BRITTON INSPIRES
EVERY KICK, EVERY GOAL, EVERY GAME
LEON BRITTON has given Swansea’s millionaire stars a relegation reality check.
Britton returned to the Swans’ starting line-up for Saturday’s victory over Stoke that has kept Paul Clement’s side in with a chance of survival.
Britton revealed how he prepared his team-mates for their biggest game in years.
The club legend feared the rest of the dressing room might not understand what survival means.
For a player who was in the Swansea side when the club almost went out of existence in the early noughties, that was a worry.
That period in the club’s history was highlighted in a documentary called ‘Jack to a King – The Swansea Story’.
Britton saw it as the perfect motivational tool.
He said; “I got 25 copies of the DVD and gave it to each of the boys. I said, ‘If you get a spare hour or so before the game against Stoke, just have a watch’.
“I just felt some of them might not understand. They come to a Premier League club and think it’s always been like this. You don’t blame them for thinking like that. However, maybe they don’t understand it wasn’t that long ago that we were washing our own kit and trying to find somewhere to train.
“So I just said have a watch and see how much it means to some people.
“To be fair, quite a few of the boys made comments about it and spoke about what happened in it.
“So I think quite a few of them did watch it.”
Swansea won the game thanks to goals from Fernando Llorente and Tom Carroll, the latter’s secondhalf stunner coming 60 seconds SWANSEA (4-4-2): Fabianski 7; Na 6, Fernandez 7, Mawson 7 (Borja 7, Kingsley 85), Fer 5 (Ki 20, 7), Carroll 7; Llorente 7 7, Si (Van der Hoorn 59, 6), Subs: Norfeldt, AYE Montero, Narsingh, Robe UP NEXT: Manchester League, United (a), Prem Sunday. STOKE (4-4-2) Butland Shawcross 6; Johnson 6, Martins Indi 6, Pieters Cameron 6, SHAQIRI 7, Allen 7, Arnauto (Diouf 84); Crouch 6, Berahino 5 (Sobhi Subs: Grant, Bardsley, UP Muniesa, Whelan, NEXT: West Ham (h), Saturday. Premier Leagu Referee: Michael Oliver 7. YOUR TURN: Which Spanish striker sc from the spot in Stoke’s last 1-0 win at Swan season?