Mutterings for the Minority

Arsène Wenger famously once likened Stoke City’s playing style to that of rugby, so how apt it was that on the same weekend that Wales won the triple crown against the old enemy in Twickenham (for the first time), that the Swans should face England’s other rugby team at the Britannia Stadium.

All jokes aside though, this was – in my opinion – always going to be one of our toughest away games.  The fact of us winning the last 4 meetings between the sides counted for nothing, especially given Stoke’s home record and physical, direct style of play.

With the designated driver of the day – Financial Advisor Jack – hailing from deepest (darkest?) west Wales, we decided that a suitable meeting point would be Carmarthenshire’s answer to the chic boutique town of Narberth, i.e Llandeilo.

On what was a beautiful crisp and sunny February day we meandered our way through mid Wales to meet with our Stoke Tourist Guide for the day (affectionately known as STG from here on in) whom was located – for the sake of anonymity – in downtown Keele, which is near Stoke for those not too hot on Staffordshire geography.

Our journey took us via Shrewsbury – which duly invoked memories of numerous visits to Gay Meadow (purely for footballing reasons) – the scene of many lower league and Welsh Cup battles between the Shrews and the Swans.

After picking up STG at around 1pm we headed off to find some suitable off-street parking near to the Britannia stadium – which incidentally casts an impressive sight from the nearby A500.   Thankfully, STG obviously knew his onions and we avoided parking in the vicinity of the stadium for fear of the post-match gridlock, preferring to park a 15 minute walk away.

Walking to the ground reminded me of my recent visit to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light – due to its prime bit of real estate location, i.e it had acres of space around it and little else!

Considering that the Britannia was a relatively new stadium (circa 1997), it was rather odd to see that 3 out of the 4 corners of the ground were open ended.

I enquired with STG if this was a deliberate ploy to allow extra wind and turbulence to enter the ground – in an blatant attempt to assist Stoke’s high ball tactics.  He declined to confirm if this was the case but did chuckle through a wry smile.

One thing is for sure, anyone who does visit the Britannia Stadium is left with no doubt the esteem by which the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews is held with Stoke City fans.  The Sir Stanley Matthews statue and giant mosaic on the side of the main stand emphasise this, not to mention the flags inside the ground bearing his picture and the words “Forever Grateful”.

Having done my usual pre-match ground walkabout, we headed into the away end in readiness for the game.  In fairness to STG it can’t have been easy sitting amongst 1,900 odd Swansea fans, especially as a lifelong Potter – but what can a man do when he can’t get a ticket in the home end.  Never has the song “You’re only here to watch the Swans” been more apt.

‘Potters‘ – the Stoke City programme had lots of content on Stokies with Swans connections, with articles on John Mahoney, Neil Cutler, the legendary Robbie James and one time Swans striker Mamady Sidibe.  It was a good read and worthy of the standard £3 price tag.

I was amazed however to read that we’d signed Seb Larsson from Sunderland!!

Somewhat bizarrely there appears to be a strong Welsh connection with Stoke City – with Tony Pulis the gaffer being from Newport, first team coach Gerry Francis (yes the Gerry Francis that played for the Swans), Mickey ‘Bank Notes’ Thomas writing in the match day programme and the club anthem being ‘Delilah’ (God only knows why this is, as not even STG had a clue).

The stewarding was friendly and the view was good – albeit that the seats were a wee bit cramped.  If you did miss some of the action, then you could watch it replayed (sometimes) on the big screen to the right of the away end (South Stand).

The away end is shared with the Stoke fans which sure adds to the atmosphere, especially as the Potters are officially proclaimed to be the loudest fans in England.

With Gerhard Tremmel warming up in front of us and no sign of Michel Vorm – we knew the omens weren’t good and that Alan Tate would be our substitute goalkeeper – cue memories of the QPR game at the Liberty in 2008.

• The opening minutes of the game left us under no illusions as to what to expect from Stoke – with several crunching tackles and hoofs upfield. Thankfully Howard Webb was quick to pick-up on the over zealous tackles (sometimes a little too much) – much to the irritation of the locals;
• A bright start from the Swans was rewarded with a clear cut chance for Scott Sinclair (or should I call him Seb Larsson?) whom in true Charlie Adams style blazed it high over the bar rather than slotting past Bergovic in the Stoke goal. This felt like Sunderland all over again;
• Both Nathan Dyer and Siggi were carving up Stoke down the right and we enjoyed plenty of possession without being able to find that killer pass. If anything we were guilty of overplaying it sometimes;
• When Upson gave Stoke the lead from a corner (surprise surprise) it was rather frustrating to see that there was nobody on the line defending.  We appeared to be double banking in terms of challenging the header of the ball.  Having coped with it so well at the Liberty back in October, this was bloody annoying;

• One thing I’ve noticed about the Swans this season is that even when we do go behind – the body language and attitude is spot on and it’s immediately back to business.  This shows that mentally we are strong and don’t let our heads drop. Belief – an important asset to any team or individual;
• The goal did seem to stir the home crowd momentarily and whilst they weren’t as noisy as I’d anticipated, they were very loud when they did bother to sing. I can imagine the Britannia bouncing for the bigger games – just as it does down the Liberty;
• Shortly after us threatening an equaliser, we were 2 nil down. Once again our defending of the long throw wasn’t great with nobody on the line. I did think at the time whether or not the sun had played its role in the goal and whether or not Tremmel should have done better with the save. Watching it once again on MOTD – I do think he could/should have saved it;
• On the subject of Tremmel on the two occasions I have seen him, he looks a bag of nerves and sometimes this seems to affect the players in front of him. I suspect that only first team game time is going to improve this… but the question is at what cost?

• Despite the goals conceded, IMO the back 4 played very well, with Taylor and Rangel in particular having strong games both in defence and attack;
• Stoke’s play seemed to consist of one tactic – wherever they were on the field, they had to lump it up to Crouch for the knock-down from which Jonathan Walters could play off and shoot or whatever. Simple and boring yet oh so effective;
• As the game wore on we seemed to run out of ideas in the final third of the pitch and quite often would end up losing possession as a result. We could and probably should have had a shot at goal from such positions rather than trying to find that killer ball into the box. It reminded me of the Arsenal team of old who’d win most games one nil – usually by walking the ball into the net!!
• The double substitution of Sinclair and Dyer for McEachran and Moore - amidst the Stoke fans chanting “You don’t know what you’re doing” – somewhat ironically saw us create more clear cut chances.  But after 80 minutes this really was leaving it a little late!

• With Taylor and Rangel coming forward even more and Luke Moore putting himself about, we created our best chance when a Caulker header was pushed onto the bar by Begovic.  By now we know it really wasn’t to be our day;
• Moore definately seems to have “more, more, more” of an impact away from the Liberty and I wonder how much of this is to do with the fact that he feels less pressure? I’m sure he can hear his arrival on the pitch sadly being greeted by a crowd groan at the Liberty;
• In fairness the Swans played well – as the stats show – but it’s that final pass and killer instinct in front of goal which eludes us now and again which is causing us the problem.  I’ve little doubt that we’ll be ok – but hope we end the losing streak at Wigan on Saturday;
• If I had to pick a man of the match it would be Nathan Dyer with a special mention to the Swans fans who sang and stuck with the team right till the final whistle;

Walking back to the car it was interesting to listen to what some of the Stoke fans thought of the game – which ranged from “If Swansea had scored first that would have been a different game” to “They’re boring to watch, all they do is pass the ball back and fore sideways”.  I suspect the latter comment wouldn’t have been made had Stoke lost!

STG did say that it is infuriating to watch Stoke play as even when given the opportunity to pass and move (rather than pass and hoof) they rarely do they do so.  Personally I really couldn’t sit and watch that week in week out – regardless of results. The Kenny Jackett era – although successful – nearly put paid to my Swans season ticket application.

Shortly afterwards we congratulated STG on his team’s win and bid him farewell before embarking on our 3 and a half hour journey home.

Other than stopping for a brief pee in field on the outskirts of Shrewsbury – in order to improve the drought problems in the area and to stop Financial Advisor Jack wetting his pants – the journey home was quite uneventful.

We did briefly listen to a new Radio 5 Live programme called “A Scouser’s Guide to Missing Penalties” but it wasn’t very good and decided to switch it off as it sounded as though it was written for losers.

Upon arriving in Llandeilo I was relieved to see that my car hadn’t been put on breeze blocks and I duly arrived home in time for the usual 8 minute inquest into the defeat on Match of the Day.

However disappointed I was at the final whistle today, a little dose of perspective on the return journey soon had me thinking of the bigger picture, that life is good as a Swansea City fan these days and despite the defeat at Stoke, it wasn’t a bad weekend on the whole.

We did after all see the wheels fall off that chariot

Prior to the recent school half term holidays, my 8 year old son had began to show more and more interest in both computers and what I do (most of the time) when using them, i.e. web site design and development.

I was extremely glad about this for two reasons – the first because his new found interest would help him improve his computer skills, but mainly because they and indeed the internet in general will play an increasingly bigger part of our (and his) futures.

Currently he gets ICT lessons once a week on a Friday – which isn’t enough in my opinion – but nevertheless, they are encouraged to use PCs and the internet for their homework/projects.

Consequently, the timing of his ‘Egyptian gods and godesses‘ half term project couldn’t have been better

His project entailed researching and writing about ancient Egyptian history, whether it be Egyptian gods and goddesses, Egyptian symbols, ancient Egyptian art or just simply good old fashioned ancient Egyptian history.

After some initial discussion, he decided that he wanted to do something on ancient Egyptian gods or Greek gods as I like to call them!

Great I thought, now was the time to really light the blue touch paper under his computers interest.  Seizing the moment, I suggested to him that he not only use the computer to do some research on Egyptian gods for his project, but that he – with my help – did a mini Egyptian god and godesses website as well!

I’m chuffed to say that after quite a few hours of perseverance (over several days) and aided by some conditional chocolate bribery (Cadbury’s caramel is always a favourite) he finished the site, which can be seen here – www.egyptiangods.org.uk.

He did me proud and the most satisfying thing of all was seeing him not only improve his keyboard, mouse and general IT skills, but learning something new with me at the same time.

That for me – as his Dad – was priceless.

On the back of my numerous rambling away day reports which I share with you all on this very blog, I was chuffed to bits to receive an email a few weeks back from the editorial team of ‘Jack Swan’ magazine – which some of you may be familiar with.

‘Jack Swan’ is a free Swans related magazine which is distributed at over 100 pubs in and around the Swansea area and contains lots of Swans information, articles and interviews with past players.  It’s even got a review section featuring pubs that show the Swans away games!!

Anyway, they liked the reports on the Swans away trips I’d done and wanted to know if I’d be interested in writing an article for them about why – apart from the obvious reason – I go to watch so many Swans away games.

I happily obliged and here is part 1 of the article – which you can also read in the current issue of the magazine if you haven’t already!

Thinking back to one particularly cold October evening in 1980, I now realise that this was the night that a very special relationship started, a love, a passion and something which I didn’t know at the time would lead to one a lifelong bond between myself and Swansea City football club.

Why was this night so special? Well it was the first Swans game I ever saw. Sat in the lofty heights of the old double decker stand at the Vetch with my Dad, I witnessed the 3 nil walloping of the mighty Oldham Athletic in the then old Division Two.  From that night on, there was no turning back for this 9 year old.

With this new found ‘toy’ came a desire and an appetite to watch Tosh’s super Swans as often as possible, but my Dad’s job (long distance lorry driver) and a lack of money meant times were hard and we had to pick and choose our games carefully.

Having sealed promotion to the top flight in 1981, the Swans became a regular feature on ‘Match of the Day’ and ITV’s equivalent ‘The Big Match’ (anyone remember Brian Moore?).  The TV coverage merely served to fuel my desire of watching the Swans further – wherever they might have been.

By the time my grampa had bought me the ‘Guide to British Football Grounds’ book as a 10^th birthday present, I was well versed in the names of most – if not all – football league grounds across the country.  This was in-part due to those old legendary school yard favourites - ‘Shoot’ magazine and Panini football stickers.

Bizarrely however, my first visit to a ground other than the Vetch Field, wasGoodisonPark, the home of Everton.  Why I hear you cry? Well quite simply, Everton was my Dad’s team and as much as he wanted the Swans to do well, he also wanted his son to see his beloved Toffees too.

Looking back I distinctly remember being in awe at the sheer size of the ground, the vast crowds and how clean and tidy it all was compared to the Vetch!  Despite all the excitement and witnessing an exciting one all draw (as exciting as draws get!), deep down I desperately wanted to watch the Swans play at grounds like this.

So from that January day in 1982, I vowed to my parents (as only a 10 year old boy does) to visit each and every one of the 92 football league grounds to watch the boys in black and white.  To this day, that quest is still on-going.

Little did I know back then, that I’d have to wait until 22^nd October 1986 for my 92 club tour to begin… at Peterborough United in a Division 4 league game.  I can’t think for the life of me why we chose that game to start – especially in midweek!

Those of you whom have been to London Road will be familiar with the away terrace – which can best be compared to the old Wing Stand terrace at the Vetch, which also used to house the away fans (in the days before it became the Jewson Family stand).

The only other things I can recollect from this glamorous away trip were Sean McCarthy’s penalty (in a game we drew 1-1), a paltry away following of 53 (yes I counted them) and getting back home at around 3am in the morning – via a taxi from Neath.

They say you have to go through the bad to appreciate the good in life, and I guess in terms of losing my Swans away day virginity, this was about as bleak as it could get.

To be continued…

‘Jack Swan’ is available in all good and not-so-good pubs in Swansea and surrounding areas