Planet Swans ArchivesAnother game passes, no more points are earned and now the finger is firmly on the button that it is increasing in size game by game and is marked panic. There is no reason to press it just yet although it seems that moment has passed in some quarters already and once pressed, there is no going back.
I would be an idiot if I sat here writing this article at this moment in time and said “Everything is rosy you should not be concerned” because any run of form that sees 2 points out of 15 available is a concern but before I go on, I just want to throw three points into the equation (and we all know how we need a couple of points at the moment)
- We lie 4th in the league, separated from the promotion places purely by having scored one goal less than the side in 3rd
- A win on Saturday will see us move level on points with the side currently in second place. A 3 goal victory (however unlikely) in the same game will see us move above them
- There is still more than a quarter of the season remaining.
Okay, the pessimists at this point are now saying that we are dropping down the league, we have no chance on Saturday and they cannot see where the next win is coming from but the three points above are indisputable. They are fact. And they are current today. Forget current form if you want to give up on the season when those three points ring true then that is your problem not mine. I’ve followed this club for over a quarter of a century and I cannot remember too many seasons past where it has been all over in February.
It’s very easy to look at current form as I said earlier and panic. And as I also said earlier it is a massive concern that it is a month since we last recorded a win in the league.
However (and admit it – you knew that was coming!) this is a time when we need to be united behind the football club. This is a time when the supporters need to be there to lift the players. If I was a Cambridge fan at the moment or a Kidderminster fan then I admit it I would be massively stressed at this moment in time. The panic button would be being pressed more times then I would care to count. And I am sure that any fan of those two clubs would like to have our little problem at this moment in time?
Cast your minds back two years and we were in that position. (Don’t worry this is not going down the route of ‘look how far we have come’) What we did at that moment in time was got behind the team. We knew we weren’t a great side but we backed the team and we all know the result. We made noise, we encouraged the players and we got what we wanted. Is there any reason why we cannot do that again.
We know that the players haven’t performed in recent weeks but I shake my head in disbelief when I see posts of ‘the season is over, may as well give up’ Maybe Kenny Jackett would like to adopt that attitude at the moment as well? Wonder if the same people would moan if they read the same comment from the manager as they make themselves? Yes it’s a ridiculous statement to make but surely giving up on the season now (consider the three points at the top again) is equally as ridiculous.
There are six games left at the Vetch and we are in danger of seeing out those six games to a wall of silence with the atmosphere long since gone. People are worried that we won’t create the same atmosphere at White Rock but at this moment in time what atmosphere is there to recreate? One of the odd anti Cardiff/England song and a few “so and so give us a wave” chants. The Vetch doesn’t deserve that and nor do the people (or players) that have graced it in it’s time. The fans of Scunthorpe, Rochdale, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Oxford and Shrewsbury should leave the Vetch knowing that it was an intimidating place to be and that it contained several thousand Swans fans who didn’t shut up from start to finish and backed their team all the way.
We will lose again before the season ends – it’s inevitable but every football fan can take losing if they believe that everyone gave everything for the cause. The club and the players need their fans again at this moment in time. Like it or not. We don’t need people drifting slowly away and giving up – we need the backing that we had in the near miss with the Conference. As Swansea fans we owe it to the club and we owe it to the ground that has served us so well.
We are still in a good position and I repeat again I would be lying if this current run of form didn’t concern me but we can still do this – we are in it together and we need to pull together for the next 10 weeks,
Be Loud, Be Proud, Be A Jack!
