Groundhog Week

Week Three of the new season and the same response to another disappointing Swans performance at home. Yet again we failed to win a league game at the Vetch taking that particular winless streak to six games. I am at a disadvantage talking about the game in question as I didn’t see it but having read several match reports you still get a feel for what happened on the day.

Four points from four games is always a concern for any club but at the end of it, it could be worse. And yes I can appreciate the comments that people are making about potentially losing our more skilful players as well as the long ball game with the jokes endless about cricks in necks, no low flying planes allowed over Swansea and the rest but this is hardly a crisis at this moment in time is it?

Of course I have doubts about Kenny Jackett’s ability to succeed. Who wouldn’t based on the results since he got here but surely nobody could have expected to see a new manager turn a side that had only won 6 of it’s previous 28 league games into a winning side with style and panache overnight? That sort of form will always take time to put right. Often when you see a change of manager you get a few wins at the start of the reign but that didn’t happen and as a result Kenny is faced with a record of two wins from 11 league games, 7 of which have ended in defeat. Of course that record doesn’t look pretty – no-one would lay claim to the fact that it does.

However, Jackett is inexperienced and I have no doubt that he would even admit that he is bound to make mistakes along the way. Maybe he will think in a few weeks time that dropping Roberto was a mistake, maybe he will say that other things he has done is a mistake but, if some had their way they wouldn’t allow him the chance to even realise that as already, we have more calls for his head. Not just on the internet but amongst the crowd on the weekend from what I am told. Already, after 11 games, and four into a new season people’s patience has run out. Scary.

Maybe it is the mentality of modern football that if you don’t win a few games immediately at the start of a season then the manager should go. But I don’t buy it. Jackett took on a big job when he came down here and whatever he said to his bosses then it was enough to convince them that he was the man for the job. And so he may be – only time will tell that. Can anyone honestly say, hand on heart, that if we sacked Kenny tomorrow the job would look attractive to an out of work manager. The prospect of committing to a club knowing that potentially in a few games time, you too have fallen foul of the supporters and your CV is being ruled off an the word ‘unemployed’ being pencilled in next to your name on the league managers website? I know I wouldn’t fancy it.

I remember saying back in March when Brian Flynn left that what we needed now was stability. Whatever the rights and wrongs of that dismissal doesn’t really matter. It’s no secret I wasn’t a fan but at the same time I remain surprised at what happened back then but it happened and we move on. We needed a manager who would be given a year or more to turn the team around. If that means no promotion this season then I will live with it, relegation is the only thing that I couldn’t stomach. And even with the calls for the manager’s head I just cannot see that happening. The board remain tight lipped over the supporters anguish and I hope that their silence means support and we are not considering another change. I honestly believe that a change now would do more harm than good. That isn’t to say that Jackett must stay at all costs, but let’s give him a crack at the whip. If we are bottom come Christmas then we have to think again.

I honestly cannot remember a reaction like this at the start of the season expect maybe after the relegation in 2001. Not in terms of the results but the hysteria in which we are looking to replace the manager. Back in 2001, we probably should have made the decision in the summer but a certain Mr Lewis bottled it and then had no choice in September. Now we have a manager that many are comparing to Nick Cusack and maybe that is why we have this – remember Cusack went in October – 9 or 10 games into the new season. Maybe there are similarities and maybe the appointment won’t work out but at the end of it everyone deserves a chance to succeed or fail and no matter what your feelings are on Kenny Jackett he really is no different on that front.

I see a rocky ride ahead with many supporters disgruntled and it is always worrying when you read comments from some of the Jacks who reside further away from Swansea that they won’t come down as often and we have a tough run coming up – Cambridge, Lincoln and Yeovil are three games that could easily return a ‘nil point’ and then there really will be panic in the ranks. Rumours abound of an unhappy playing squad don’t help the cause either. Things aren’t as good as they were last season but that can change and in my opinion, Kenny Jackett deserves the chance to change it himself.

We haven’t reached crisis point in my book yet – let’s keep united for a while longer and see where it gets us?