the contracts which hang around us at the moment.
Silverstein arrived in South Wales last week and watched on – presumably with a degree of worry – at the way we gave up so easily on Saturday’s game and, no doubt, will have been reminded by Russell Martin as to where the strengthening needs to happen with just a gentle nudge that the end of the window is coming round far quicker than any of us would have liked.
In return, Silverstein would have reminded him of the financial position of the club, a financial position that ‘the next level’ was supposed to have avoided but failed spectacularly driven at the start by some ludicrous Premier League contracts which ate most – in fact all – of the parachute payments for the time we were in receipt. Since then we have lurched around for a few years creating some strong loan signings under Cooper and now we face a challenge under Russell Martin that the squad is in desperate need of strengthening but without moving on those that Martin does not like the strengthening will not happen. This could be a long season ahead.
Russell Martin was philosophical when talking about the remainder of the window via Wales Online on Sunday when he said
“I really get on with Jake. He’s a really good guy and has a great understanding of what we’re trying to do. He has a real patience with what we’re trying to do, it’s why we were brought here.
“We don’t have the financial resource we did with Premier League parachute payments and all that stuff. Jake knows where we would like to strengthen, he’s also been really honest about the financial situation.
“It’s all you can ever ask for is honesty and transparency, just dealing with good people. I speak to Jake quite a lot. He’s been great to deal with since he’s been involved. I can’t moan about it, I know the situation, we knew it coming in.
“We’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t know what’s going to go on between now and the end of the window closing. I don’t know who’s going to be in and who’s going to be out. We’ll continue working with what we’d love, what we like and what we feel we need. There’s a difference between necessity and wanting something.”
It is difficult to know what to expect from the Swans in the last few weeks of the window. The complete lack of speculation that surrounds the likes of Fulton and Bennett suggests that, at best, we are likely to see a last minute deal for one or either leaving us little time to do our business.
Ogbeta and Benda are two more that we would like to see leave but neither seem to be attracting Championship interest which gives a challenge to players who are on Championship wages.
And then you have the saleable assets within the squad which will remain a big factor in any plans that we have. The sale of a Piroe type figure will force a re-think, or at least the implementation of a Plan B, for all concerned at the club so we have to hope that if it is to happen it happens early to allow us time to secure not just replacements but the right replacements.
So as we enter the last three and a bit weeks of the transfer window there is much work for everyone involved in the club to be doing and also considering but the signs, and the noises, have not been good for most of the summer and that would leave us with the reality that the side (and squad) that lined up Saturday could be almost as good as it gets this season.
And on Saturday’s evidence that will give us much cause for concern.
Your appraisal of the club’s position is very disappointing ,however very accurate .It certainly does not lend any optimism for the season ahead . Even more disappointing is the stubborness of our manager and his insistence on sticking to a system that is clearly failing .The players are over coached and seem unable to respond with flair to a given situation .Most passes are negative rarely forward .Perhaps even worse is the difficulty we have in keeping a clean sheet – a combination of playing people out of position or floating up field .The good teams simply wait until we lose the ball and counter. Martin’s system is dreadful to watch and unsuccessful .There was a definite change of atmosphere at the Liberty on Saturday v Blackburn .Martin needs to sense that and change tack very quickly or things will get very unpleasant.
Have to agree you don’t get to win any games playing 600 odd passes sideways and backwards we’ve got to be more positive and pass to players in forward positions we’ve got the players that can hurt the opposition and also put players in their correct positions not play them out of place
Pass and move (preferably forward) like we used to. Lose the ball and have 3 players on their player immediately like we used to, so they just kick it up field and lose possession. We have got the pass bit but rarely the move bit. Either not fit or lazy.
Them two were only there to see which players the club can sell to fund DC United as they have just signed another premiership player and Rooney does not come cheep you can see were Levien and Kaplan loyalty,s lie and it’s not with the Swans worse thing that ever happened to our club when them two steped in just to line they’re pockets and now we are having to scrape the barrell to fund players and with an average manager who has not got a clue on how to manage a championship team .
Russel Martin, your possession based football is in some ways commendable, unfortunately your team is just not up to it. You reiterate that you are going to stick to your principles come what may. I ask you to look what happened as Leeds United tried to play in a similar way. They achieved one place above relegation and a respected coach i.e Bielsa was sent packing due to the same obstinate stance as yours. It’s not been nice knowing you so bye bye in advance.