Victorious Swans secure place in Premier League
FANS of Swansea City breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday afternoon when it was confirmed the side would remain in the Premier League for another season.
Their top-flight survival was secured following Crystal Palace’s 4-0 demolition of relegation rivals Hull City, who will now drop into the Championship.
Coupled with Swansea’s 2-0 win at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, the Liberty side completed what some fans described as “the great escape”.
People took to social media in their droves to praise manager Paul Clement for his part in turning the Swans’ fortunes around, with some even suggesting a statue should be erected in his honour.
And some 195 miles west of Crystal Palace’s ground, Selhurst Park, several of Swansea’s stars posted videos online to express their delight at remaining in the “world’s best league”.
Swansea City Supporters’ Trust board member Stuart McDonald described the club’s continued topflight status as “a huge relief”.
He added: “We’ve had what you can really call a traumatic season. The issues of managerial changes and, as far as fans are concerned, concerns with ownership and how the club has been run.
“But I think that now we have come through, we are all confident in the manager-coach we now have in place.
“We can look forward to a greater degree of stability.”
Mr McDonald, who sits on the Swansea City board as supporters’ director, said: “We have not performed that well on the pitch over the last two seasons. This season we have come perilously close to relegation, and last season we flirted with it.
“I certainly feel we need some changes in the playing personnel. We have several players on loan and I think we need to trim the first-team squad.”
But he was keen to voice his appreciation for how head coach Paul Clement and the team had played when the chips were down over past few weeks, when relegated Hull looked favourites to beat the dreaded drop.
He said: “The last few games the attitude and commitment of the players has been superb, and I think it is no coincidence that this coincided with the return of Leon Britton.”
He added: “Let’s be honest, we will now go into our seventh season in the Premier League, and the majority of us fans thought in 2011-12, ‘This is great – let’s enjoy it, for one season’. We have done superbly well. But you cannot stand still.”
Another reason to be cheerful, he said, was the excellent infrastructure the club has developed – a point cited by club stalwart Alan Tate.
“It is superb,” said Mr McDonald, of Morriston. “We came up from the lower leagues so quickly and were competing against clubs with that infrastructure in place.
“We have done it with our [club] funds and that has reduced our ability to spend on players. But the club has balanced that superbly.”
Increasing commercial revenue to bolster club finances is a priority for the club’s majority American owners, and Mr McDonald said supporters will be watching this keenly.
“As fans, we want to see the relationship with our American owners develop,” he said.
A relieved Ugo Vallario, Swans Travel Club liaison officer, described the campaign as “very, very frustrating”.
He said: “We’ve had highlights – the Liverpool away win, the draw at Man United, Saturday’s win at Sunderland – but it has been a very disappointing season.”
Mr Vallario said he felt club captain Britton had made “a complete difference” to the team since returning to playing duties.
He said: “He personifies Swansea City’s football, he is a darling of the crowd and he is obviously popular in the dressing room.”
He also felt keeping Gylfi Sigurdsson, Fernando Llorente and Lukasz Fabianksi at the club was hugely important. “They have got to be kept,” he said.
And Mr Vallario credited the club hierarchy for getting rid of American manager Bob Bradley, under whose tenure the team looked alarmingly shaky in defence, although he added: “They could have done it sooner.”
“Fans were understandably relieved at Sunday’s final whistle,” said supporter Paul Skinner, of Swansea.
“It’s good for Wales that we’ve stayed up. I wasn’t confident until the Stoke game because we were on such a bad run, but then we gained momentum after that.
“There were too many changes at the beginning of the season, and when Paul Clement came in it was like starting from scratch.
“But you’ve got to spend money to stay up, and we need to spend £50m on the team and to keep our key players like Alfie Mawson.”
The club’s Premier League status is worth tens of millions of pounds to the city’s economy per year, with the global profile a priceless advert.
Julie Williamson, chairwoman of FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) Swansea Bay, said she was thrilled that the club was safe.
“I am sure the whole business community are also delighted,” she said. “It is very important in so many ways. There are knock-on effects, because it’s not only the direct businesses like hotels and restaurants that benefit.”
She said visiting fans might pick up a memento or two and try some local food at independent shops.
Of the worldwide spotlight, she said: “I think it was Swansea University’s vice-chancellor Richard Davies who was in the middle of [a visit to] China and met someone who said they knew Swansea but not Wales because of the [Premier League] football. That says it all.”
City businessman Bruno Nunes, who is a director of business group Swansea Bid, said: “As a season ticket holder, I am obviously chuffed the lads are staying up. From a business point of view, it makes Swansea more high-profile.”
Referring to other big projects coming or planned for the area, like the £1.3bn City Deal, Mr Nunes said there was a great deal to be positive about.
He added: “We can look forward to another year of good football.”