Phil Sumbler
The price of football podcast is always an interesting listen whenever it comes and no more so this week then when they interviewed former Swans Chairman Huw Jenkins in this week’s episode.
You can listen to the full podcast here
The Chairman, who left the Swans in 2019 after seventeen years at the helm talked openly about the early days at the club right through to some of the golden periods at the club which of course included the Premier League, a League Cup and a European adventure.
Hosted by Kevin Day and Kevin Maguire, Huw answered every question with the candid style that we got used to during his time as Chair of the club which undoubtedly oversaw the most successful period in the club’s history.
The podcast is one that focuses heavily on the finances that sit behind football – generally with mind boggling numbers that most industries cannot comprehend. Jenkins own tenure at the Swans for example went from a time where the fans had to raise money to fund the wages of Leon Britton to the awarding of multi million-pound contracts and transfer fees that often ran into the tens of millions of pounds.
“We cannot hide that we went for many years when we were rock bottom,” Jenkins said when he talked about the rivalry with Cardiff City. “But we have had a period now of longer success and the balance has been readdressed.”
The last ten years has seen some unprecedented times in general for Welsh football with both the Swans and Cardiff spending time in the Premier League whilst the national side has qualified for three major tournaments – the first since 1958 – which included a Euro 2016 semi final spot against Portugal.
Is that a coincidence? Jenkins puts that down to fans being united behind the national team as he said “Everybody is one body supporting the national team. The supporters recognise that and it has been good for Welsh football in general.”
But it was Jenkins’ closing years at Swansea that generated the discussion with the podcast focusing on the sale of the club back in 2016, a sale that bought much disharmony in the supporter ranks after such a period of total unity between club and fans.
“We had a couple of enquiries about possible takeovers before the one that come to fruition. They were just general approaches that you do find Premier League clubs get. I think the way that we ran the club that we were seen as a good club to get involved in as we operated under a tight budget and didn’t stretch ourselves that much – a good position for a football club.
“There was disappointment in the way things turned out from the sale. There was a promise there that a deal could – and should – have been done with the Supporters Trust which would have changed the outlook. That was out of our control at the time and the agreements weren’t reached and things took a very different twist.”
However, Huw doesn’t believe that the handling and outcome of the sale together with the resentment that existed at the time – and continued for some time after – was a factor in his final decision to walk away from the club after the closure of the transfer window in January 2019.
“Perhaps it should have been earlier that I left but I felt attached and didn’t want to go at the time of the sale. My views on potential managers and decisions were not necessarily listened to and decisions were taken that maybe were not my way of doing things.”
Back in 2020 there were links with the former Chairman and a potential takeover at Charlton Athletic. They were links that Huw did not deny but added that he felt that the risks were too high to him and he therefore felt that it was not a deal that was viable for him to be involved in.
“The biggest change I saw in football in my time was that it has moved very much to a discussion around ‘where can we get more income’. I remember saying in one meeting that people never discussed how they can reduce outgoings and people now seem happy to lose millions of pounds a year which they think is the norm.”
And his biggest achievement? “The play off final is of course one and then there was the league cup win together with some of the great performances that we put in to win at places like Old Trafford. There are many highlights along the way especially the games we won playing our style of football.”
Jenkins closed by admitting he would love to come back into the game and be part of running another club. “I feel I gained a lot of experience and would love to do it again. Whether I get that opportunity I don’t know. I have been out of football since 2019 but would love the chance to get back into it and try and put some of the things I have learned into operation somewhere else.”
As the podcast was bought to a close after the interview the discussion turned to Jenkins’ comments about reducing outgoings as an alternative to increasing incoming. A standard business practice but not one that has hit football with the podcast stating that Premier League wages have increased by 3226% since 1992 when the Premier League started.
“Revenue has gone up by 2800% which tells you that money is bleeding out of the game,” Kevin Maguire concluded. “There is always a way of circumnavigating the rules and that is the issue.”
Once again you can listen to the full podcast with Huw Jenkins here or by clicking the link in the Tweet below.
Today’s bonus @POF_POD with @kevinhunterday is an interview with former Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins about his time at the club https://t.co/ITjoID1FGl
— Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire) December 16, 2022
