You might not have heard Swansea’s ‘Mr Fixit’ plays
“I’M here to see Lakey.” Before the realisation that the receptionist might not know him by his nickname, the direction to where Swansea City’s player liaison officer is waiting is pointed out.
After all, everyone knows Lakey. That’s his job, just as it has been for more than a decade.
From the Fforestfach area of the city, Huw Lake’s association with the club has gone on for longer than that. He had been an apprentice in the Swans’ first taste of top-flight glory, making his debut in the final game in the old First Division and playing a total of 23 times under John Toshack before being released.
It’s doubtful many other than hardy supporters will know his name but then it’s doubtful many fans know of him now despite his job being one of the key behind-thescenes roles.
Because the smiling face that greets you as the door opens at the Liberty is the same one that has greeted every new signing and every new manager at Swansea since the days of Roberto Martinez. Lake had been working with the youth set-up and then scouting under Kenny Jackett before Martinez approached him and informed him of a significant change in duties with one vital instruction.
“He told me that the most important thing was I had to get the player and their family settled because once they settled well, they would play well,” he explains.
The divisions and demands have changed, the faces have changed – around 100 players have been welcomed into the club by him since he started, a hundred airport welcomes and many more motorway drives – but the role essentially remains the same. Houses, cars, banks accounts, schools, services, problems, all sorted by the football club’s Mr Fixit.
“I tend to be the first face they see, even before they’ve signed,” he explains. “I’ll get a call from (football administration manager) Alun Cowie who’ll tell me a couple of days beforehand who is coming in and where and when and I’ll make my way, meet them at the airport, bed them up in a hotel to start with and take them for talks with Huw (Jenkins) and wherever else they need to go.”
There is a routine, well polished but not rehearsed with Lake’s friendliness a genuine character trait rather than a sales tactic.
The Mumbles and Rhossilli are a favourite stop on a driving tour, complete with commentary (“I know Catherine Zeta Jones’ mum and dad so I mention her; all the foreign boys know her, so it’s a good start”) and reassurance amid unfamiliar surroundings.
“I remember Garry Monk first coming in and thinking Aberavon Rugby Club on the side of the M4 was our ground so I had to reassure him,” he laughs. “But then when Michael Laudrup first came down I showed him Llandarcy (Glamorgan Health & Raquets Club) and he thought it was ours and I had to explain it was a public gym and pointed to the old broom cupboard we’d turned into the manager’s office.”
Even just four years on and the club has transformed, the new training ground at Fairwood – not to mention Premier League money – seeing players tend to opt for grand houses on the Gower as opposed to the apartments around the Marina as once was the fashion.
“The houses are the most important and the hardest,” he says. “You feel like an estate agent at times. Different players want different things – if they’ve got a family they’d rather a house with a garden than an apartment in the centre – but then they might only want to rent because it’s what they’re used to or they’re not going to be here long.
“You might have a few players signing all at once, like in January with the manager and different members of staff, but that’s the thing you want fixed first of all.”
Then it’s onto the banking, arranging with someone to open new British accounts for overseas stars, before sourcing the new car if needed, or finding places at schools or nurseries, or even a teacher for the player if they need to overcome a language barrier.
“I’ve had to learn as I’ve gone on but I’ve built up some good contacts and they know that when a player comes in what I need because of what they need,” he says. “They don’t let me down which is important because the players can be demanding.”
He tells of how a player phoned in a panic over a flat tyre earlier this month. A call to Lakey and there was someone to sort it within the hour. For players not sure in a new city – sometimes new country – Lake is the man who knows a man, because everyone knows Lakey.
It’s tempting to conjure up images of the pampered professional, unable to sort things for themselves, but Lake sees the other side.
“I’ve been a player myself – nowhere near their level – but I know what is expected of them to perform,” he says. “What you try and do is take all the other worries away so they can concentrate on the football and being their best for the team, making them happy.”
It can be the big or the basics, even from where to shop or go to eat, all done with a welcome that he’s determined keeps alive the ‘family feel’ of Swansea, regardless of the size of the star coming in. Though he is a connection with the club’s past (along with fellow Toshack-era players Alan Curtis and academy coach Gary Richards) but what Lake tends to bring is a connection to the city and the real life away from the game. There’s a pride as he explains how one player has moved recently and has been left settled and smiling as a result, something the manager’s are always keen to hear from him.
A regular part of the role is to liaise with the manager, reporting to Clement to update on a player’s personal status, though stresses that trustworthiness is the biggest thing he can offer with problems far-reaching.
“Things can happen, just because you’re a footballer doesn’t make it any different,” he explains. “But I’m there for them and the aim is that they know that.”
There have been all sorts of examples – some you suspect Lake will keep to himself – but there was the time Paulo Sousa phoned on a Saturday night for ‘Lakey’ to rush round to his house.
“His wife had been putting together IKEA cabinets,” he says, adding that doing the furniture shop with new arrivals is often on his list. “She’d put a drill bit through her finger and wasn’t sure what to do. We ended up in A&E and you can imagine what that’s like on a Saturday night, let alone with the manager of Swansea City.”
There are special mentions for much-loved Dutch midfielder Ferrie Bodde, whom he describes as the most demanding but also like a son, having been with him almost every day. As he recalls Ferrie, it dawns on him the closeness he has with players, from those first tour guide trips to being the friendly, smiling face on the end of the phone.
But then, as it is in football, they can be gone.
“I was let go by Swansea as a player but that’s football,” he says. “And