| Surprisingly, Most of the callers were congratulatory of Mike for taking on the Swans and very few people grilled him on anything too much. The show started with Mike saying that the £800k debt was not payable now, which was stated in the press statements earlier in the day and that players would not be sold to pay the debt off. However, he did go on to say that should we receive a suitable bid for a player then that offer would be considered. Or of course, if you offer a player to another club eh Mike? |
| On the subject of new players, Mike promised the fans that we would have exciting new signings before the end of the week. We shall wait and see on that front but all we can assume is that he will have signed a couple of the unknown trialists which, as good or not as they may be, is not ‘exciting’ in terms of what football fans class as exciting? |
| The Stuart Roberts situation should be resolved by the end of the week. Stuart is on a third weeks trial at Rotherham according to the acting chairman and he is due to state whether he will sign by Friday. |
| The question of whether transfer monies were available was worked around with reference to last season’s contradictions when McClure said there was no money for transfers and Lewis said there was. Mike referred to this as his statement meant that ‘when monies are available I meant for the whole cost of bringing players to the club which includes their accomodation and, with reference to Savarese, that their wives are looked after’ |
| The subject of reserve team football also came up. Cardiff City have recently been accepted into the football combination but apparantely teams will not come the extra 40 miles to Swansea as it is too far. Mike went onto say that the reserves would play plenty of fixtures against ‘higher quality opposition’ but this was confused with constant reference to a squad of 22 players which means that with 16 on first team duty, we will only be putting out, at best, a 6 man reserve team! |
| Gary Martin questioned whether Mike and John Hollins should be on performance related pay which bought out the defensive side of the chairman who said that these were personal matters but he earned nowhere near the amount of money that was quoted on various internet sites and media. |
| Another interesting comment was made with regards the radio contract, which was taken away from Swansea Sound and given to Real Radio at the start of last season. Mike was very direct and saying that when it was due for renewal next summer they would talk to both sides but it ‘came down to a matter of dosh’ Interesting that this site learned last week that Swansea Sound’s bid was higher in real terms than that of it’s competition last time around but the club decided to go for the lower offer. Has to beg the question of why exactly that was? |
| Mike is also meeting with Terry Francis later this week so we await the outcome of those discussions but he was adamant that we cannot play at the Vetch for any longer than 2 seasons and that he would be in negotiation with the council to get the Morfa progressing. |
| Finally, Mike is also convinced that we have the squad to gain promotion this season as we still have the backbone of the 3rd division championship winning side. A look at the statistics from 1999/2000 shows that of the 24 players that played in the league campaign, 10 of them have either gone or are soon to depart. Namely Martin Thomas (40 games) Julian Alsop (37) Jason Price (39) Steve Jones (38) Richie Appleby (20) Walter Boyd (27) Tony Bird (16) Stuart Roberts (11) Tommy Mutton (2) Kevin Evans (2) – all I can say Mike is if that is my backbone then I think I would look uncomfortable standing up! |
| I remain to be convinced on Mike Lewis and until he starts delivering on some of these promises then many Swans fans will feel the same. Personally, I learnt nothing from the show other than Stuart Roberts was at Rotherham for one more week so other than a PR exercise for Mike, the show did not produce the real grillings that it could have done. |
| We await the developments this week and the announcement on Friday of Stuart Robert’s future and, of course, the ‘exciting’ new signings that will have the fans buzzing. |
| And finally to close, a mention of the caller who stated that it was ‘refreshing to hear such honesty’ hmmmmmm….. |
| Oh, and Sam Hammam has offered his help! |
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