Southampton trio make their Swansea return

There will be a triple return to Swansea this weekend as Russell Martin, Flynn Downes and Ryan Manning all make their returns to SA1 for the very first time since their departures.

It is also fair to say that all three probably left in very different circumstances with Downes sold for a handsome profit to West Ham a year before Manning left at the end of his contract having not had a new one agreed with the club.   And in the case of Martin it was a long drawn out departure that saw the Swans and Southampton seemingly wanting to spend all summer agreeing on a suitable compensation package.

All three of them though arrive back in SA1 in a very strong position with the Saints on the back of a twenty match unbeaten run and dreaming of an immediate return to the Premier League after their relegation last time around.   As they look for that immediate return the Swans are on a sixth straight season in the Championship following our own relegation which was just about signed and sealed by the Saints on their last league visit to Swansea back in 2018.

But what kind of reaction will they get from the Jack Army in the game which kicks off this lunchtime live on Sky?  Former midfielder Downes is not sure but very clear that he does not want any boos. “Hopefully there will be no boos – as long as there is no boos I’ll take that,” Downes told the Daily Echo.

“Fans are fans, I left the club – I don’t know how they are going to take it. I loved it there, I’ve got nothing bad to say about them.

“I’m looking forward to catching up with Luke Williams. He is a sound bloke.

“I got on really well with him. He was a very good coach when he was working with the gaffer. It should be an interesting one.”

Williams will of course be welcoming a familiar face for his first league game at home in charge of the Swans.   He was at Swansea as assistant to Russell Martin before his own departure in February 2022 – a departure from a club that ended when he was appointed at the end of December as a successor to Michael Duff.

And the Swans boss, like Downes, is not wanting any ill feeling to overshadow today’s game “I hope there is a lot of goodwill,” said Williams. “I was part of that same [coaching] team, by the way [that beat Cardiff]. I was part of that squad that was involved in the first derby.

“So I would like to think that if I came back at some point people would say ‘this guy worked really hard for us and was involved in something good’.

“I certainly don’t want there to be to be any ill feeling towards Russell or Gilly [Matt Gill, Martin’s assistant manager at Southampton] or Dean [Thornton, Southampton goalkeeping coach] and I certainly would like to be included in people thinking that we tried really hard and we tried to bring some energy to the club.

“So I wouldn’t I wouldn’t want any bad feelings. Absolutely not.”