Michael Reeves
The one thing that did come out of the interview between Levien, Silverstein and the Swans Trust was the comment that we moved, agreed and failed to deliver on the two main targets for the Swans in this window.
During the interview Levien referenced that “We agreed terms with the number one striker and right back that we targeted but both of them ended up not being here.” He even added that we were ready to go over the asking price for both players.
It was referenced that we moved for players early in the window which certainly ties in with the speculation and reports around Rotherham’s Chiedozie Ogbene which were there early in the month (as per reports here and here) with Martin saying at the end of December “I think we’re well advanced in talking to people. We now need to act upon that and try to action that really quickly.
“We know what we need, we know what’s going to help us. Now it’s about trying to get it done as quickly as possible, but it’s never straightforward is it, January?”
Ogbene was a constant link during the month but Levien’s words tie in with all the speculation around Ogbene who would have fitted the criteria we lined up as a key player should we have signed him.
The Grant one is an interesting one. He was a last minute suggestion that looked signed and sealed when many went to bed on Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning it was another failed deal (one of eight according to Silverstein) with the finger pointed firmly at West Brom for changing their mind. Or did we leave them little choice – after all the ownership group has form for that kind of thing! The last minute move suggests he wasn’t a main target which makes us wonder who was?
Cornick was a player we bid for (according to reports) which does make me wonder if he was the number one striker target and Grant was the one we turned to when Cornick decided he wanted to be elsewhere.
On the subject of wanting to be elsewhere it should be ringing alarm bells all over Swansea today as to why we even managed to agree terms/deals with players and yet still failed to bring them over the line. Are they turning us down for football reasons or are we changing the terms on the deal or were they just words – after all nothing is agreed until it is a signed deal.
Of course talking and speculating now does not overcome the shambles that was the transfer window but it does tell us there are more deep rooted issues than the “interview” bought to the surface and that has to be a concern.
As someone noted on the forum here last night – sometimes it is not about what is said but what is not said and how you draw assumptions from that.
As I said before…more questions than answers.
