What was covered at the Liberty last night
Last night saw the annual Swansea City Supporters' Trust fans' forum, and after the EPL Rountable kindly agreed that my last-minute absence was acceptable (and I blagged a lift) I was off to see what would unfold at the Liberty.
Due to somewhat sporadic recording and note-taking I'm sure I won't be able to recall everything, but here are all the questions and answers I can remember.
Question: Why did so many Spaniards leave this summer?
Garry Monk: If you take Michu for an example...he had lots of niggly injuries last season and he'd been unsettled, and he found that frustrating for himself. You look at some of the foreign signings and they aren't going to stick around for ten years and put down roots...and in the end if people are umming and aahing and they're mind isn't really 100% on it, which is what you need from your players, I think you're better off just letting them go and obviously, in terms of the club, you're better off just letting them go and getting players who want to play for Swansea.
Q: Couldn't we have held on to players for longer, as we've seemingly left ourselves a bit short late in the day?
GM: ...when you look at Michel Vorm, for example, he's been replaced with Lukasz. This week as well with Chico going and obviously, hopefully in the next couple of days Fernandez will be coming in....if you look at Pablo going Gylfi's come in...other option wise you've got Michu - Gomis has come in so in terms of replacing it with the right quality we've done that but obviously, you always want to improve the squad with more and more depth and that's what we're trying to do, but I've said it all along and working with Huw [Jenkins] closely all summer we'll make sure we bring the right people in, and not just bring people in for the sake of bringing them in.
They've got to be the right people and sometimes you're driven by time-constraints and values that other teams put on players that you want, and other times it's a player you're sort of 50/50 on but the money is too much, so it really is about making sure that the player who comes in is right for the club, and that it's the right deal for the club, and obviously that's how it works here with Huw and the board. That's the way it's worked for years, and it's the way we'll continue to do it.
This next question was asked by a chap down the front who ended up grinding a few people's gears due to his negative attitude.
Q: <lots of rambling>.... Contracts are being broken?
GM: ...you're making me a bit scared now! [in response to the conviction in the question which I sadly can't remember word for word]. Is it my contract? Have you ripped it up?
Q: <same guy>... altering the style of play against Villarreal...long ball... the style of play and passing just wasn't there!!
GM: Was that a poem? No? I thought you were going to sing that to me! No, no look... I agree. The situation, and a lot of this happens, in pre-season where, I accept it's probably a mistake on my part and not on the players where, when you're doing pre-season and you're focusing on getting people to top fitness and you're trying to make sure people are getting the right minutes on the pitch so that when they come into the season they're in peak fitness.
I think on Saturday I probably...it's the first time I've thought to myself I've made a real...not so much a mistake but we were more conscious of getting the minutes and the preparation for the start of the season than we were of winning the game. Don't get me wrong, I want to win every single game and we never go out there with the intention of not doing that but I think the way the game went...I could tell I could quite easily have changed it but the personnel who were on the pitch, it was important they got the minutes on the pitch ready for the season so, there's always that balance in pre-season. It's not a league game where you're always there to win the game - with pre-season games sometimes you sacrifice that just a little bit to try things tactically and because you're trying to get the right minutes for the right players on the pitch so obviously that happened on Saturday.
In terms of how the squad are, they're all fine. They've been brilliant all week and they know how they're working, and they're all looking forward to the game on Saturday.
Q: Are we targeting United's fullbacks given our wingers are fit again [Dyer & Routledge - in reference to the Villarreal formation which lacked width]?
GM: I think you're right, playing with wingers is a massive part of our identiy and we've never gone away from that at all. In terms of last weekend with Nathan & Wayne unavailable that dictated how what we could do as well, so no... our identity has always been with wingers and we will do that - that will always be our mainstay - but I think also that football is evolving you know...different formations are coming in and you have to think about who you're playing. A lot of people now are using two, three strikers instead of just wingers and you have to adapt to it a little bit and move with the times as well, with what we feel's best but of course, our identity has always been with wingers and as much as possible we will always keep with that. In terms of the coming season, we won't go away from that fact but there may be games in between where we have to tweak it in certain areas.
This next question was worded massively negatively. I didn't hear it all (and to be honest I'm glad) but I did hear "Rangel's lack of pace is embarrassing" which I thought was a bit harsh
Q: We're weak in defence [massively doctored version of the question]...
GM: It's an obvious question and I understand that but we've been dictated to in terms of players leaving and the players who've moved out have been in different areas really, so we've had to prioritise replacements in those positions. Obviously I understand the fans frustrations - we have to improve all over the pitch, of course we do - but again it's about prioritising who we need to bring in first and you can only do it deal by deal. We're not the type of club that can go and do four deals in one go, we do it one deal at a time so we've had to get deals done earlier in the summer as a result, to cover the ones that have left.
We're hopeful by the beginning of next week Federico will be here, and he'll be a great addition having played in the World Cup etc who'll definitely improve the squad and obviously there's other areas we can improve and strengthen and it's down to personnel and availability. If they're not available you can't just go out and sign people willy-nilly, it has to be the right person and that's key. That is the fundamental.
The guy who asked this question then said something else. I missed it, it didn't go down well and The Monk gave him a seemingly justified death-stare.
Q: Bony - what's happening?
Huw Jenkins: As you've said there's been lots of speculation but I think we've all become accustomed to that whether it's Bony or someone else...but I think that a lot of things that you've read in the press are completely untrue. Who in their right mind would be looking to discount a sale for one of their main players? I think from our point of view it's a very late point in the year, the season's about to start and you don't want to be losing your players and I can only say over the last few months we haven't had any offers coming in for Wilf [he did say Wilf, but then said his full name too], and Garry knows full well he [Wilf] is the type of person that will be giving 100%. At present Wilf is a part of the squad and nothing is going to change about that.
Q: Wayne Routledge is now a Swansea legend - why doesn't he have a song? Even Garry Monk had a song! Huw [Cooze] - can you sort it out with Prince of Ginger?
<applause - Huw said yes>
Q: Lots of players have been going for mental transfer fees - why haven't we had similar fees for our players?
HJ: Fair question - Garry touched on it himself, you asked the question about Pablo, and Chico, and Michu...they left our club and they were starters with us last season and although we've gone in and we've replaced them, and we weren't forced to do what we did, but we had to go along with certain conditions and Michu was an example of that. Garry went through what he was like with us, and how he was last season, and obviously he [Michu] wanted us to work with him and he found a move to Napoli and we went along with that in terms of the best deal we could at the time.
The same with a couple of other players who left, and we've had to go and try to get the best deals we can to get players to replace them. There's a lot of big cash being chucked about and I think the Southampton deals, to Man Utd in particular, for you know, astronomical fees, they're in my view vastly overstated for what should be paid for players at our level and it makes a mockery of what's gone on in the transfer market elsewhere.
But as you touched on there, the same club, Southampton, have probably overpaid to get Shane Long so obviously they need to bring in players because they're selling them. As they're getting big fees in for their players they're, in my opinion, vastly overpaying to bring players back in.
Q: What cooperation with the council is there re: planning, as I've heard from Interserve that they're having some obstruction from the same councillors who gave McDonalds planning permission for the restaurant?
HJ: Well obviously you're knowledgeable in regards to the planning process...you're not far off and what you said there was right but I think we work quite well with the council - let's not forget we're all together as a partnership and in the stadium and I think they want to see us going ahead. There have been delays linked to that parcel of land and the planning given to McDonalds and we're still waiting for that exchange to go through fully, but there's also the planning conditions which are attached to the new stand, or stands, which we've put to the council which are still to be finalised.
We think that's going to be done before Christmas. When we push the button on that - be it in six months or next summer, is a question mark and there's other things to be cleared up first. There's also probably one of the biggest planning issues which is the parking. We've got to find sufficient parking in the surrounding area and that's one of the biggest hurdles we've got to get over in terms of the planning conditions.
Q: <asked by The JackCast's own Steven Carroll> What do you think of the "Game 39" idea?
HJ: That's a good question. The way things have gone, with the Premier League, they're trying to advance around the world and you could see all the Premier League teams playing in the competition out in the US this summer, and I think it's going to get bigger and bigger and that's what they're looking to attract to inject more revenue back into the Premier League. I think probably the majority now will look to go down those lines, and I think if we're going to look for additional revenue coming into our club, to grow commercially, getting sponsors from all around the world, I think we've got to go along with that.
Personally I think we're miles behind the majority of PL clubs in moving into that area in terms of bringing revenue in from that area to be able to compete and I think that extra game could find us those extra millions which could help us compete in the Premier League.
Q: How long should we allow to get through turnstiles, and and where are the big screens?
Huw Cooze: The framework for the new monitors are being put up now - they look enormous - and yes they'll be in place fully working [for the Burnley game]. With the ticketing we fully understand there were a lot of queues and we were testing how the new system works, and how the barcoding works, and let's hope these things are resolved and run that little bit smoother in our first home league game.
Q: <long winded deep-voiced question I can't remember>
GM: I talk to the players a lot about game management - you play different teams who press high and others who don't - and I think you're right, you always have to try and start the game our way. Start at the back, build the play through the midfield, and get the ball to our attacking players but if that isn't working you have to make the opposition think that it's not always going to be like that, and it comes down to game management. There has to be periods in matches where the opposition can't always be sure they know what to expect from us, and you can go to a Bony or if we're playing with a deep-lying striker, or hitting it to the wingers in space, just to make the other team think about it, and I've talked to the players about this and it is the case. You look at Man Utd on the weekend; they play a pressing game with their front five, and it's all about a place and a time. We want to stick to our principles and pass the ball, come through the midfield into our attackers, but there will be times when you do have to miss out the midfield and go straight to the winger or the forward. It depends who you're playing against - more so when you're playing a pressing team.
Q: <same guy who said something about contracts being broken>
GM: I disagree. [question was ultimately about wanting to revert to tika-taka, and having to retain possession by playing backwards passes]. You have to pass the ball forward to score.
Q: I feel we've got our Swansea back. What do you do to impress upon new signings the values of the club?
GM: Very good question. For me it's easy to put across what the club means to me, the chairman, but not just that to the community, and I always promote that. It's the first thing I promote to the boys when they walk through the door and how important it is to wear that shirt - it's important to know what you're representing. The likes of Rangel, when you come from a different culture he's a great example to a lot of the foreign boys who've come in, and he speaks to them a lot and we try to speak to them as well but he confirms it. What it is to play for the club, the reputation we've built up now as a club... it's an attraction for players now it really is, but it is important that when they come through this door they know what it means to the community and for me, I find that easy to convey as I've lived here for ten years, I see it every day in my life when I'm out and about - Tesco's, you know, someone's always coming up to you and wanting to talk about the club and the good thing about Swansea is that when players come to Swansea they live in Swansea. It's not like a big city like London, everyone who comes here lives here so they see you every day sometimes that's good and sometimes it's bad but it is, generally, good. The players get that feel and that's important - you see it in the group. Leon, Ash, Rangel, they've been here a long time - Nathan Dyer & Wayne have been here a while now and those guys are always promoting it in the changing room as well.
Q: We've signed a lot of young Scottish players - is this a particular tactic?
GM: I'm sure Huw can elaborate on that as well but for me, we're trying to improve the club everywhere. The young boys that have come in through the academy, I know Huw's worked very hard on the academy, and it's a work in progress. You need to get them as young possible but you need to have the quality that's affordable to us. We're not like a Chelsea or a Man Utd who can spend £2million on a 15-year-old player. If you look at Jay Fulton for instance, he was fantastic when I took over and I brought him straight into the squad first of all to make up the numbers and he just adapted. What you forget is he's played over one hundred games in Scotland, senior football, and he's only young, but you can see it in him. He doesn't fear anything, he's competitive, and he's got the respect with the senior pros. Not every single player you bring in is going to work out but if you can get that one through the door - look at Joe Allen - that one out of fifty can be massive for us. In terms of the academy for us, we're trying to build up the quality of player bit by bit.
Q: Can we watch U21 on TV?
HJ: I think you're on about the Category 1 clubs? [guy asks about it being on youtube] Yeah we could do that... I think we're looking at next March/April to try and apply to be Category 1 status for next season which would take care of that. Hopefully we'll be part of that.
Q: <elderly gentleman with a gripe>
A gripe really. I lost my season ticket last year and I had to pay £50 to replace it! A card!
HJ: You said you lost your season...and?
Elderly chap: Well...I found it in the end!
<everyone laughs. lots>
Q: We've seen a lot of Premier League clubs doing youth initiatives - have we plans to do more?
Lee Trundle: It was a bit of a learning curve last year, it was our first year doing that kind of stuff and we're going to push on next season. We visited a lot of schools, took the cup out, and we've been doing coaching sessions over the close season. These kids are the future fans of the club and you want to get them involved straight away, and it's an honour for me to represent the club and go out and do that. It's not just about connecting to the school or the club, it's about helping these kids become the fans of the future.
Q:
GM: I've worked with Huw very closely since taking the job. I speak to Huw a lot, we have a lot of meetings, and we identify the kind of player we like, make a list, a shortlist, then have discussions...analyse the player, then it comes down to availability, money...and that's ultimately what dictates these things.
Q: If Bony went now would we have a replacement lined up?
GM: Look, it's not an ideal time but yeah of course, we're always identifying players to come in, thinking of worst-case scenarios. There's always a target to come in. You have to plan for "what if he leaves" and so on, but a deal's not done until it's done. You can think you have a player all done but in terms of finalising it...things change all the time. The difficulty these days is agents - you can have five or six agents dealing with one player and it's ridiculous. Huw'll tell you better than me...
HJ: Things have changed dramatically since we joined the Premier League in the last couple of years. Continually from once the window is open there must be thousands of agents trying to sell all our players without any conversations with us, and they will sell all around Europe and come back to us with ideas and offers they hope people will take them up on. It's something we've got used to in the last couple of years and I think now, which Garry touched on, we can be clear this season in particular, the players we've brought in, and part of last season, we've spent a lot of time watching and like Garry said sometimes it takes a little bit longer.
In some cases in the past we've had players in that, perhaps, we haven't seen enough of and that might have been the choice of our manager (or whatever it may be) but we've quietly just tried to eradicate that to make sure things are better, and in some cases yes it's taken a bit longer and we'd like a couple more players in quickly, but we're on that path and we are identifying players to come in to improve the squad.
Q: How many players can we expect to come in?
HJ: We've been speaking [Huw & Garry] and we need a minimum of two players. And I'm not talking about squad players, we're talking starters, he needs two players to come in and improve the first team and that's vital.
Q: <asked stumblingly by yours truly> Have you considered 3-5-2 now that we have two quality strikers?
GM: Not right now, being honest with you. I think if you try and change it too drastically too quickly, I think...if you look at Van Gaal at United, they have some of the best players in the world, so in terms of going from the old system to the new one that was easy, but in terms of ourselves we've been adapting a certain way of play, trying to put a structure in place with the players, which obviously you didn't see on Saturday and I've already touched on reasons why that was what it was, making no excuses.
Like you say, with the two strikers there will be games where we can play them, but there's games where we won't. It's about identifying the opposition that we're playing against and really trying to work the most effective gameplan. That's more tactics - in terms of a philosophy we'll always be a passing team, always be a possession team. We will always try to make it attacking and entertaining for the fans and generally over the years we have done, but now with the types of strikers we have there will be times when they both play, and it's all about trying to identify the right time to do it.
Q: You had an open day at the Liberty after it was built - could we have one at Fairwood?
GM: Yes.
HJ: I don't know if it would be possible in Fairwood... if we can find a way of doing that we could make it work. We can't have people walking on the pitches but showing people around the training facilities...yes.
Q: Swansea council have a massive deficit - have there been talks about us buying the stadium?
HJ: At this point there haven't been. As I said we work well with the council and if that was the case and they wanted to do that they'd discuss that with us we'd be happy to listen and what could be arranged that way, but we can't forget that - you touched on the deficits the council faces - they used council money to build this stadium so we have to make sure that, in my view, it's always theirs and they're always looking after it, making sure they're looking after it for the good of the football club and the city for many years to come, a long time after us. Personally I remember the way the St Helens & The Vetch ended up, with different people running it, and you never know with that. Who knows in the future though, so we always keep our options open.
Q: Did Vorm actually go on a free transfer to Spurs?
HJ: I'm not going to go into the details, but we did what we did within the rules and in the right way. The deal with Spurs we were happy to do for a variety of reasons, for the football club, and we felt it was right. Ben Davies was involved in that and Vorm was involved in that deal with Gylfi coming in and I'm not going to go into detail but we're quite happy and comfortable with what we've done with Spurs. We don't see any problems at all.
Q: The name of the Swans seems to have been muddied by this - are we in danger of causing ourselves problems in the transfer market with this?
HJ: Firstly, for people to believe what they read in the press is...
My overview on it is they've decided to rely on money coming in to run their club, and that's their decision. When you've got a sell-on, we've got full rights to sell a player in the UK we don't have third party ownership, which you have in Spain and Holland.
As far we're concerned it's done and dusted. Utrecht have sent some kind of statement into FIFA - we just await any response they have.
Q: How much work does the trust do collaborating with similar projects?
HC: We get asked to do events quite a lot - Alan Lewis, our media guy, normally does a lot but I've done them too. We've done recently Israel, Brussels... we've done a few countries outside the UK too.
Q: Tatey's testimonial? What's happening there?
GM: He ruptured his hamstring so he's coming back from that. Being honest with you we spoke a lot before and we felt our time was coming to an end as footballers at the club. Football has moved on from the likes of me and Alan. It would have been my testimonial this year and it was something I wanted the same as Alan - I know he had Man Utd set up but then Ferguson left...then I think I'm right in saying they had it set up again but Moyes left. Right now Alan's in rehab - he wants what's best for the club and we want what's best for him.
Q: Will we prioritise the league?
GM: I want to attack everything. We do have a very compact week at home with the Capital One Cup - until I know what players are available it's hard to say about team selection but I want to have a good cup run and I want to win every game I'm involved in.
HC: We've been talking today and ticket prices are £10, £5 and £1 for the Rotherham game.
<applause>
This is where my recording cuts off, and my notes from this point are sporadic at best. The club acknowledged the need for extra public transport on matchdays, while Huw revealed a few weeks ago he spoke to Ferrie Bodde's agent who said he's looking to come to the UK to further his coaching career. Oof!
The last "question" was a follow up to a couple of other questions I'm assuming I didn't record - basically stating we didn't need to expand as money would be best spent elsewhere. This was roundly greeted with cries of "No" and "you're wrong" etc. Huw responded by saying that his and my generation could always go to see the Swans -there's a generation now who may feel they've never been able to get a ticket, and that's what needs to change.
That's all I've got. If there're typos etc I'm sorry - I typed this up directly after the forum and I'm spent! Dayjob in t-minus eight hours four minutes. Ouch. Until tomorrow!