Great show of support from local fans sees publicity event go down a storm
Well that was lovely wasn't it? While I can't say I was in attendance due to work commitments, over FIVE THOUSAND fans turned up to watch our team train - to put that in perspective the Ospreys average attendance last season was only 9,272, and this season there've been four occasions where they only managed around that 5000 for home games. That we can attract this kind of figure simply to watch is train is testament to how much the club has grown in such a short space of time, and the more events of this nature the better, in my opinion.
Now, it's obvious that with schools currently on their Easter holidays there's definitely an argument to say this was purely motivated by the opportunity to curry favour with local youngsters, but I think there was more to it than that. We've seen a couple of less than favourable stories emerge in national papers this season, and there've been many stories speculating as to whether there's a rift in the squad, so I think this was also an opportunity for the club to open it's doors and show a united front.
Twitter, Facebook and all the other social media platforms were full of excellent photos yesterday, but the best photo I've seen so far has to be Jonathan De Guzman's selfie on @dilgods's phone!
Best selfie I've got on my phone🙏🙏 @jdeguz retweet? pic.twitter.com/G9SQV9bNyn
— dyl (@dilgods) April 23, 2014
He really has completely won me over, and I'm really hopeful we can secure his signature for next season. I've long been of the opinion that I'd rather we bring Ki back into the fold at the expense of De Guzman at the end of the season (assuming the money for the Dutchman was silly), but Ki has again waned toward the end of the season and at present I'm debating the merits of taking some cash for the Korean and using that money to make a bid for De Guzman. That's a debate for another time though.
I'm very glad this event was such a success, and I'd speculate this could (and possibly should) become a yearly event towards the end of the season. The more we can further the link between the fans and the club the better, as fan involvement is very much at the heart of doing things the Swansea way.