Dutch club "confident of positive verdict from FIFA"
There we were thinking this one had gone away. Well, maybe not seeing as Utrecht had already complained to FIFA, but I (along with, I'm assuming, most Swansea fans) had taken on a kind of "no news is good news" attitude, having been placated by Huw's words on the matter at the recent fan's forum. He said the club are 100% happy with how they conducted the transfer, it had been properly ratified by the relevant authorities, and if they've taken this stance they must be confident that, legally, we're on a sound footing.
That hasn't stopped Utrecht continuing to moan though. It even appears that they've been gossiping around Europe canvassing opinion, which - even if we haven't done anything wrong - is hardly going to show us in a positive light. I do worry about that a bit to be honest. Here are the latest comments from the excellently-named Utrecht Chief Executive Wilco van Schaik:
"It remains to be seen, but we are very positive about the verdict. Everyone that we speak to in the international football world recognises that this thing stinks. If this is not corrected, there is no end, and the whole system with resale rates comes on the shovel.”
I think the last idiom is lost in translation, but he seems pretty miffed still. All we can do is wait and see what happens. I'm confident we won't face any official sanction from football's governing body, but I can't help but feel we've damaged our reputation somewhat with this deal. We want to be known as a club who uphold all the right values and morals, and I like to think we do, so this is why these accusations sit so uneasily. I hate the idea of people looking on us as a club who try to do the dirty in transfer deals, and even if untrue that could still become the case if Utrecht moan long and hard enough.
Let's hope this story disappears for good in the near future.