I think NJ is right. Due to the more or less equal split of TV money in the Prem between all the clubs. Look at Spain where the top two clubs get more than half of the TV money. The malaga owner pumped loads of dosh in, got pissed off with the tv money and split leaving just the big 2 to fight it out every year. Of course big Prem clubs have the merchandising/sponsorship etc benefits but there is good money for all in the Prem. More balanced.
When you consider the likes of Southampton had to spend £30 odd million just to scrape to safety i would say its inaccurate to say the prem league is weaker this year than any other. While i will conceed that the Swans probably finished in a slightly false position i will also say that the prem league has been the most evenly balanced and that has been because teams coming up have signed players that the swans can only dream about! West Ham and Southampton have spent big even reading were paying a striker 55k a week (pogrebek) Consider the likes of Newcastle,Stoke,Fulham siging the likes of Berbatov,Owen and a load of French talent it has been no cake walk !! Every single team has strengthened while the likes of Man Utd and Man city didnt really, apart from the one player that made the difference and that was Van Persie.
err, we'll pass on JDG thanks (and the freebie). I think MJ will stay, but I think there will be some fairly feisty arguments about spending. I guess if he doesn't get somewhere near the cash he feels he needs, then he certainly won't renew his contract next summer. I'd like him to stay. You're right about the age thing - but there are enough of the older players who still have something to offer for the transition to be at least 2 and probably 3 seasons - which should not be too destabilising. There are also some promising youngsters coming through (like Kaca) - so not all doom and gloom, but definitely a tough period of change. Good luck to you guys, I'm sure Laudrup with his contacts should find some gems. I was always an admirer of him as a player.
Isnt the rumour mill saying Poyet is going to have the Fulham job ?? hence why there is a massive ****storm(no pun intended) brewing at Brighton ? I like Jol, but he will need to make alot of signings next year IMO.
Disappointed but not embarrassed , a lack of technique when striking the ball was apparent to day , how many of the 19 shots went either straight at Schwarzer.but all had no power in them .no communication between players meant a number of clear goal scoring opportunities were wasted because of two players going for the same ball.it was more the case of trying too hard imo ,certainly in the second half where we were completely dominant but again as is always the danger when chasing the game we were left exposed at the back and caught out. I'm not sure about the stats being 51% 49% in Fulham's favour ,they were poor but very well organised and their man of the match was Schwarzer followed by Hangeland who didn't miss a ball all game .Why we kept putting high balls into the box baffled me when we didn't win one ball in the area. I thought to sub Pablo with Schecter was strange substitution as we absolutely destroyed them on the left in the second half .A lack of quality within the squad was clear for all to see today with no one available who could have changed the game today but as Mr Laudrup has stated he 's looking for 6/7 new faces next season ,hopefully one of them won't be De guzman as I believe he's just going through the motions at the moment.
Maybe JDG doesnt want to get an Injury and scupper his new Swans deal ?? I got no problem with us signing him, he has scored goals and had assists so he has played his part IMO. He isnt the only one to have tailed off since the final and if anything he can be forgiven more than most because he is a loan signing not the lifeblood of the club like Ash,Brits,Rangel etc who have all been patchy too. Maybe he does not know what the future holds for him? maybe he has been told that Villareal want £7m and we've told them to **** off !! you just dont know what is going on behind the scenes . Over on Planet Swans a poster mentioned that Bartley was waundering around aimlessly wearing his civvies asking people if the seat next to them was empty as the second half got under way !! that sounds totally bizzare to me . He has surely pissed on his chips here hasnt he ?? i would love to know the real story there, i guess it goes alongside the Leon Knight Swansea X-file for Mysterious goings on ...
I agree with Dai. The top 7 seem to be getting stronger and further ahead while the rest are all being sucked nearer the relegation zone. The fact that we got one point less than last season yet finished two places higher would back that up. There was a huge 15 point gap between 7th & 9th.
its so disappointing that we have finished the season on a low note......Well there is nothing we can do now its done and dusted and we ended up in the top half when in fact we have been in relegation mode for months. this shows how weak the premiership has been this season.... How long do we give laudrup next season if we don't show signs of improving because we dont want to be in the position of playing catch up with a new manager after 10 games or so.....I hope laudrup is not one of these great players but an average manager or we will be in trouble...nice man don't cut it, management skills do and he has not exactly been able to motivate the players very well by our results these past months..... I would give him 6-8 games next season to see what he can really do and if we are struggling then he will have to go as there is too much money in the premiership to lose now and the club has to be the priority and not any one person....
The last 10 games isn't the whole season though, is it? Our final position reflects how well we did over the course of the season, so clearly we deserved it - we just haven't been good enough recently. Not all of those games have been bad either; a handful of decent draws, we were very unlucky against West Brom, the second half at least of the Wigan game was good and we were very unlucky against United. Still, I agree with you for the most part. I'm not quite as pessimistic as you lot seem to be but we ended last season slowly too (though the final game was certainly a lot better). Hopefully in the summer we'll really thicken up our squad and see if we can repeat this seasons success - albeit I want us to be aiming for 50-55 points this time! It depends what signings Laudrup makes mind. While I trust his managing ability and signings like Michu were a masterstroke, not all of them have been good decisions it seems. Itay comes to mind, Proctor etc. Bartley will prove to be a good signing in the long term. Freak results happen. Onwards and upwards (Except for Ash if he doesn't pull his thumb out of his arse, I really don't want us to have to cash in on him but the hype is getting to him...)
The last 10 games isn't the whole season though, is it? Our final position reflects how well we did over the course of the season, so clearly we deserved it .. not really cherry the last 10 games shows where we actually are ....we cannot afford to be like this as there is to much money at stake...
I think Bartley has been more or less rubbed out by Laudrup . Fresh blood is needed that's for sure, one or two need moving on and im not fussed if we cash in on Ash either, as much as I love him . Leons games will need to be scaled down next season as too much football will take its toll. Kemy can go,had his chance and done nothing,Moore I would keep as back up, Lita,Shector,Tate and Bartley can go . Time to drop the deadwood. Monk needs to stay in some shape or form if only to maintain the dressing room spirit and club captain duties with the odd cup game .
Oh **** we finished 9th in the premier - won our first trophy - so disappointed - FFS (not you if you're reading) the other 1,452 fans with down the vetch on a cold tuseday night are going to be pissed off about this! Thank you Huw, Thank you Michael and Alan - thank you lads - even schecter - this has been a season to remember and if we never have another like it at least we had this one. Maybe if we sold out to some *****lian drug trafficker changed our strip to yellow(very luck in *****lia!) and swapped the swan for a duck we could get enough money to make everyone happy. Ths sky is falling the sky is falling
yes a big clear out is needed and i hope there is enough money on the table for laudrup to get his players.....Laudrup also need to take a look at his managerial and motivation skills too. It has not been his finest hour for nearly all of the second half of the season, some of his team selections have been at fault and allowing Graham to leave a big mistake when we had nobody to take his place, Its no coincidence we have been crap since he left....we had Moore of course but he preferred to play michu up front on his own and its not worked that well...
wigan won a major cup and were relegated.....We dont want to be in that position next season lumber.......apart from beating Bradford in the cup most of our points were gained in the first half of the season when we were still playing our football we did last season......you have to question what went wrong and why we have not been as good in the second half of the season.....
firstly that BBC possession stat, 49-51 is totally wrong and sky are giving it at 63-37 and im not convinced thats one-sided enough. It was definitely a frustrating day though and I ended up making the same points over and over during the game. For me, we moved the ball way too slowly and in the first half, there was a hateful lack of runs in behind the Fulham defensive line. In the second half, we were able to put endless crosses into the box, but way too often it was Michu as a lone target in the box against two big centre halves. I thought the ref had a really poor game from my vantage point, but that wasnt the reason for the result and the first half was the swans playing it around at a very slow tempo with all the time in the world creating very little either side of a slick, quick fulham move and a perfect finish. On a positive note, I thought Davies was superb, he took off at the right moments and made very intelligent runs, particularly in the first half and didnt try to do too much when he got it (which you can't say about many of our lads). Having said all that though, 9th in the premier league and the league cup from the season. Lets be honest, we've had worse.
