As we enter the New Year, Supporter Director Terry Sinnett reviews the work he and the Trust board have embarked on in the last few weeks of 2021 and the start of the New Year.
Hello and Happy New Year to our members. I hope you managed to spend some time with your loved ones over the festive period.
The end of 2021 was disappointing for us fans as we saw a return to behind-closed-doors sporting events across Wales. This was further compounded by the lack of football played at the Swansea.com stadium during December and early January until we eventually faced Southampton in the FA Cup on the 8th January.
This certainly made it a challenging period for fans with no games being played over Christmas and New Year, which traditionally is a time of the year that we circle on our calendars. Festive football is a longstanding tradition in the UK and is a time when clubs typically benefit from increased attendances and revenue – Covid-19 has caused havoc and will no doubt continue to do so for a while yet.
The club were very quick off the mark to arrange streaming for season ticket holders once the Welsh Government reintroduced restrictions, and we were involved (and fully supported) their actions to look after the interests of the Jack Army. As we prepare this update supporters will now be allowed back to the Swansea.com stadium with our next game against Preston on Saturday 22nd January moved back to a more traditional 3pm KO, which is always good to see.
The club and the Trust will be working together to update supporters over the coming days but the over riding message at this stage if you are attending our home games in the next few weeks is get there early and remember your Covid pass.
Let’s all hope we can continue supporting the Swans both home and away for the rest of the season with the minimum amount of disruption.
On the playing side over the past few weeks, it’s been a nightmare for the squad of players and coaches. Normal working routines have been disrupted and as we saw in the Southampton and Huddersfield games, the match day squad was affected by Covid-19. It will take some time for the squad to return to full fitness, both physically and mentally, but the signs we saw in the second half in the 1-1 draw against high-flying Huddersfield last Saturday augers well for our upcoming fixtures.
The transfer window is now upon us and already we have seen a lot of activity, both in and out of the club. There can be little doubt that Covid-19 will affect what can, and cannot be, done and many plans will need to be adapted to take account of the new circumstances. The loss of income from the postponed games will have an effect, as will the vaccination position of players. Further information is available in my summary of recent meetings with the club’s management team.
In my programme notes for the Southampton game I drew attention to the Fan-Led review and its main recommendations, which were released in November. These recommendations
are still under review but it is hoped at least parts of it will eventually lead to legislation through parliament.
If passed into law, this would see a fundamental change to our game, putting the whole football pyramid on a footing that delivers long term sustainability. The key recommendations can be seen here https://thefsa.org.uk/news/fan-led-review-is-a-huge-step-forward/ and is well worth a read. We will be providing additional information and discussion topics with our members on this in the coming months.
In December we sent out our remaining 20th Anniversary pin badges and car window stickers to members), and we are happy with the positive reception we have received. Please continue to send us photos and tag us on social media when you receive them.
We also held a special Christmas prize draw in December with 20 amazing prizes, ranging from Swansea City shirts to hats/scarves, and books. We also had two table-tennis bats signed by Trust Ambassador and double-Paralympic champion Paul Karabardak. We were delighted to give these prizes to members both locally and overseas and the pictures and thanks we have received from members makes it worthwhile.
Our members might have seen from our recent programme notes that we are currently revamping our Trust website. This project has been led by co-opted board member Adam Lewis and is nearing completion. A lot of work has gone into making this upgrade and we hope it will give all visitors a more streamlined and enjoyable experience.
We are also taking the opportunity to improve and modernise some of our back-end systems, which will help make our information and membership systems more efficient and set us up well for a long time to come. We expect to launch the new site very soon, so look out for an announcement.
We have been very pleased with the level of commitment to the Trust shown by our members, and membership numbers for this current season are on a par with last season. We are always looking to increase numbers so if you can encourage other family members and friends to join us and make us even stronger, we would be grateful. We are here to represent the fans of our club and are only as strong as our members. Every member counts and it takes just a few minutes to join online here: https://www.swanstrust.co.uk/join-the-trust/
In my last update in November, I gave members an insight into some of the matters discussed with Julian Winter at our monthly meetings. Here are the headlines from my December and early January Meetings:
|
Topic |
Key points |
|
Team |
Disappointing run of form up to and including Forest game. Covid has played havoc with team training. Hoping crowds will be allowed back into stadium soon but plans in place to deal with all eventualities between now and end of season. |
|
Ownership |
Due to the postponement of games, Jake Silverstein cut short his visit but is planning to return as soon as feasible. |
|
Player Contracts |
Julian provided some details of current situation and expected there to be movements in and out. Incomings likely to be loans, though at least one permanent signing expected. Update. Club have since signed GK Andy Fisher from MK Dons (https://www.swanseacity.com/news/swansea-city-complete-signing goalkeeper-andy-fisher) and completed the loan signing of Cyrus Christie from Fulham until the end of the season (https://www.swanseacity.com/news/swansea-city-seal-loan-swoop cyrus-christie). A few are likely to leave permanently with some youngsters going out on loan to gain playing experience. Update. Morgan Whittaker, Liam Cullen (both Lincoln City), Steven Benda (Peterborough United), Lewis Webb (Shelbourne) and Dan Williams (Dundalk). Also, it has just been announced that Jake Bidwell has joined Coventry City on a free transfer 1. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/morgan-whittaker-seals lincoln-loan-move 2. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/swansea-city-striker-liam cullen-joins-lincoln-city-loan 3. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/steven-benda-makes-loan move-peterborough-united 4. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/lewis-webb-completes-loan move-shelbourne 5. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/dan-williams-joins-irish-top flight-side-loan 6. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/jake-bidwell-completes coventry-city-transfer |
|
Topic |
Key points |
|
Covid-19 |
Covid has played havoc and totally disrupted training schedules and routines. Not restricted to playing staff. Coaches and support staff affected as well as admin staff, who are working from home wherever possible. The majority of the playing squad is fully vaccinated. The EFL have written to the Welsh Government about the disadvantages the three Welsh clubs are in compared to English teams and are asking for an early return for crowds at matches. The club had not agreed to Southampton’s request to reverse the fixture venue, which would have enabled a small number of our fans to see the game live, especially as it was on terrestrial TV on the BBC. Update. Following the announcement by the First Minister last Friday supporters can now attend our upcoming home games at the Swansea.com stadium. More details here: https://www.swanseacity.com/news/important-information-return fans-swanseacom-stadium |
|
Away Travel |
National Express have been providing away travel in the past few games. Their policy of providing two types of buses has been successful. Club are currently looking to see if there are other options and will duly update supporters if there are any changes. |
|
Season Ticket Renewal |
New pricing structure has been well received by supporters and uptake expected to kick on in January whilst the early bird offer is in place. |
|
Fan-Led Review |
Discussions still ongoing amongst EFL clubs on best way forward and finding solutions. JW hoping there’ll be more dialogue between the EPL, EFL and government. |
|
Heritage Project |
Still ongoing. To be discussed further at future Swans Foundation meetings. |
|
Stand Naming |
Discussed again. Needs to be brought up formally at next club board meeting. |
|
Vetch Field Project |
The Trust has been approached by Swansea Council about a project being worked on by the council. The club and Trust have been invited to be involved and it was agreed we would provide as much help as possible to make this initiative a success. Its planned launch is in April 2022. More details are expected to be announced by the council, club and Trust later this month. |
|
Trust POD |
Wi-Fi from the club is expected to be in place for next home game which will in due course allow supporters to join the Trust at the Pod using their credit/debit card. |
It should be mentioned that as well as all of the above there are many ongoing initiatives that the Trust and Club continue to work on together, a lot of which actively progresses behind the scenes.
Some of this work involves the FSA (Football Supporters Association) and in particular on fan behaviour which is affecting many clubs at present. We are also looking at ways to help the Swansea family become more inclusive and a meeting with the club to explore this further is due imminently.
We are also represented on the committee of the FPA (Former Players Association) that launched last year. Ex Swans who want to be involved with Swansea City Former Players’ Association are asked to fill in the registration form HERE.
The club is also keen to hear from relatives and friends of former players who are not online but who might still like to join the FPA.
Anyone in this category is asked to call the FPA secretary, Catherine Thomas, on 01792 616420 or email catherinethomas@swanseacity.com.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about the initiative or the work of the FPA further details can be found on the project here: https://www.swanseacity.com/community/former-players-association
We also continue to work alongside Catherine Thomas on the Global Swans Supporter Groups initiative which can be seen here: https://www.swanseacity.com/fans/official-supporters-groups
These are just a few projects that we run alongside our daily responsibilities as Trust Board officers and members, which we regularly reference in our social media updates.
You can find out more about us on our website and social media platforms and if there is a specific question or matter you would like us to look into, please do contact us by email at info@swanstrust.co.uk or come and see us at our POD at the Swansea.com stadium at future home games.
If any current Trust member feels they have the time and inclination to put themselves forward and consider becoming a future co-opted Trust Board member then again just drop us an email to info@swanstrust.co.uk. We’d be delighted to hear from you.
Over the next few days, we will be announcing further details of our Annual General Meeting scheduled for Tuesday 15th February at 7pm. As last year this will be a virtual event via Microsoft Teams.
Finally, a personal thanks to all my fellow board members for their help and support in my new role and for all their hard work that goes on behind the scenes. I am privileged to be representing the Jack Army and look forward to a successful year both on and off the pitch.
Terry Sinnett
Supporter Director
Swansea City Supporters’ Trust
18th January 2022
