It seems that the sinking ship that is Swansea City gets more bizarre by the day, much like the comments coming from boss – for now – Michael Duff.<\/p>\n
We were led to believe by Barnsley fans that he had brought the fans and team together through good winning football, positive soundbites in the media and a positive vibe around the camp.<\/p>\n
That couldn’t be further from where we are today.<\/p>\n
The pressure is clearly beginning to show for the former Burnley defender\u00a0and his latest comments following last night’s dire draw at QPR just exacerbate an already bad situation.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend we began to hear rumours on social media that the players and Duff were at loggerheads and his recent comments will do nothing to bridge the perceived gap between the two camps.<\/p>\n
He said: “My job’s not to win the fans over.<\/p>\n
“My job’s to win games. If they’ve made their mind up, they’ve made their mind up.<\/p>\n
“The Bristol City game wasn’t good enough. There was no intensity. The Cardiff game, we’ve shown the players. The reason it looks like there’s a lack of identity is that we’re doing certain things in training and then on matchday they’re doing their own thing.<\/p>\n
“They’ve been shown that. Today I’ve said to them, if you can guarantee that shape, togetherness and spirit. Then you can start focusing on other parts of the game.<\/p>\n
“At the minute it’s half an hour there, 20 minutes there, an hour there, an hour against Preston, and we feel the pressure a little bit.<\/p>\n
“It’s about sticking to the process. You build teams on foundations, on solid foundations, on non-negotiables, and then you can build on the other stuff. I’m not naive enough to forget that I haven’t won a game yet.<\/p>\n
“But if people have already made their mind up, they’ve already made their mind up.<\/p>\n
“If I don’t win a game, then I’ll get the sack anyway. That’s not just me. That’s anyone in football. But I think there were lots of positives today.”<\/p>\n
Duff said he had a text from the chairman and owners in the last few days as the pressure builds on his position at Swansea.<\/p>\n
“I had a text from the chairman this morning.<\/p>\n
“And I had a text from the owner over the weekend. The Saturday game magnifies it because of who it is.<\/p>\n
“It wasn’t a brilliant performance. But it’s been explained to them why because there were two weeks where we worked on things and then on actual matchday the players are doing their own thing. They’ve been shown that and shown it doesn’t work. But today people stuck to task.”<\/p>\n
I’ve been a manager, admittedly at a considerably lower level than Duff, and when you start to speak out against your team, saying that your instructions are being ignored, then it shows you have no authority in the role.<\/p>\n
This team is largely Duff’s – 7 of his new signings started at Cardiff. So if they won’t listen to him, why not?<\/p>\n
Answers on a postcard to Cheltenham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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