Totally Unprofessional

Unprofessional, Unfit and Uninterested

I’m gutted I really am. Back in August and September we had a team that was heading only one way – upwards. We were playing flowing football not seen at the Vetch for many a season and the plaudits were lining up thick and fast to heap praise on the team. There were a couple of critics (take not Mr Curle and Mr Jackson) but in the main people enjoyed it. Swansea were about to prove that you could play football and succeed in this division. Such was my optimism that a bet with a Glasgow Rangers fan over which side would get the most points followed and my confidence was sky high. Then the injuries struck, the bad results followed and the league position started to slip. A FA Cup run and inability of other teams to capitalise on our bad results followed but once both were over we slipped out of the top 10. Now we stand with 11 games left of our league season and an eight point deficit to make up. On form like ours it isn’t going to happen. But why did it all go wrong.

We have debated the merits of the manager to death on this site. We have those that are grateful for what he has done in his eighteen months at the club and those that think he has done as much as he can and it’s time for a new face. My views are aired but for once, this article is not based around the merits of the manager but, in the main, the merits of the players that he has at his disposal to take us forward.

For me where it started to go wrong was the very hype that we created in those early days of the season. The hype that I referred to earlier on where people watched what we did and enjoyed it. Hype that made players possibly believe that they are better than they are. Hype that has led to a lack of passion in the team for very long periods and in the main hype that has made us completely unprofessional.

Football is a results business and we know the results haven’t been good since the end of September. Sadly for Mr Flynn the buck on results will normally stop with him but the players must take their share of the blame. I personally believe that these professional players are letting down the name of Swansea City with their attitude towards the games.

I’m going to highlight one incident from yesterday’s game that sums up the problems for me. It involves one player but at the same time he is highlighted because it is the most recent example. However, this is not a witch hunt against one player but an example of what I mean.

Picture the scene. Alan Tate and Roberto Martinez are lining up to take a free kick at Southend. Confusion reigns and they collide with each other. Not a good example of professionalism? Tate’s central defensive partner Izzy Iriekpen is seen laughing at the incident. Where is the professional pride in this? Sure it may look amusing but if you have passion then you show it. If you care, you don’t laugh. You may have a chuckle after the game if the result goes the right way but not during the game – is this an example of a right attitude? Not to me.

However, this is not alone. How many times have you read on the message board this season during a debate over another mediocre performance about a group of the Swansea team out on the town in the evening laughing and joking. I accept players have to have a social side but is this the wisest thing to do? We all know Wind Street on a Saturday can be ‘explosive’ and it only takes running into the wrong person who has had a sherbert too many and you have an incident dragging the name of the club into the dirt again. Sure give your all on the pitch and by all means have an unwind but when you are not giving everything then should it be being done? Should the club (manager/board?) be stopping it?

I know of two unnamed Swansea players (unnamed because that is the way I have chosen to portray it) who have been involved in incidents from nights out this season. Once is too much, twice is unacceptable, allowing the possibility of a third time is unforgivable. To the wrong person at the wrong time it’s like laughing in their face – I can’t condone this but I can see it happening.

I also cannot accept the players fitness levels this season. How many times have you sat there and watched a game where we are second best to every 50/50 ball. Where other sides seem more hungry, quicker and more passionate for the game in hand? This can only be down to two things – passion and fitness. One can be instilled through the right routines, the other has to be there in the first place. If it isn’t there then it is very hard to get someone to show a passion for something that they do not believe in?

I have read several posts on the message board from people about our training routines. ‘Legend’ has it that we train for around 6 to 7 hours per week. I don’t think that comment is too wide of the mark. On that basis is it any wonder that we look unfit. I cannot imagine too many sides who just train for that amount each week and if that imagination is right then that is why we will always look wide of the mark. Is it any co-incidence that our better performances come against the better teams – it’s easy to get fired up for these games. But how often have we seen an abject display against the likes of Rochdale or Southend? No disrespect to those sides but they are teams that promotion winning sides should despatch.

Passion is a different matter. And I believe this comes down to the hype again. ‘Big Time Charlies’ is a phrase I have heard from people whose opinions I respect. It refers to people who believe they are better than the club and could ply their trade elsewhere. I hate to tell these people that if they were that good they wouldn’t be here in the first place. Think back over your time as a fan and the players you have seen – how many of this squad would you say would die for the shirt – or to put it another way believe that ‘Swansea Till I Die’ is more than just four words strung together for effect?

Again I don’t think that we are too wide of the mark when we put these two things together. There are very few players that I would class at this club who believe their long term future lies here. I accept that everyone wants to play at the highest level but some of them need wake up calls if they believe that level is any higher than division two.

In all I think an unfit and, quite often, an unprofessional side is placing itself in the league where it wants to be. On their day they can beat most sides in the Nationwide League – sadly that day doesn’t come around often enough because of the apparent lack of interest at times. And you can understand the reactions of the fans to it. We have been here a long time and we will be here much longer than any member of the current playing or management staff. Of course we are never always right in our opinion about things – if we were then we would probably be managing or coaching ourselves because of our in depth footballing knowledge. However, one thing you cannot deny is our passion for our club. We lose a game and it hurts. We lose it by not giving everything and it hurts for longer. There are very few members of this squad that can say defeat hurts them for any longer then it takes to order the next bottle at the bar.

Finally I think back to the eve of the Hull game last year. I spoke to one member of our current squad who told me about sleepless nights and waking up in a cold sweat about the game and the unthinkable happening. That is the attitude we want and that is what has to be instilled. How we instill it is a different matter.

Lack of success I can handle – lack of interest is what I find unacceptable. We need to have a long hard look at the way that the club is running and there are questions to be answered and I am sure someone somewhere will find those answers and implant them to make us a better club moving forward. Let’s be professional above all else?

Why not check out the latest Vetch Verdict on the BBC site?