Happy New Year to everyone. It’s New Year’s Day and there is bound to be a bumper crowd here for the visit of one of our promotion challenging rivals in YeovilTown. There will be no crazy tapping of the head from any Yeovil players this afternoon because of the departure of you know who but let’s hope for a great game of football which of course most of us hope will end with three more points for the Swans.
I trust that the New Year’s hangovers are cleared and, if we believe what we read, then many New Year’s resolutions will be broken already but then again what is new? It’s 2005 and that means it is the year that will see big changes here in Swansea. The Vetch will cease to exist for the Swans and matches in just 120 days from now and before the year is out we will be playing in our new stadium. It seems strange that these dates are coming up on us so fast but I personally cannot wait for the last game of this season and the first of next, they are great times to be a Swans fan.
It’s always at this time of year that you get all them cheesy award programmes on TV for this, that and the other. In the Boston programme I looked back on some of the match highlights in 2004 but who should take the player awards for the same period
Player of the Year – it can only be Lee Trundle surely. There is no doubt that Trundle puts the proverbial bums on the seats. People pay to watch Trundle there is no doubt and he does get the club publicity with his exploits on Soccer AM. Add to that the fact that he has time for the fans and will happily talk to them makes him the club’s dream. And to cap it all he can play a bit as well!
Unsung hero award – this will upset a few but for me it’s Kris O’Leary. Kris will never win over all of the support but he has deserved his accolades over the past few months. He has come through the tough times at the Vetch and remains here closing in on 200 league starts for the club. Credit to Kenny Jackett for moving into midfield and credit to the player himself for what he has done this season to date
Signing of the year – this was a close call for me. Jackett made some good signings in the summer and pretty much all of them have merit for this award. But one man came in with some pretty big gloves to fill and has done an exceptional job of doing that. Already with at least a dozen clean sheets behind him and let’s not forget three penalty saves it’s Willy who I think has made the biggest impact since signing.
Goal of the year – this will seem a strange choice to many but I am nominating Izzy’s goal against Lincoln. Not spectacular, no individual mazy run, no unstoppable shot but a goal that ended the drought without a home win. It relieved the pressure that was starting to build and enabled us to go on a bit of a run. Sometimes it doesn’t take the spectacular to make a difference and this for me was one of those occasions.
Those are my four awards for 2004. Some will agree, some will disagree with me but whatever you think, it wasn’t a vintage year for the Swans but, like any football fan, we always hope that better things are around the corner and maybe, just maybe 2005 will be the year of the Swan?
Anyhow, back to today’s game. Today’s is one of those proverbial six pointers that we tend to read so much about in the papers. If we are to maintain a promotion push then we have to aim to beat those around us and I have a sneaky feeling that today’s game is going to be an absolute cracker meaning that us, as fans, have our part to play so let’s create the atmosphere that we all want to hear and for once how about we forget about the headgear of Cardiff’s owner and get behind the Swans? All together now “Jenkins is a roofer, he wears a roofer’s hat……..” (Well, it could catch on!)
Here’s to a great game of football and to Swans fans everywhere, here’s to a great 2005 and we all know what we want for the first half of it – promotion!
JACK ARMY!