Our owners

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Kaplan and Levien now own 3 sports teams that are all in last place 01:19 - Jan 1 with 771 views MyFinalHeaven

1. DC United, which Levien owns and is the managing director of. They finished tied for last place in the 22 team MLS and scored the fewest number of goals. Last place, least amount of goals--talk about a parallel to us.

2. Memphis Grizzlies, which Kaplan owns and is the Vice Chairman of. Currently dead last in the Western Conference of the NBA.

3. And of course, us. Dead last in the EPL and like DC United, also dead last when it comes to goals scored.

This is a new low in sports ownership history. Never before has an individual or a group of individuals who owned 2 or more clubs ever had them all in last place like this. And these blokes own 3. Congrats on the accomplishment you stupid cvnts. It takes a special kind of incompetence and uselessness to achieve such a task, and somehow you two managed it.

What sticks out for me most is with the other football team they own besides ours, DC United, which has gone down a very similar path to SCFC since Levien took them over back in 2012. It's eerie almost in the similarities. In his first full season as owner in 2013 DC United finished dead last, and in every year of his ownership they've been in the bottom 4 of the league in terms of wage bills. And just like us, Levien has not put a cent into the club. Looking at DC United fans talk about their ownership on social media and on their message board, it's strikingly reminiscent of ours, with their supporters expressing utter hopelessness and frustration about how club brass don't give two fvcks about the club, how they only care about making money, and how even the bare minimum isn't being put in. Have a look at DC United's transfer spending sheet year by year, it's one of the most depressing things I have ever seen. In 6 years of ownership Levien has spent just £4.6m on players, and they had THREE SEASONS WHERE THEY DIDN'T EVEN SPEND A SINGLE DOLLAR ON PLAYERS:

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/d-c-united/alletransfers/verein/2440

Levien has ran to the press and postured about how desperate he is to spend and win though. Check out what he said back in April 2013. The team would end up spending £0 on players that season:

“We are willing to spend what it takes to be competitive at the upper echelons of the league,” he said. “The revenue streams are still not there, but while we are mindful of that, we want to win. And we owe it to our fans and our own competitive nature to assemble a roster that can compete with anyone in the league.”

From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2013/04/29/few-minutes-wit

Sound familiar? That's because it is. Remember what Levien said in his first conference after the takeover about how willing he was to spend, bragging endlessly about his "financial resources," how he wanted to "make a splash," and how we were no longer going to be a selling club or a club that players used as a stepping stone?:

"We will be relentless in our determination to continually improve this club - and we have the financial resources to do so. We will be competitive and we will outwork our opponents on the pitch and in the boardroom."

"We want to build a football club that is competitive...perhaps Swansea has been seen as a stepping-stone club for some players in the past, a chance to show what they can do in the Premier League before moving quickly on. Those days are over."

“I think Huw has a tremendous football mind and he’s proven that over more than a decade. We want to make sure Huw and the club have the resources to succeed. We want to make a splash."

But wait, it gets even worse. Let's not forget Levien also said the following:

"Steve and I have both said our first, second and third priority is what's going to help us on the pitch short and long-term."

"Our message to fans is we are very focused on winning and continued success."

"The biggest thing of all is that when we go out on that pitch we're competitive."

"It's something that I love, something that drives me to be involved in sports - you're in the game to win the game and that's why we're here."

We recognise this club means so much to so many people and we take the responsibility as owners very seriously. While we plan on being long-term owners we know the team belongs to the community. In essence, we see ourselves as guardians of the club but it belongs to the fans of Swansea City. One thing we want to be clear about is our priorities as owners. Priority number one, two and three is the performance of the team on the pitch. We will field a competitive team that will battle every week against the greatest teams and players in the world. We know there is always a sense of fear and trepidation when new owners arrive on the scene but we will do everything in our power to win your trust and ensure there is a long and bright future for Swansea City.

Given all this, and with Kaplan and Levien's utterly horrendous track record when it comes to sports ownership, it is absolutely appalling why Jenkins would sell to these two, especially when he's babbled so much over the years about how he wants to ensure Swansea City is in the right hands and continues to move forward when he eventually leaves. It's especially perplexing when you take into account that he had turned down John Jay Moores' attempt to purchase us, someone who actually has a somewhat successful history of owning a team. How he could turn down Moores, or anyone really, for these two con men is absolutely incredible. My only guess is that Moores' offer did not include a guarantee he would stay on as chairman and remain in power like K&L's offer, and that Moores was looking to replace him with a proper DoF should he have taken over. "

 

Look on the bright side matt, the oracle has said that there`s going to be £90 million to spend this month.

#backtojack

 

Oracles have been known to sink

 

I thought that was Coracles!!

 

Get them out!

 

Not if you're from penclawdd

 

John Sparkes a massive Swans fan

 

And Barry Welsh

 

And replace with what?

 

I can think of numerous better options for running the club more successfuly, and the Trust could play a bigger part, which the old board have always blocked for self interest.

It’s becoming clear daily that Huw Jenkins and his co-conspirators had more luck than judgement, and it would not be that difficult to put in place a more football oriented board setup, the will is here at Swansea, just need these Yankee nuggets out, not easy I know.............

 

Maybe some one who's worth 550k a year would be a start , now that would be a novelty. Oh if only there was somewhere out there in a world of 7 billion people

 

Yeah I agree...

People want Jenkins out ASAP & I get the sentiments, no problem. But I don't have even the tiniest bit of confidence that the Yanks will have a clue about who should be in place of him. They are not the least bit interested in the playing side, because that's so evident since they've been in control. Who is Carvalhal going to look to for the squad acquisitions, Pearlman?? For all his fvck-ups with player recruitment over the last couple of seasons (Jenkins), I still won't want to be left with us at the mercy of a fvckin Yank!! I still feel I want the Yanks out before Jenkins, even though he brought them to the table...

I hope the fans' get behind the team tonight & not focus all their efforts on this '27th' minute protest. We won Saturday, maybe the little confidence that created, will be destroyed by not focussing fully on the team. Carvalhal & the players need us tonight, lets gets at Spurs instead..

 

Agreed.
In any season a game v Spurs is tough, so we need to accept that tonight isn't going the one where we kick on from Watford.
I also think our crowd has been really poor at hi this season, preferring to moan than support (agree we've had a great deal to sing about but still no excuse).

 

How's about the manager, you know the one that knows football to pick his own players . or is that too radical

 

I will not step back in the liberty till they are all gone, I would rather go down and see then run to the hills when the club is not making them any money. We start again no matter what league we are in as many clubs have had to do. At least we will have our club back. I would take that all day long. I don't care about the PL or its millions. I care about the future of our club and with them in charge I don't see one. Just my opinion.

 

But for some it's PL football at any price

 

Not me, yes it is great being I the PL but being there has put us in the **** we are in now. I loved L1 the championship and visited some great old grounds and saw some great football in those leagues and if it meant those robing bastards left my club I would take it in a heartbeat.

Love to see a proper poll of Swans fans as to whether they would take 1 or 2 relegations to get rid of the yanks, or would they prefer them to stay and go through what we are now hanging on to PL existence.

 

I think you're in the wrong place for accusing fans' of wanting PL football at all costs. Most fans on here, are 'lifers', been it, done it & got the tee-shirt as far as being life-long loyalists to our great club. Try some of the 'Johnnie come...' if you want to have a go at 'PL at all costs'...

 

Nor me , but I'm afraid for some they have short memories or didn't follow the Club for the majority of our time in the lower leagues. Money corrupts and we have fine examples of what they'll do to get to the trough .