I don't disagree with pretty much all of that but I'm more referring to whether 20k will continue to be viable capacity for a PL side. I wasn't really arguing from a Swansea specific point of view (I know the OP names Swansea specifically). It makes sense that a team who's come from admin and the 4th tier in such a short space of time wouldn't have the infrastructure of a PL side. I'm sure we wouldn't be expanding yet if we hadn't already sorted the youth development and facilities.
Sorry guys - but ffs can some give Aussie a shout to derail this bloody thread!! - boring now or what!!!..........
... I suspect the OP naming Swansea specifically had absolutely nothing to do with him being a Cardiff supporter
You guys seem to have it wrong regarding the Swans, our budget is dynamic and changes with estimated income. Yes we did break away from recent history by spending £12M on one player however that move was conducted in an era where our revenue was 10x larger than when we spent £1.2M on a single player in the Championship. With all due respect the Swans have more buying power than Cardiff at the moment as we have a working business model that gives us real spendable cash. Whilst Tan is wealthy I read his total worth is £800M and that includes assets, he will not sell his offices in Malaysia to spend big on his football club. Cardiff have to follow a similar route of building a sounding business before it can even dream of consistent Champions League football. Liverpool's owners for the last 6 years or so had more total worth than Tan and they dropped out of ECL football and they had a largish stadium. Both those plonkers and now the new guy are worth more than Tan, Liverpool still have a big task to remain in the Top 4 this season as they are already floundering. Swansea 20k capacity is enough for now because a few clubs are bad with money.
... as much as I rate Malky as a manager - no argiung that he has done a terrific job (the fact Cardiff are in the prem after so many years of 'nearly' speaks for itself - as do a win and draw against the two Manchester giants at this point) - I would imagine that the name 'Michael Laudrup' currently opens many doors and opprtunities for particular players that otherwise might not be that interested in a move to the Swans (with all due respect) ...
Can't really agree there Filo, the brand is already out there now. All players in top flight football across Europe know about the Swans. We have the same pulling power now as say Newcastle. Less than Everton who are historically the nearly man of Champions League qualification but players from continent will see us as an opportunity to progress further.
I'm not convinced that Michu would have come without Laudrup being there - for me that was the catalyst ... arguably the best ever Premiership signing in terms of 'value for money' ...
Irrelevant to this discussion, we learnt the hard way and now everybody else... Your club included.... Are the ones bad for their own good.
But then the Swans won a domestic cup, they played in Europe, they finished mid table in the league a second season running. That now is the reason player will come after ML leaves this summer.
It's not irrelevant at all, and I think it was your creditors who learnt the hard way, not you. My club is where it is and no one can deny that, and that is broadly nothing to do with the current regime. We started the problem with Hamman's profiglacy - just about the same time you went bust for the second time.
It's irrelevant because our money issues over a decade ago have no bearing on how much money we have today. What our owners did all those years ago has no impact on the OP.
How do you know what budget either club is operating? Transfer fees sometimes contain wages, add ons, some are just the cost. We outspent you in a big way compared to your first year in the PL, according to the fees reported. That doesn't mean we will continue to or that you'll spend more. None of us on here know anything about our clubs potential future budgets, other than the bull **** the papers report.
We did all that with Martin O'Neil (in fact won the cup twice and 3 finals in all - 3 or 4 top 10 finishes in the Prem to boot) - but once O'Neil moved to Celtic we struggled to bring in any quality players under Peter Taylor and went down ... now don't misunderstand, I've really enjoyed the Swans 'story' but wouldn't underestimate what a stellar name like Laudrup brings ...
