Supporters’ Trust call for urgent talks with Swans owners
Fans concerned at lack of any January business
SWANSEA City Supporters’ Trust will hold an “urgent” meeting with the club’s board and owners to discuss the lack of activity in the January transfer window.
Swansea endured yet another frustrating month in which no signings were made.
In a frantic last few hours on deadline day they thought they had their man in Karlan Grant, who had agreed a loan move to south Wales from West Brom for the rest of the season.
But with the clock gone past 11pm and the paperwork all ready, the Baggies pulled the plug on the deal.
It put the tin hat on a month of frustration for head coach Russell Martin and supporters, with a number of targets passing them by, despite chief executive Julian Winter saying in December that the club were aiming to be active in the market.
In the end the only activity was outgoings, with six leaving SA1 and Morgan Whittaker recalled from his loan stint with Plymouth Argyle.
Now the Trust have highlighted their concerns, echoing fan sentiment and directly asking four questions of the board in an effort to seek explanations for what happened over the course of January, especially in light of what was communicated to supporters before Christmas.
In a statement, they wrote: “The Trust completely understands the frustration that many fans have expressed about the lack of activity throughout the January transfer window, and the concern at the lack of depth within the squad having seen several players depart without any senior incoming players.
“As fans first and foremost, we share these concerns. We all want a team that has the necessary depth at each position to mount a play-off push as we enter the last third of the season. We are not afraid of having difficult conversations with the club or our fellow owners - we recognise that the animosity and lack of transparency for fans is not productive or tenable in the long term and must be addressed.
“While it would be unhelpful to speculate on exactly what went wrong, it’s clear that the processes within the club didn’t work as they needed to in this window, whether that was in player trading, or in the communications that set expectations for fans at the end of 2022.
“The club and the majority owners have agreed to our request for an urgent meeting to discuss the transfer window, and the medium-to-longterm strategy - both in terms of squad management and transfer activity. “As part of this, we have set out four key questions that capture our concerns and those of our fellow fans:
What decisions or events occurred during the January transfer window that led to no first-team level players being brought into the squad?
“How does the club board and majority ownership intend to learn from this and prepare for future summer and winter transfer windows?
“What is the club’s medium-term strategy around player trading, especially with the club perennially hovering around the play-off positions at this time of the year?
“How does the club board and majority ownership plan to reflect on the gap between communication and delivery of expectations in this window, and what actions will be taken?
“The Trust’s primary aim is to maintain a professional football club in Swansea and bring the football club closer to its fans in our local community and across the world.
“Against that backdrop, we consider that members and fans deserve an explanation from the club on occasions like this, and will use our position as a director and shareholder to ensure that these questions are asked and answers sought.
“We will hold these conversations as we aim to hold all conversations with the club, with mutual respect, a focus on what can be learnt in the future, and most importantly how fans are kept up to date and can feel confident in the information that is being shared.
“We look forward to urgently meeting with the hierarchy and majority owners to discuss this.”
Martin will now have to make do with what is at his disposal until the end of the season - unless he dips into the free-agent market.
A striker, right-back and goalkeeper were the priorities before the window closed but zero new players arrived. Swansea sit just four points off the play-off spots, with a promotion push far from out of the question.
Swansea return to action tomorrow, with Birmingham City the visitors to the Swansea.com Stadium.