So a series of secret meetings have taken place with the players and chairman regarding Laudrups methods!! ****ing hell thats all we need ! The players are said to be unhappy about his coaching methods and fitness training and have brought the issue to Huw Jenkins. Laudrup aint the kind of guy to take this ****, i can see him walking away from the club if this escalates, the story has hit the national newspapers and is sure to cause frustration with the fans and everyone else connected with the club, statistically speaking the performance and passing stats are actually higher than last year. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo.../search.html?s=&authornamef=Riath+Al-samarrai
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................... The daily fail !! I'll reserve judgement. Perhaps someone on here with inside knowledge can do some detective work for us. Dai, agent 007 can you get on the case for us please.
I must also add that while the players may be concerned they should also respect the man in charge, i would love to know who leaked this story to the media and i would also like to know where the line is drawn when it comes to players calling the shots at the football club. I feel a bit pissed off by this news (if true) sometimes i wish players would just do what they are ****ing told, but i can understand some of their concerns after the issues some had with sousa and his mate. This must be coming from the senior players like monk,ash,tate and britton. Not happy to hear this news
Yes the Daily fail, but you cant publish a story like this without a element of fact, the mail would be boardering on libal if there was no shred of truth and they obviously feel very confident as they have run the story.
If there's any truth on it I bet it's about two months out of date. Don't worry Norway we'll get Dai on the case
I did hear a twitter rumour to this effect a couple of days ago but didn't bother mentioning it as it was shot down as bollocks last time. This is worrying if true, and is slightly reminiscent of the Sousa rumours at the time. It does make you wonder what players have what influence though. Half the current first team have either been brought in by Laudrup or given the first team opportunity by him. Add to that Vorm having just signed a new long term contract, and you'd have to assume that most of the team are happy
Hopefully its all bollocks, but the fact the mail are running it as an "exclusive" is a bit of a worry, there have been mutterings about this in the last few months but as SA9 correctly says, how many unhappy players would there be?? vorm michu ki pablo chico davies JDG vorm would at least be happy enough with the manager, strange one....
****ing players make me sick!! I'd heard tales of this early in the season and posted it in a thread at the time. My fear, and now it seems well founded, was that the players would find the more matter of fact approach of Laudrup as a big contrast to the father figure image that Rodgers had created. I would sympathise in one respect and that is the fitness issue. I have always been a huge believer that you cannot play this game properly if you're not fit and have raised this point many times on this board. As for the rest, so far as I'm concerned, the players can go and do one. Laudrup has to carry the can as the manager and the experience he has gained at some of the top clubs in the world dwarfs the collective experience of the entire playing squad. There is a real danger of Laudrup walking with this sort of attitude. If he does, what would that do to the likes of Michu, Chico, Pablo, de Guzman and possibly Ki, all players who came to little old Swansea SPECIFICALLY because the great Michael Laudrup was the manager? I doubt that Routledge is involved because he has been a regular and has really upped his game under ML. Vorm? No, just signed a new contract and expressed his satisfaction with the manager. Rangel? Don't think so because he's big buddies with the Spanish lads and I shouldn't think he'd risk upsetting the apple cart. So who would these senior players be then? I'm only guessing but I did hear at the start of the season that Ash was bumping his gums on the subject. Who else is senior? Leon? Well ML has praised him to the hilt and regards him as vital to our game plan so why should he have an axe to grind. Danny? His goals have dried up and he might feel that he is being overshadowed by Michu. Tough! Michu is doing the business so enough said on that. Taylor? Well he's now injured and only played a bit part in our season anyway and it looks like Moore is in favour (can't see him moaning about not enough fitness work anyway). Dyer? Possibly and he would feel threatened by Pablo's signing. So I ask again, who are these senior players? I would guess that they include the "Holy Trinity" of Williams, Monk and Tate with perhaps a dash of Gower in the mix. I stress that I'm only GUESSING but we don't have a glut of senior players that could be associated with this. The last three that I mentioned certainly might be disillusioned because ML obviously considers them surplus to requirements. If this is the case AND I EMPHASISE "IF", I would boot their collective arses straight out of the door. We do not need this. We cannot afford this. Has Michael Laudrup done a bad job to date? No he has not! But for Williams and Vorm messing up we would be at least 4 points better off and looking pretty tasty in the table right now. Laudrup cannot be held responsible for such crass errors committed by SENIOR players. As for the transfer market, Laudrup has truly excelled there signing exciting quality, some at ridiculously bargain prices. And these players will come good for us because they are too good not to. All I will say is this. In my opinion, for many, many, reasons Michael Laudrup is the best thing that has happened to us in a long time. I can see what he is trying to do and I believe in what he is trying to do. The team just needs time to bed in and develop their understanding with each other. As it is, when we do get it right we look like a million dollars and we are scoring goals. I hope Huw can sort this and sort it quickly. If established heads have to roll then so be it and the sooner the better.
I agree 100% ivor, stats are backing us to say we are actually performing better this season!! Living in scandinavia, i can tell you that the make up of the people is polar opposite of the likes of rodgers, Laudrup im 99% certain is not going to one to rub the players up and give them man cuddles like rodgers used to do, there tends to be a colder more clinical personality with many nordic types that is often perceived as arrogance or rudeness, compared to brenden stroking players arms and rubbing their tummies laudrup is going to be a cold fish. Fitness may well be an issue, but i get the feeling that some of the players dont quite like a guy who coaches on a buisness only level, our lot have got so used to being told that they are "a fantastic group of players" that they probably feel very unsure and insecure around ML, especially as he has more medals to hang on the wall than all our lot combined !!
Well said Ivor we dont need any short sighted big mouths unsettling the team especially from the ones that cant cut it anymore. If they dont like it then they should do one . If its just the daily rags trying to spread muck they should find the source of the story and dismiss him/them for gross misconduct.
this is worrying stuff indeed - i take your points Ivor but if its senior players who are complaining then we all need to pay attention to what the problems are, after all they have lived and breathed Swansea City and they have been a huge part of our success. a club like ours cannot buy its way into the big time, it relies on a solid group of players who can be counted on year after year. this season weve had lots of upheavel and lots of new faces and we cant afford to alienate the core group who ve done it for us year after year. im not talking about these players running the show but some open dialogue to sort stuff out if neccessary, if Laudrup cant handle that then he shouldnt be a manager - in any job a good manager is accessible and listens to the employers, its no different in footballl IMO. in any case allof this could be b*llocks but i reckon theres some truth in it and if so I hope all concerned can put their egos aside and get on with sorting it out-ASAP!
Must say I'm surprised at this, thought you guys had a decent start, esp after hammering us !! (QPR) Should do everything to keep Hold of ML..if not we'll swap you Hughes for him ?!
...which would suggest that it's only Williams, Graham and possibly Britton from the first team who are unhappy. I would say Britton will have learned from past experiences and as has been said, Laudrup has stressed how important he is so probably no rift there. Graham won't be too missable based on his performances so far, and isn't very senior anyway. Williams has probably had his head turned by Roger and I wouldn't mind betting he'll be off in January anyway, and his performances have been poor too. A rift with the manager could well be the reason for this also though. As for the non first teamers, club legends they may be, but they have got to understand that the team comes first and they are unlikely to get in the first team no matter who the manager is. In fact as patriots of the club who have come so far with us, they should realise how important the togetherness is for a small club at this level and pipe down or jog on. Simples
You got that bang on Ivor. They would be my suspects. Perhaps that's why Ash is playing crap. Barr his and Vorms as you say we could be 4 points better off and sitting pretty. This is the reason why sometimes I hate footballers, you get to the big league start to establish your selves then player get to be big time charlie s. They are handsomely rewarded for kicking a ball around, with salaries that are mind blowing. I would understand if our manager was some one that hasn't played at the highest level, but here were talking about and all time legend in the modern game, he hasn't played for Micky mouse clubs but at the very top level of the game. Some player might not get on with ML, but in life we can't get on with everybody, we probably work or deal with people who we dislike on a daily basis (I know I do) but be professional enough to listen and get on with the job. I hate all this as it creates instability within the club and we need to focus on the games ahead not all this back bitting. So my words to who ever it is having a moan to teacher (Huw), get on with the bloody job your well paid for, or you know where the door is.
No one is bigger than the club , be it players or management ,possible that some players have had a reality check and now the bitching has started.For what ever reason Huw needs to stamp this out now ,the last thing we need is a players revolt, what the f**k have they to moan about ,they've all had a massive rise in wages and everything else that goes with it, some of them want to get a grip on reality I'd swop with them any day
this is what comes with top flight football>>>>>look at arsenal playing the best football this country has ever seen,whilst playing in the best competitions and paying massive weekly wages...........and they skill cant keep the greedy bastards happy>>>>>>.shocking stuff i wouldnt worry bout nowt dudes players come and go its you boys (the fans) that keep the club running so wouldnt worry about politics
The best thing about the Daily Mail is that you can wrap chips in it No better than the S*n these days for sport.
I wonder if all this has come about because Laudrup wants us to move the ball quicker and the players arnt quite up to that ? our posession game is very slow it must be said, i know laudrup wants us to be moving the ball much faster,maybe some of the senior players cannot hack it and are throwing their toys out the pram. We are on dangerous ground here non the less, i dont think a guy like Laudrup needs the hassle of players thinking they are something special, it would not suprise me if he decides to **** off from the swans over this, especially as its been made public, the players have been disloyal to him and that will now always create trust issues which in turn will mean the manager will never be quite sure if his plans are being carried out to the full. The Brenden rodgers fallout continues to **** us up, most of us knew it would have a hangover but not of Bobby M proportions !! One thing i must say here, Chico flores joined the club for preseason and blew everyone away on the bleep test,he was the fittest player at the club, that tells me that as a professional the likes of chico lkeep their fitness and look after themselves properly all year round, alot of our players profess to do this but still get blown away by a player that joined from another club! Brendens fitness training couldnt quite have been all that its cracked up to be then?? all things being equal. In many parts of the world the onus is on thec players to maintain their fitness levels, its taken as given that players maintain their levels and follow their plans, i get the feeling with British players that they have to be ordered to run around a feild 30 times and TOLD what to do fitness wise, instead of taking responsibility on their own. Just a thought and im not saying its what happens, but chico being the fittest player at the club in pre season tells me alot about how players differ in other parts of the world. Im suprised and shocked at this story in the Mail, Micheal Laudrup has worked at the absolute top level with the absolute top coaches and has won EVERY domestic honour a player can win at the largest , most ruthless and pressure orientated clubs in the world and OUR players(who cut their teeth at places like southend,southampton,stockport etc.) know better !!! Is football going mad ?
