{"id":76011,"date":"2023-02-01T06:17:29","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T06:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/?p=76011"},"modified":"2023-02-01T07:47:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T07:47:27","slug":"absolutely-no-ambition-transfer-window-shambes-in-sa1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2023\/02\/01\/absolutely-no-ambition-transfer-window-shambes-in-sa1\/","title":{"rendered":"Absolutely no ambition &#8211; transfer window shambles in SA1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After all the planning and preparation that we were told started back in September and after thirty-one days of the transfer window, the close of play yesterday saw us end in a position where the squad was not improved during January.<\/p>\n<p>We have talked during the course of the month about the club making a statement of intent but the play out of the window was the loudest statement that we needed to hear in that we managed to get no signings over the line.\u00a0 \u00a0Unless of course you count loan recalls or a new player for the Under-21s.<\/p>\n<p>Russell Martin&#8217;s team are within touching distance of the play-offs but that was not enough to persuade anyone that inputs to the finances at the club that they could get new players in to boost that play-off push.\u00a0 \u00a0Simply put there was no ambition to try and drive the club forward.<\/p>\n<p>When Julian Winter and Russell Martin talked about early planning for this window identifying potential targets and looking to move early in January I think most believed that we could actually deliver on those statements.\u00a0 However, it took the late failure to get a deal over the line for Karlan Grant to highlight just how much of a shambles this window was for the club.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='_5NZbJe4Q21qx0AuwljW-A' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1234483270' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'_5NZbJe4Q21qx0AuwljW-A',sig:'1qV0IhdyIuc7TJgLieMVTqTGtKcz9FpngGn5kKRtu_c=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1234483270',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>There can be little doubt that the post mortems inside the club should go on and it seems almost inevitable that there is likely to be departures from the club as a direct result.<\/p>\n<p>It is difficult to comprehend how Russell Martin must feel this morning?\u00a0 Has he been lied to?\u00a0 Have their been broken promises?\u00a0 \u00a0Or was the &#8220;company line&#8221; he was trotting out just words to placate the media in the hope that maybe someone behind the scenes would change their mind.<\/p>\n<p>The usual silence of the ownership group is deafening in its absence as they oversee another window where accusations of continually holding out for a better deal is stopping transfers coming over the line.\u00a0 \u00a0That accusation was thrown at them over the interest that we had in Chiedozie Ogbene where the suggestion was that everything was just about agreed until there was intrusion from across the pond.<\/p>\n<p>On the outgoings we have Michael Obafemi, Jamie Paterson and Morgan Whittaker all who reportedly have refused to play for the club in the past few months for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 \u00a0We managed to get Obafemi out but he went just on loan (although the deal to make that permanent we are told is just about guaranteed) but Paterson and Whittaker are still here which will be a test for the man management skills of Martin otherwise we are left with players sat on the fringes.<\/p>\n<p>We have seen some poor windows in the past but this one has topped each and every one of them.\u00a0 \u00a0The only positive is that we managed to avoid last minute panic signings (was Grant heading to be one of them?) but that&#8217;s a positive that doesn&#8217;t really matter &#8211; right now we are in a worse position then we were when we came into the window.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='wpqPeev0SUp6yhepLQkxqw' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1234682215' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'wpqPeev0SUp6yhepLQkxqw',sig:'sJJTxrks3QBt5BIsfQhCKO-ZbzFIfGrK0nRIhPcKwe4=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1234682215',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>The Swans will return to league action on Saturday when Birmingham visit SA1.\u00a0 \u00a0The visitors have lost their last five league games but must surely be bouyed by the fact they are not facing any new players with points to prove.\u00a0 \u00a0This is a weaker Swansea squad than the one that has won two of the last fourteen.\u00a0 \u00a0And anybody that was part of the group that was tasked with managing the January transfer window has to take their share of the blame.\u00a0 \u00a0It simply was not good enough.<\/p>\n<p>The fans now have a total right to know what has happened behind the scenes.\u00a0 \u00a0How can a professional football club, after more than four months of planning and having a four and a half week window fail to get a single signing over the line?\u00a0 \u00a0 Clearly we had the desire to try but we failed.\u00a0 \u00a0And failed on more than one occasion.\u00a0 \u00a0Grant, Ogbene, Cornick, Gelhardt and Key were all names linked with us this window and there were more.\u00a0 \u00a0All wake up this morning as registered players elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Since the ownership change at the club in 2016 there has been much criticism aimed at the ownership group and whatever you think of that in the past right now that criticism is due and justified and they must be accountable for the window that was January 2023.<\/p>\n<p>We await to hear.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='eQ3qciQCQ91D6zsxN3UFSA' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/845304230' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'eQ3qciQCQ91D6zsxN3UFSA',sig:'0CHJnhyZTVYgJMCBJ1TdgT2wzYXGE_ujpHv2SA0EkbU=',w:'594px',h:'409px',items:'845304230',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After all the planning and preparation that we were told started back in September and after thirty-one days of the transfer window, the close of play yesterday saw us end in a position where the squad was not improved during January. We have talked during the course of the month about the club making a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,203],"tags":[767,766,577,636,575,665],"class_list":["post-76011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","tag-jake-silverstein","tag-jason-levien","tag-julian-winter","tag-russell-martin","tag-steve-kaplan","tag-the-2022-23-season"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}