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Absolutely. I heard that when we were promoted to the Premier League, tickets were handed out on the basis of who you knew, much like the Welsh FA and RFU. Is that fair?

Great post! All I’d say is that Arsenal decided years ago to invest in stadium expansion rather than buying galacticos as their strategy for long-term success. It took them over a decade but it’s paying off now. (Obviously the choice of manager is also important.) If we want to play with the big...

I’m not averse to 3 CBs and WBs at all, just a bit scarred by our failure to make it work under Martin. I wonder if Parker or Samuel’s-Smith could play the WB role eventually? Or Galbraith?

Looking at Vipotnik and Idah’s showreels, they seem quite similar players in many regards, with Idah having more Michu like ability to float through defenders like a ghost as well as some tricksy footwork, whereas Vipotnik has slightly more raw power (although Idah isn’t lacking in that...

No disrespect, but when I saw this thread I assumed it was an old poll from way back in the transfer window! I know that three goals and an assist does not make a summer, but I for one am very glad indeed that we held on to him. Don't know whether it was lack of service that led to his relative...

After four games our PPG is 1.75. Maintain that across the season and we’d finish with 80 points - enough to make the top 6 for at least the last few seasons, but not the automatic promotion places. And that’s without some of our latest reinforcements being available for those games. So I’ve...

Just been looking at West Brom's attendance history. Like us and Norwich, they experienced a step up in the early '00s - in their case, they put on around 10,000 over the course of three consecutive seasons (we did it in two steps spaced apart - the move to the new stadium, and then promotion to...

Good post, Colin. I think that explains very well why older Swansea supporters may be more fair-weather fans. But anyone who is 21 or younger will never remember a time when the Swans were out of the top two divisions or the dubious joys of the Vetch Field. They may remember periods of turgid...

But what matters is change over time. It's not that Norwich filled their ground from time immemorial, the way Man City took huge crowds to games even when they were in third tier. Norwich had 6k empty seats before 2004. They filled them overnight and another 6k besides - and ensured that those...

I'm sure those are all very valid comparisons in terms of population make-up, local economies (or lack of thereof) etc, but what lessons can we learn from studying those clubs/cities in terms of the purpose of this thread (to examine why our attendances have been falling and what we can do about...

I go to Norwich often. I agree that it is an attractive city, with pockets of wealth. However, those stats I quoted were not made up: the average person in Norwich is no better off or able to afford to go to football matches than the average person in Swansea. People depending on the food banks...

It’s a fair point, and other local factors no doubt play a part. But the stats are impressive nevertheless. In 2003-4 they added around 4,000 extra seats to Carrow Road. In the decade before that, they averaged attendances of 16,823, and in the decade afterward, 25,305. And their attendances...

Who is Delia Clarke? 😳

Recently? There was a time when I was a teenager when we’d watch the Swans one week at home and the Whites the next week. That ended in the late 70s.

I wondered about that, so I looked up the official stats on the House of Commons constituency database. Swansea West is indeed more deprived than either Norwich North or Norwich South by some way. The average unemployment rate in Swansea West is 4.8%, compared to 3.4% and 3.9% in the two...

Comparison I keep making is with Norwich. They had an attendance of under 20k, expanded the ground with financial support from their supporters and have pretty much averaged 25k ever since, whatever division they are in. We need to study how they did it and try to emulate them, because it has...

Hopefully we’ll hear something soon, but Benson is the cherry on the top of a knickerbocker glory at Joe’s. If it doesn’t arrive it’s a small disappointment but don’t let it spoil the rest of the experience for you!

If we get Benson now we will have two excellent players for every position as long as (a) we play a single striker and (b) we draw a line under Fisher’s past howlers and give him a second chance (I’m happy to do that). Appreciate that others have pointed this out previously, but my question is...

Samuels-Smith confirmed by the club

Interesting post on Vital Swans: we have the second highest net spend in the Championship this transfer window, at -£11.85m. Only Wrexham have spent more (net) at -£34.1m. As the poster says, we must have some serious commercial deals lined up to be OK with FFP. Overall we are sixth in the table...