Rob Davies
It’s a Saturday afternoon and as has become the norm for Swans fans around the country another defeat this time at Kenilworth Road at Luton Town.
None of this should come as a surprise and the result certainly wasn’t in the context of a turgid run of form that has seen the Swans drop from 4th to 17th with the second worst defence in the division.
The loss at Luton was probably one of the better displays of late but still brought not a single point and a further tumble down the league and it could have easily been 3-0 to the home team before half time.
Three wins in 20 games (almost half a season) is quite incredible, as is 5 clean sheets all campaign.
What does come as a surprise to some fans, myself included, is how the manager is surviving this run of form and allowed without any real challenge to continue to deliver loss after loss.
You can guarantee that at any other club in the Championship the change would have been made by now but nothing seems forthcoming despite the shoddy performances, awful body language from the players and a man wilting under the pressure.
Now it would be unfair to ignore the disastrous January transfer window which saw nobody in and six out but it can’t really be denied that Russell Martin has been backed during his time at the club.
To dispel that myth, the manager has been allowed to spend money on his own signings and the number through the door in the last 18 months is over 20.
Permanent signings since summer 2021 (estimated): Darling (£2m), Obafemi (£1m), Downes (£1m), Piroe (£1m), Joseph (£800k), Fisher (£400k) Wood (£250k), Ogbeta (£250k), Allen (free), Walsh (free), Paterson (free), Ntcham (free)
Loan signings: Sorinola, Oko-Flex, Cundle, Stevens. Laird, Williams, Burns, Christie, Wolf.
Without signing on fees – a large chunk on its own – those initial figures total £7m at a time when there’s a need to balance the books. How many Championship clubs (not those who have parachute payments) spent more?
That also excludes the returns of Whittaker and Benda, one of which was a target for Rangers and the other becoming a first team regular.
Is that a board not supporting a club with funds? It doesn’t look like it to me. There’s little doubt that there are real criticisms about their running of the club at times but I don’t understand how it can be argued they haven’t backed the manager. 21 signings in 18 months is not “asset stripping.”
This all simply points to a manager who is out of his depth and a club needing a change. Can anyone confidently say that the signings wanted in January would have strengthened the squad? I couldn’t. Not on the evidence of above.
The Swans have a week until their next fixture against in form Middlesbrough, ironically enjoying a drastic change of fortunes after a change in management.
Martin desperately needs a win because despite his claims yesterday that he is not under pressure from the board, their faith can only carry on for so long as the team plummets down the Championship.
The owners are trying to ride it out until the end of the season, and save a few Bob, thinking there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.
But the only light coming down the tunnel, is the relegation Locomotive, driven my Russell deluded Martin.
I think The stay away owners, plus Mr Winter, don’t seem to realise that the way we are currently playing, anything is possible relegation wise.
Winter is just as much to blame as anyone else not helping the club one bit by being told what to do by them owners and as for RM well managers have had the sack this season for loosing less games than the Swans but the board will not sack him as that would mean they would have to pay him off and that is not likely to happen as they will not part with all the millions them two owners have just like not investing in the club we can see over the past years how Levein and Kaplan have done to our club used to lin there pockets and nothing else .
To be fair, didn’t Piroe, Joseph and Walsh arrive before Russell Martin albeit in the same summer? And I think Ogbeta was an Allen signing, didn’t seem to have the blessing of Martin.
Fair point but Piroe was signed that summer and imagine where we’d been if we didn’t have him
From reports, confirmed by loans and transer targets choosing not to come the Swansea, it seems players are not seeing Swansea under Martin as a good prospect.
We might not be involved in the nitty-gritty of football management but, as fans, we do recognise when a manager has perhaps reached his peak and can take a club no further, someone who had nothing left to offer.
The colossal waste of money on loanees from premier league under our manager, all cast aside as “unsuitable mentally” to play, just like Obafemi and Brandon Cooper of our own, seems like self harm of alarming proportions. Being nice is NOT a good quality to have in a football manager, to be brutal. Our academy and travelling support are the elite – and thats why results under Martin have caused so much frustration, it needs to end now.
1. as we saw in January, all signings have to be approved by the Board. Cant blame or praise the manager entirely, either way.
2. nearly all fees are guesses. All were undisclosed – something that boils my piss. No transparency.
3. Darling, Fisher, Downes, Paterson all obviously recommended by the manager. 50% success rate – based on year 1 for Pato. Relationship soured due to kamikaze contract extension debacle. Massive profit on Downes. Not convinced we paid that much for Darling, but he was highly rated before he came. He was in the L1 team of the season 2021/22. Praised by MK opposition managers “to go right to the top” . We weren’t the only Championship club that bid for him. He came to us because of RM.
4. Obafemi, Piroe, Walsh – Andy Scott’s work, I believe. Strikers both successes, to a certain extent. Lots of goals. Profit on sale of the former BUT tempered by the disruption he caused (not manager’s faul – Owners should have sold last summer, as the price did not increase in Janaury). Walsh was a gamble that should not have been taken with his injury record. Owners sanctioned it!
5. Ogbeta (£250k), Ntcham (free) – both Allen acquisitions.
6. Wood (£250k), Joseph – ?? The latter probably Scott or Allen. The former I think RM. I think he’d tried to get him at MK.
7. Allen (free) – brokered by Joe’s agent, who had been told to get him a deal to come home.
The bottom line :- Is the club making progress under Martin’s stewardship ? Forget all the bad mouthing of the directors, Martin’s chief responsibility is to get the team playing a consistent, attractive style of football to enthuse the fans. In this he has failed and his time with the club should soon end. In my view, the club is seriously in need of a transfusion throughout and this won’t happen with existing personnel. The board needs to prepare for next season NOW !! Let’s hope it’s in the Championship !
Agree completely with Graham’s comments.Is Martin getting the best out of the players and does he set the team up in the most suitable way to get results .The answer to both questions is no.He’s had 18 months and it’s hard to see any progress -and Middlesbro up next
Winter is just as much to blame as anyone else not helping the club one bit by being told what to do by them owners and as for RM well managers have had the sack this season for loosing less games than the Swans but the board will not sack him as that would mean they would have to pay him off and that is not likely to happen as they will not part with all the millions them two owners have just like not investing in the club we can see over the past years how Levein and Kaplan have done to our club used to lin there pockets and nothing else .
I agree with most of what has been said on this page .the manager thinks he has a good football side this year because he thinks that playing on the training pitch and producing good attacking football by keeping the ball most of the time. will win us football games . But when we play against other sides they don’t play like on the training pitch do they .they give us a good game of football that we can’t handle most of the time .we all know that scoring goals wins football matches, not 80 % of possession in every match . .Tony gwilliam. So come on you swans, let’s start to win a lot more matches to keep us in the championship.
I watched Brentford v Fulham last night. Cracking game of attacking football. Some but very little playing out from the back. Leeds sacked Bielsa because his style of playing, although attractive, lost Leeds games. He refused to change his pattern of play when results went against his team and was duly dismissed. Russel Martin is transfixed with his possession, losing type of football. He should have been sacked weeks ago.