Phil SumblerJust under thirteen weeks after the old season ended the new one starts tomorrow when the Swans take on Birmingham City at the Swansea.com Stadium and it is fair to say that much has happened in those thirteen weeks.
A change in manager, new additions to the board, a new sporting director and even the rare sight of new players coming into the club. It has been quite a close season this time around and certainly one that made the summer go by quickly.
All of that, for now at least, goes behind us for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon when the competitive football returns and a near capacity crowd at the Swansea.com stadium welcome in the managerial league debut for Michael Duff in Swansea.
The visitors, Birmingham City, have had a busy summer of their own under their new owners and many are finding it difficult to predict where they may finish this season with a host of new arrivals, their fans hope, ready to take them away from their 17th placed finish of last season.
Michael Duff will have to choose from all his new recruits on who will make their debut via a start this weekend but it seems inconceivable that the line up will not include Carl Rushworth, Josh Key, Harrison Ashby and Jerry Yates. That just adds to the summer of change that we have talked about pretty much since the last game finished and tells you exactly the difference that we could see in Swansea City this coming season.
Duff himself ended last season with a last minute Wembley heartache as his Barnsley side lost to Sheffield Wednesday in the play offs just as they were setting for a penalty shoot out. It was his record at Barnsley (and Cheltenham) beforehand that persuaded the Swans that he was the man to replace Russell Martin. The process to lose one and appoint the other may have been far more drawn out than we would have wanted it to be but Duff has not been a slouch in shaping his squad since he finally arrived in SA1.
As well as the four expected to start tomorrow we have Josh Ginnelly and Mykola Kuharevich as additional arrivals and there are more to come with more than one source suggesting we are aiming high in our desire to put together a team that we believe can compete in the Championship and maybe even mount a promotion campaign.
Joel Piroe is still at the club although most believe it will not be the position come the end of the month and with Russell Martin’s Southampton hovering there is still every chance that Martin could end the transfer window by orchestrating another departure from Swansea City.
Morgan’s Army
The opening fixture of the season will be dedicated to Morgan Ridler and the Morgan’s Army charity. As the club statement explained:
“The club was deeply saddened by the passing of Morgan in June, with his brave fight against cancer touching the hearts of everyone.
“We were proud and privileged to have Morgan lead our side out against Cardiff back in April, while the courage shown by both him and his family is an inspiration to us all.
“Swansea City is delighted to dedicate our opening home game of the season to such a special little boy, with several fundraising activities planned for Morgan’s Army, the charity set up by his parents, Natalie and Matthew.”
Manager Views
Michael Duff: “We want to be competitive, I am not a big one for making predictions. Everyone will be saying the same thing at the start of the season, let’s try and win the first couple of games, and then see where are after 10 games,” he said.
“That’s not me being negative, I think this is going to be the most competitive Championship season for a long time.
“If you look at the league, some big teams have come into it, who are well-supported financially.
“It is going to be very competitive, and that is what we want to be. We want to work week to week, win every half of football and see where we end up.
John Eustace: “Everyone is excited to be a part of Birmingham City at the moment, there is a lot of fantastic work being done off the field. We are looking forward to the game at Swansea City but we know it will be difficult.
“Swansea City have got a strong squad, an experienced one. They are a top team and have top players. It will be tough.
“Ethan Laird and George Hall are still struggling a little bit, we had a behind-closed-doors friendly game on Tuesday and got good minutes into the likes of Gary Gardner and [Lukas] Jukey, it was good to get minutes into those boys. Lee Buchanan hasn’t had much game time, we will take a look at him ahead of the weekend.”
Tickets are still available for the fixture both online and via the ticket office. Kick off at the Swansea.com Stadium is 3pm.
Here we go again!
