At the moment I'm choosing to stay positive. If you ask any manager "what would happen if you don't get sufficient funds to invest in the squad?" they're likely to respond with something akin to "well if that was the case, I'd have to assess the situation and see what the best options are", and in truth that's the only quote which seems to have driven the current wave of conjecture regarding Laudrup's transfer kitty this summer.
I thought an interesting exercise would be to strip away all of the journalism surrounding the quotes, and see what we're left with. Who knows, maybe we're worried about nothing. Here are as many as I could find:
Laudrup's agent - Bayram Tutumlu;
“Michael Laudrup, just now, is very happy at Swansea City. Of course Michael has had offers from elsewhere. Other teams can wait one or two years. We know Michael is going to train the big teams but this is not the moment.
“Michael doesn't think about other teams because he promised to the players and the fans he wants to stay in Swansea. When we expanded the contract of Michael Laudrup, we spoke with the board and the chairman that they're going to make a really good team for Michael.
“A good team is no problem. If they don't have the possibility of making a good team, I don't know what can happen. Michael needs good players. We don't want to have the same experience as Newcastle for example. He told the board and the chairman that [Swansea] need a very good squad this year.”
Huw Jenkins:
"It's been a long season and when the time is right we will sit down with Michael to talk more about next season in a professional manner"
Before...
"I will not comment on this story."
Huw had previously gone on a charm offensive;
“I think it’s important what we’ve done with Michael. We’ve touched on players staying here and it’s the same with Michael. He wants to stay here so it wasn’t a difficult discussion to renew his contract.
“He wants to stay here and test himself with new challenges in the Europa League and the Premier League. With Roberto and Brendan moving on, we’ve showed that we’ve been doing things in a good way.
“We’ve enhanced many managers’ careers over recent years and I think we’ve provided Michael with that lift and stability to raise his profile.”
Michael Laudrup
From the BBC;
"Unless we find a couple of hundred million pounds I think last season we achieved nearly the maximum we can in terms of the table. There are always things you can improve, but there are not many higher positions we can look at.
"Even consolidating is going to be very difficult. Some of the teams below us this season will invest heavily; West Ham, Newcastle, Aston Villa.
"They are huge clubs who want to take the place where we are right now."
From Skysports;
"I wanted to stay because the club said they were going to strengthen their team. Of course we need to do that, but I'm sure they will keep their word about that, and then I want to stay for the fans and also for some of the players - they came for me so I can't just leave them after one season.
"We don't have so much money compared to the rest of the teams so we have to do it like that [shop clever], but we'll have to strengthen our team just to try to keep where we are right now, consolidate as a mid-team, because there are a lot of teams, bigger clubs, below us who will spend big money.
"We've already seen West Ham with Andy Carroll, I think Newcastle and others will do the same so we'll have to be very good in the transfer market to compete."
So, what are we looking at here? It all seems centred around the transfer budget, and it appears that assurances were given when Laudrup signed his new contract that he'd be given ample funds to improve the squad. If there was a number mentioned, you'd have to hope the Swans honour that (and I have no doubt they would) whereas if there wasn't, it's possibly been a case where the two parties have distinctly different perceptions of "ample funds".
One thing bothers me with this story though - who exactly is suggesting the Swans aren't willing to stump up in the transfer market this summer? There's been the vague rumour that the Swans are interested in Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, but that we won't (or can't) meet the asking price, but in truth I'm still not comfortable about signing a £10 or £11million pound striker - more for the contract demands that would surely come with such a player. No doubt the board will play hard-ball, but you'd be hard pushed to find an £11million pound striker who'll accept less than £40kpw.
Aside from that, there's been no indication the board have reneged on any kind of agreed transfer fund, and given that the transfer window is closed and Laudrup is currently on holiday it seems hard to fathom just why there is a constant stream of speculation coming out of SA1. I'll reserve judgement for now, but if it turns out this was just newspaper speculation it'll have severely marred the relationship between the local rag and the club, and it may be that we see reduced press access as a result. That may not be a bad thing to be honest.
Personally, while I'm a sucker for a good quote I still don't think there's anything in this. Whatever the issue is, I find it very hard to believe that it can't be resolved in an amicable manner, and that Laudrup will be backed in the transfer market as well as the club can afford, without jeopardising it's financial footing one iota.
And that's the way it should be.