But we're not the proverbial small club anymore, we're one of the big clubs now. Not the biggest, not even close to the "biggest". .... We just play them and beat them. The players we want at Swansea are slightly smarter and savier than I think they are being given credit for. If a player's eyes are for money only they are not going to have the mentality for the profession that will enable them to develop into the player that can make an impact at the top level. Like BR said ... "I don't want my career to be destroyed before it's started" .. Or words to that effect in discusing a move to Chelsea. Similar thinking applies to players. Another way to look at is that we have very good players that excel because of the system where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Listen to BR's comments on Leon in the MOTD3 video. I think the players we currently have get that. Those that don't leave - anybody got a positive story to tell on those that have left. Rickets is the only recent story. Before that you probably have to go back to Cliff Jones who went to Spurs and won the double with them - the Gareth Bale of his day. Curtis went to Leeds but came back without much success.
Thoroughly enjoyed reading your three last posts Yankee, spot in I will add that if any player wished to leave because they want more money, **** em. The club wants players with passion and loyalty and this is why were doing so well.
we are a small club yankee that is having a good run. everyone knows that clubs like ours are expected to punch above our weight and stay in the premiership with a lot of luck. we are one of the bottom end of teams in the prem that will eventually get relegated because we are not a big club......i hope we can get lady luck on our side for a few more seasons yet but i wont put money on it. ill enjoy the premiership while we are here but i dont have any delusions that eventually we will get relegated and that will be because we are small fry in a big pond.....thats what happens with teams like the size of ours....enjoy it while it lasts i say....
Think what you want Dai, but I consider my club big and relegation down the line has not and will not cross my mind. What will be, will be.
if the toon,leicester,leeds,sheffield wed/utd can get relegated then small clubs like us,wigan,qpr will have to have a lot of luck to stay up.....thats the way it has always been since the premiership was formed, the old div one was a better level ground where teams like norwich,aston villa's of this world can win the title. teams like them and us have no chance now, them times are long gone and its a shame. A big club we never have been never will be. we are a small club going through good times.....we have been there before and we will do it again just like most other teams of our size and slightly bigger.....enjoy it for as long as it lasts....
I'm thinking, Dai, that perhaps we might be an exception because of the way we play. Leicester, Leeds, the Sheffields etc could only offer the style of football that the bigger clubs played... but nothing like as good, which is why they were relegated. We present different problems entirely, a style that other PL clubs are not used to playing against. From what the pundits say, the way we play is the future of the game and more and more clubs will start turning to it. So, does this mean that when more clubs do adopt our style that we will be back where we began? Not necessarily. Whilst they are catching up (I exclude the top 5 clubs) we, hopefully, will be rapidly moving on and developing our style even further. We have a head start - several years, in fact, and our team skill set cannot easily be achieved. The MOTD pundits have repeatedly made this point. Hansen and Lawro both said that if it was easy, every team in the PL would be doing it. The thing is, we need quality continuity. We need Buck to stay but, if he doesn't, we need someone equally well versed in the "continental" football ethic that has served us so well. Then we need to introduce more quality players as regularly as can be afforded, people who can do what players in our present squad can do, but better. I see this next season as absolutely defining for the future of our club. If we can establish ourselves, we will generate more income, start an Academy and get first class training facilities. In turn, these factors will increase our credibility and make it easier for us to attract better quality players to the club. If this works out, I can see us established in the Premier League for years to come and I'm certain that Huw and the Board are working flat out to this end.
I know where you are coming from ivor but its highly unlikely isn't it. we have brought a new dimension into the premiership and it has worked for most part but can you honestly think that next season teams will be better prepared. three or four teams who have played us in recent years like qpr,norwich and the toon knew how to play us and even though we dominated most of the possession they still beat us with ease....now in our second season it wont be just those 3 teams who know how to nullify our system it will be every team that will be ready, this is my only gripe with brendan....he dont have a plan B or C to stop teams planning ahead on how to beat us. if he would only vary the way we play would stop teams knowing in advance on how we are going to play them.....anyway lets see if brendan will be with us next season first...
That's one way to look at it ... but that would imply one hell of a long run - from bankruptcy and dropping out of the football league to Premiership promotion and survival in how many years. That's not a run, that's not a trend, that's a trajectory. It implies a plan and discipline to execute and an ability to dodge a bullet or two (Martinez' departure) along the way. Every club can lose religion at one point or another and put themselves in jeopardy of relegation or bankruptcy - Portsmouth, Southampton, Leeds. But I think we have the means to build even more on the foundation that's been built over the last several years. It's not going to be easy - we now have physical infrastructure and back office issues that are going to have to catch up to the playing side of the game, but I like our chances of sticking around for a while, quite a while. We're not a small club, we're not a big small club, but as a small big club we are on the real revenue generating end of the sport, playing in the best league in the world. We've built a fortress starting out from **** with next to nothing in terms of revenue and resources in several years - now we have real cash flow. There is real tangible value here. We have the means to build it into whatever our imagination and business capability can achieve - but thinking we're small, carrying that attitude around, is the wrong place to start.
