Laudrup's had his say...what did we learn?
I tried to not be interested in this. I really tried. I even put the Winter Olympics on, but in the end the possibility that Laudrup could say something detrimental to my beloved club meant I found myself following journalists Chris Wathan & Gareth Vincent, who were at the press conference in Heathrow and were busy keeping South Wales updated throughout.
It seems easier if I quote some key sections of the statement, and I must give massive thanks to WalesOnline for allowing me to use the content from the live feed. Chris Wathan was updating the feed throughout, so thanks to him for providing such comprehensive coverage - see the full thing here: link
"During the summer I saw a lot going on in the press here and in Denmark on problems with chairman Jenkins and my agent Bayram. There comes a point where the connection stops because of a problem between them. People said I was “caught in middle”. I said it didn’t change anything of my relatonship with the club. I said, for me, it’s important to keep my word that I won’t walk away from that. It should have been a great summer with a lot of positive things. Instead there were a lot of articles, headlines in the papers.
"Then we come forward to the start of the season. I knew this would be very difficult for a lot of reasons. Expectations after last season would be huge. On top of that a team like Swansea was never used to playing in Europe. We have seen clubs not used to that struggling. Huge clubs like Newcastle really struggled last season and saved themselves two or three games from the end from relegation. We go into the group stage, go through it into last 32 of the Europa. We’re still in FA Cup, in the league have a bad run of two wins in 10 but in a group of 11 teams. Come into January, mid January, we play some big sides, lose some tight games but win a big one at Old Trafford.
"Mid Jan, I’m told they’re not satisfied and that’s that. The want to change the coaching staff. We talk about it, I always want to listen but don’t agree with what’s said. After that we play a cup game, which we win, we play a league game, we win, and we have the last game against West Ham we lose...After that I get another message.... I should really, really, really change staff! My answer is we already discussed that but we agree to a meeting on the Tuesday.
"I had a personal matter on Monday morning. I wasn’t in Paris. It was a personal matter and the chairman knew about it. On Tuesday, we had a meeting again about staff and changing staff. I say we have already talked about it and think it’s a big mistake to talk about it because it’s in the week of one of the most important games - the Cardiff game. However, what surprised me was I had a meeting and already things I spoke to chairman about were in papers.
"I shake hands. They say thanks for the work you are doing. Then, Tuesday afternoon, I receive mail that due to breach of contract it will be terminated just a few hours after the meeting. I’m very, very confused so I call and ask what’s going on. It was a little difficult to hear what was said on the phone. I said, by the way, what does breaches mean. They didn’t really know. While I was on phone, my wife said the things were already on the internet that I had been dismissed.
"The day after I was talking to a worker from the club, who was bringing me my things. I was a little sad I couldn’t talk to players and staff. I was leaving, he called me back and said chairman thinks it’s a bad idea because of big games coming up. I still haven’t said my goodbyes." Michael Laudrup
Ok, there's lots I haven't included here but that covers most of it. It seems the entire reason Laudrup wanted a press conference is because the Swans couldn't answer what "breach of contract" meant - he must surely be the first manager who couldn't figure out that naff league form generally gets you sacked, though it must be said if his account of things is indeed true the Swans could easily have carried out his dismissal in a more straightforward manner. I get the impression that the club were a little unsure of how to go about it - understandable given a) how long it's been since we last sacked a manager and b) the extra care you have to take doing it at a Premier League club with the world's media looking on.
Does that excuse them? To me, if what Laudrup has said is true, it appears it could have been handled more...smoothly, shall we say, however Laudrup glossed over league performance completely in his statement - referring to league form as "up and down". That's being very creative, I feel, as despite the odd good result we've been very poor in the league for what was approaching a full calendar year by the time of his departure. Should the club have spelled that out when terminating his contract? Quite possibly, however I'm sure there have been many managerial departures in recent times handled in a similar manner, and this is the first time I've ever seen a sacked manager holding a press conference to give his version of events.
No doubt the papers will be full of capitalised headlines, indeed the Daily Mirror have already gone with "Michael Laudrup slams Swansea, claiming he had to wait NINE DAYS to find out why he was sacked", but in reality I feel we've learnt nothing new from today's press conference, other than the club couldn't explain what "breach of contract" meant and that Laudrup didn't actually go to Paris. Huge news? Hardly.
So, hopefully that's the last we hear of that. Whether it will be we can't say, however I'm now going to get back to football and start dreaming of another famous win over illustrious opposition. Bring on Napoli.