http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cardiff-city-fans-view-whos-1826870
Swansea City's Premier League promotion poses the questions: Which is the bigger club, Swansea or Cardiff? Two fans' leaders give their views
GWYN DAVIES, from Cwmaman, is a 55-year-old retired orthodontist and Bluebirds supporter of 44 years
SWANSEA CITY have the chance to appeal to a global audience now they’re in the Premier League, but I’m not too sure many people around the world know where Swansea is.
Compared to that, Cardiff is the capital and is by far better known outside of Wales.
Likewise, with Wales’ two leading football clubs.
Cardiff has, and always will have, a bigger name than Swansea and that is true whichever division the two clubs are playing in.
Swansea may be in the top flight next season and good luck to them, but when it comes to potential, Cardiff will always have the upper hand.
That’s not just my opinion as a Bluebirds’ supporter either.
When John Toshack took Swansea up to the old Division One, they soon came back down and I remember the words of the Swans’ own chairman at the time.
It was Malcolm Struel himself who bemoaned the support, or lack of it, Swansea got.
He said the football team under Toshack had outgrown the city. In fact, Struel even went on to say he believed that if Cardiff had gone up instead, they would have stood a better chance of pushing on just because of the difference in size of the two clubs.
Time may have moved on, but other things have not changed.
Swansea’s support last season, a Premier League promotion season remember, was poor. Average crowds of around 15,000, with some games only 13,000 turning up. Pitiful really. It’s just not the support you expect for a ‘big’ club.
Cardiff enjoy a far larger fan base and always will do in my opinion. It’s been estimated there are 1.5m potential fans in the Bluebirds’ catchment area and there is clearly nothing like that around Swansea.
For me, down west is much more of a rugby area than it is in the capital and surrounding areas.
Swansea can enjoy their season in the Premier League, but, of the two sides, only Cardiff I think could remain up there. And that is because of the size of club.
I believe, with the Malaysian backers in place, Cardiff have the chance not only to get promoted, but to push on and become a top-six side in the Premier League.
Swansea may work within their means, but it won't get them far and the size of their stadium means they will always be a small club whatever they achieve on the field of play.
Cardiff can extend their stadium and once the Bluebirds get up, they may well need a 60,000-capacity home to cope with demand.
Swansea will never match up to that. History has already proved that, and so too have the words of their own former chairman.
Swansea City's Premier League promotion poses the questions: Which is the bigger club, Swansea or Cardiff? Two fans' leaders give their views
GWYN DAVIES, from Cwmaman, is a 55-year-old retired orthodontist and Bluebirds supporter of 44 years
SWANSEA CITY have the chance to appeal to a global audience now they’re in the Premier League, but I’m not too sure many people around the world know where Swansea is.
Compared to that, Cardiff is the capital and is by far better known outside of Wales.
Likewise, with Wales’ two leading football clubs.
Cardiff has, and always will have, a bigger name than Swansea and that is true whichever division the two clubs are playing in.
Swansea may be in the top flight next season and good luck to them, but when it comes to potential, Cardiff will always have the upper hand.
That’s not just my opinion as a Bluebirds’ supporter either.
When John Toshack took Swansea up to the old Division One, they soon came back down and I remember the words of the Swans’ own chairman at the time.
It was Malcolm Struel himself who bemoaned the support, or lack of it, Swansea got.
He said the football team under Toshack had outgrown the city. In fact, Struel even went on to say he believed that if Cardiff had gone up instead, they would have stood a better chance of pushing on just because of the difference in size of the two clubs.
Time may have moved on, but other things have not changed.
Swansea’s support last season, a Premier League promotion season remember, was poor. Average crowds of around 15,000, with some games only 13,000 turning up. Pitiful really. It’s just not the support you expect for a ‘big’ club.
Cardiff enjoy a far larger fan base and always will do in my opinion. It’s been estimated there are 1.5m potential fans in the Bluebirds’ catchment area and there is clearly nothing like that around Swansea.
For me, down west is much more of a rugby area than it is in the capital and surrounding areas.
Swansea can enjoy their season in the Premier League, but, of the two sides, only Cardiff I think could remain up there. And that is because of the size of club.
I believe, with the Malaysian backers in place, Cardiff have the chance not only to get promoted, but to push on and become a top-six side in the Premier League.
Swansea may work within their means, but it won't get them far and the size of their stadium means they will always be a small club whatever they achieve on the field of play.
Cardiff can extend their stadium and once the Bluebirds get up, they may well need a 60,000-capacity home to cope with demand.
Swansea will never match up to that. History has already proved that, and so too have the words of their own former chairman.
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