Swansea announce pre-season tour of South Korea!

Swans look to maximise marketing opportunities in Asia

Ki: Helping to promote The Swansea Way

This is the news that during the close-season Swansea City will be embarking on a tour of South Korea, in the latest effort to expand the Swansea brand. Increased overseas interest is the result of a continued rise to prominence, and the signing of Ki Sung-Yeung, followed by the Capital One Cup win, will have further strengthened any foothold the Swans had gained on the other side of the world.

Michael Laudrup: “It’s massive for us and shows the progression of the club that we are probably going to play in the Far East. It’s a long way to go to play friendlies, but there is huge interest in the whole of Asia for the Premier League. It’s a great chance for us to promote the league out there.”

As reported previously, interest in Ki in South Korea is massive, with some fans labeling him "The Korean David Beckham". While that may seem a stretch for some, the possibilities afforded by having a player of Ki's international standing playing for the Swans should not be ignored. Before the Capital One Cup final there was obvious global interest in the Swans, but Korean news in particular were keen to find out how their leading light was getting on in South Wales. Before the final there was a South Korean film crew filming in locations such as Swansea Castle, Mumbles & Three Cliffs Bay and it's obvious that there is currently an appetite for all things Swansea City in this corner of the Far East, and it's unlikely to fade unless Ki moves on.

Ki has gone about his job quietly this season, and this is highlighted when you look at his passing statistics, which have largely gone unheralded. Last season Leon was held up as the epitome of "The Swansea Way" with the highest pass completion in the league - this year he sits seventh with 91.1% (1246/1368 passes completed), while his lanky South Korean team-mate occupies second spot - bettered only by Mikel Arteta - with a pass completion rate of 92.3% (1327/1437). Granted, his confidence in front of goal seems to have drained slightly but if you want to see examples of just how well he can strike a ball have a look at the video below. Ok, the standard of the league isn't the same but the boy really does have a cannon.

There are some belters in there, aren't there?

The impact gaining a foothold in South Korea could bring shouldn't be underestimated. Swansea are, due to geographic, economic (and other) reasons always likely to remain a small fish in a big pond, however clever marketing and continued exposure on the world stage could start to counteract that. Realistically, with Wales being a small country and the Swans potential fanbase limited in this respect, we can't expect to compete with certain "powerhouses" of the British game, at least not on home soil, so any extra income derived from an international fanbase will be welcomed with open arms. A quick look at some statistics tells me that not only is South Korea part of the G20, it also has the 15th highest GDP in the world and ranks 12th in terms of purchasing power, and with a population of 49 million there will be a lot more football fans there than there are in Wales. Now, I'm no mathematician, but I have a sneaky feeling that if we get our marketing right we could end up selling more replica shirts in Korea than we do in South Wales...

The announcement that we are looking to spend time in Korea over the close-season is the latest in a line of sensible business decisions from the Swans, but we've come to expect that haven't we? No doubt they'll be looking at other ways of maximising marketing opportunities in that corner of the globe, and I'm surely not alone in awaiting further developments with interest.

Whether many local Jacks will decide to make the trip to Korea with the small matter of Europa League qualifiers coming soon after is, however, a different matter...

Ashley Williams to Arsenal, Swans sign Beckham & more.

Swansea Bay captured at sunrise.

"Where's the sun come from!!!"

This was Swansea winger Wayne Routledge tweeting, of course, about the extended sunny spell we're currently enjoying in South Wales. I could be talking metaphorically, but I'm not - I've lost count of the amount of days we've had where no rain fell - it seems even the weather is smiling kindly on Swansea at present. 

Ashley Williams to Arsenal? 

One news item unlikely to make people smile, however, is the constant, and renewed, rumours of bids for Ashley Williams. Many national papers, including the Guardian and The Independent, both ran with the story that Arsene Wenger has picked Williams as the man to shore up the Gunners leaky defence, and all season Williams had been linked with a switch to Liverpool, to link up with former manager Brendan Rodgers and ex-Swan Joey Allen...and Colin Pascoe. Sorry Colin, almost forgot about you there. Williams is contracted until the summer of 2015, but the press seem to think £8million would be enough to secure his signature. 

I'm not so sure. The Swans have European football next season so the disparity in terms of what the Swans can offer, and what the "big clubs" can offer, is lessening. Swansea sold Allen for a very good price indeed, and Huw showed he's no pushover with the Scott Sinclair deal. The Danny Graham deal - while not ideally timed - is a good bit of business too, with a £1.5million profit on a player we purchased barely 18 months ago, and who clearly wanted out. I think to prise a centre-back away from the club that he's captain of, a club he's played through the divisions with and who he now has the possibility of leading out in Europe, will be a big ask. If it's Manchester United, Manchester City... ok, fair enough, but anyone else? There isn't one team below those two for me who I'd say are guaranteed Champions League football next year, and until a team can offer that they aren't offering anything, except a fatter contract, that the Swans couldn't also offer.

 It remains to be seen if any concrete offers arrive in the summer, but I'd be very surprised to see Ashley Williams leave the Liberty stadium for less than £10million. Captain, leader, cup winner and club favourite, he would leave an enormous gap which would instantly need filling - let's imagine he does depart this summer, who would we sign? Do we promote from within? Darnel Situ came with rave reviews when we signed him but the limited reports I've heard about him playing for our development side don't indicate he's the answer (at least any time soon), but there is one other option in the form of switching Ben Davies to centre-back to accommodate the returning Neil Taylor. Davies has shown he's good in the air, has good composure for a man his age and isn't afraid of a tackle (averaging 2.3 completed tackles, 1.5 interceptions and 4.9 clearances per match) however his lack of experience, when coupled with the loss of Williams', could mean the Swans end up looking very shaky at the back. I'm sure however that if Ash does depart, he'll do so with a successor lined up, and with the full blessing of everyone at Swansea City. 

"Swansea City signed Beckham"

Ki Sung-Yeung. More gifts than a baby Jesus.

Now there's a headline we haven't seen before. Ok, so I'm paraphrasing a tad - this is the news that Ki Sung-Yeung has been likened (by his Korean fans) to David Beckham. Some fans have taken to following him around the country to watch him play, such is the adulation lavished on him by fans. It's long been professed that South Korea, amongst other Asian countries, are football mad, but to see it displayed in such an unlikely place as Swansea really drives the point home. In the pitcture to the right you can see Ki standing beside just some of the gifts he receives from Korean fans, and it's now at the point where he's had to employ a press secretary. I don't even think the club had a press secretary back in the day - it was probably just whoever drew the short straw!

One of the fans who tries to get to see Ki as much as possible is masters graduate Rachel Hur, who lives in London:

"He is such a big star we follow him around the country and watch his games. I have followed him since he was playing for Seoul and first got into the national team and was hailed a bright new star.  

"I think that people had huge aspirations for him and I'm delighted that he has succeeded them. At the moment Park Ji-Sung is a legend but Ki is the rising young star, he's going to be the new Korean David Beckham. 

"His popularity is absolutely nationwide and he has a bright future ahead. It's exciting to meet him and get his autograph, he's such a super star in Korea. In Korea he would get absolutely mobbed in the street."

As I mentioned in a previous blog - the marketing opportunities offered by having a player of Ki's standing playing for the club are massive. If the club aren't already looking at organising a tour, or at the very least a promotional exercise, then they're missing a trick. In Ki Sung-Yeung, and especially given our European qualification, Swansea have an opportunity to massively expand our commercial operations, and with the Swans' track record in learning as they go improving by the day, there's no reason to think there aren't already talks afoot to maximise this opportunity. My father and brother now live in Thailand, and a quick check of Google Maps tells me (I did this with a string held beside the "scale" part of the map - it wouldn't let me check the miles - I assume something to do with China being in the way, and them being scared about people calculating distances near their territory) it's about 2000 miles from Pattaya to Korea. Swans on tour? That could be an interesting experience...