We as a club have a pretty low ceiling when it comes to wages, so its not hard to imagine that we can be beaten by other clubs to the wages race. If you were offered 40k, to play for Swansea, under ML (when he first come here for example). Or were offered 50k to play for QPR, which would you chose? I may be a bit biased, but I would go for the one being managed by one of the best players of his time, a person you may be able to learn from, thats the point of him adding to our pull of the club. The chance to work with, and possibly learn from a player like him, is a huge incentive to join a club. Not all players are in it for the money, most are yes, but there are other factors, and having someone like ML is one of those factors. Do you really think David Moyes could pull in the calibre player that say Ferguson would have been able too? Do you honestly think RVP would join Man Utd if it was Moyes in charge and not Fergie? Cos I don't think he would have.
When Laudrup had ALL his players available, we looked and played a lot better and there are plenty of examples of this. The rot really set in when the heavy early season fixture list was exacerbated by a really horrendous amount of injuries. Was that a factor? Yes, because Monk chose to play a second string team at Everton when he had far more options available than Laudrup usually had. Has Monk got the team playing with more zest and energy? Definitely but if we again get many more serious injuries, it will be interesting to take another look at these energy levels and how the players respond. And, as much as I'm a professed advocate of a team playing with spirit and energy, comes a time when all the stirring motivational tub-thumping in the dressing room becomes same old, same old....... and something more is required.
We no longer have Laudrup's wage discount to play with. So whomever we go after from now on will be looking for regular wages, not the cheapo Swans' wages offset by Laudrup's presence.
We are not when it comes to spanish clubs and dutch league. How many of the other players who signed had options to go to other PL clubs. what about samba and remy going to Qpr maybe they went there to play for Rednap ina relegation battle but i get the notion it may have been another reason they went there.
Ivor there is no way we have played anywhere near the level this season to where we awere last season. But it may been down to the EL. But from the start of the season when everyone was available. we have come nowhere near reaching the levels we reached last year. To be honest the football played this year has been pretty boring. with the exception of 1 or 2 games. Obviously this is my opinion. I just want to say I was and am still pro ML and would have no issue with him still being here. He did wonders for our club. But everything runs it course and maybe just maybe he had.
That's a fair point. But do you think that Pablo would leave Valencia to come to us if it were not for Laudrup? Do you really think no-one else wanted Michu after his great season in la liga? What was it, top midfield scorer in a team that was not exactly great. Do you know how much Laudrup means to those in Spain after his time at Barca and Madrid to think that it doesn't have an effect. Spain maybe in a bit of financial trouble, but lets not kid ourselves here, we are Swansea City, it was our second season in the premier league, yet they came to us. And even if the club accepts the bid, the player still has to accept the club. ML put us on the map big time after our cup win, as it put us into the Europa league and in the spotlight. And we will see what calibre players we will bring in during the summer. Only have to look at recent acquisitions to see the scale of our pull as a club alone. Ngog and Emnes, and a couple of youths. During a time where we are supposedly in relegation form, and in a relegation battle. Real classy players who can turn the tide.
I think far too much is being made of players coming here to play under Laudrup, Swansea has a reputation of playing great football, and had a great reputation within the game long before Laudrup came here, and players will come to play in a great setup to improve their game, we will be fine in my view, we need to move on from all this Laudrup nonsense..............
I just think we are doing our club a little bit of a dis-service here. Maybe we cant pay the big money that some can and that point you make is correct. But our club is now known throughout the world. There are plenty of PL quality players who would love to where the white shirt and if they are only here because of one person then maybe it is time for those to go. But looking at the performances of some of those players last night. Maybe they are here to represent the club. So Pablo signed from a team that he couldnt get in to. Who else was after him? Who else was after Michu, many said they wished they had gone for him after he started scoring for us. But no one was prepared to take the chence where we did.
Again its not about them being here JUST because of Laudrup, but the point being made is he ADDS to the pull for players choosing to come here. To try and give an example, club alone gives the player a 50/50 chance of coming, with Laudrup in tow its 60/40 so to speak. You mean a team he played for 44 times the season before coming to us. Yes, couldn't get into the team there could he. As for who wanted then, tell me, who Laudrup wanted other than Aspas over the summer? You don't tend to hear much about players until they agree to speak to and agree contract terms. So just because we don't hear, doesn't necessarily mean no-one else came in, and do you really think no-one considered Michu when clubs would have heard we put in a bid? Think you do the whole football network a disservice. Do you think we hear of us bidding for every player we bid for?
We looked a tired side after the Carling Cup, just check our points tally till the end of 2013 season, so there was no extra fixtures or real injury issues then. Last night was a joy to behold. Perhaps ML should reflect on the refound spirit and wonder how it was lost.
The game after the League cup final we beat Newcastle to reach 40 points .we still had10 games left and no one seemed to care, even the fans . Laudrups last 8 or so games with the club was against top teams with massive injuries. Thats half the games the "anti Laudrup brigade " like to point to to justify there abuse of him over the 37 games with not great form . Try to get anyone of them to acknowledge either of these two facts and it falls on deaf ears , says more about the brigade than Laudrup .
Absolutely Cwm, we were falling off a cliff with lack of spirit, as were our performances, Monk has in a few weeks rekindled the flame of passion within our squad, you'd have to be intellectually challenged not to see it!.......................
