It’s Friday, time for another TAWE Blog and we can finally say that Swansea City have officially confirmed that Graham Potter will be our new manager for the new 2018/19 season!
In Blog #6 we were ‘waiting patiently’ for Potter’s arrival, #7 the ‘wait is almost over’, but now finally, Potter’s appointment has been confirmed after compensation was finally agreed with Ostersunds to take Potter and his two members of staff, Billy Reid and Kyle Macaulay.
The Compensation Paid…A Bargain!
Reports in Sweden said that we paid just 8 million SEK (roughly £680,000) for the management trio, but Wales Online believe that the actual sum paid is less than half that figure.
And we thought the initial figure mentioned was a bargain!
The Amount of Compensation Swansea Paid For Potter & His 2 Staff – “What A Bargain!”
Wales Online also say that reports of Potter’s annual wage being around £900k-£1m is also a lot higher than the actual figure.
Will Potter Get The Freedom He Needs To Re-Build Us?
One of the main talking points and reaction to the news of Potter’s arrival is that he must be given patience and the freedom, particularly with transfers, to re-build the squad at Swansea City.
With the help of his assistant Billy Reid and recruitment analyst/scout Kyle Macauley, Graham Potter did wonders at Ostersunds and built them up from the fourth division to a side that qualified for the Europa League last season playing an attractive style of football.
"I really don’t know if Graham Potter would have signed for Swansea if he didn’t get a little bit of control with signings." – @SwedeStatshttps://t.co/ig1dYDZhXQ
— Vital Swansea (@VitalSwansea) June 5, 2018
Like Potter said, “if I do half as well as I’ve done here, I think my employers will probably be quite happy” – but to do that, he needs his employers to step a massive step back, and by employers, I’m primarily referring to chairman Huw Jenkins who needs to end his de facto Director of Football role.
Potter’s Assistant Reid – “We’ve Talked About Getting Swansea’s Identity Back
Words that will be like music to Swansea City fans’ ears:
“We have spoken about getting Swansea’s identity back in terms of the structure of how the team plays.
“Our philosophy is a possession-based, attacking game. That’s the way we got our success at Ostersunds.
See the full article via the link below:
Potter’s Assistant Reid: ‘We’ve Spoken About Getting Swansea’s Identity Back’
Transfer News & Rumours Round-Up
The latest news out today is that we’ve rejected bids from West Ham for goalkeeper Lucasz Fabianski and Alfie Mawson. No mention of how much we’ve bid, but it’s thought that while we have suffered relegation, we’re not going to accept less than our valuation for the pair.
Let’s hope that it’s nothing like the Gylfi Sigurdsson saga last Summer, when we waited far too long to sell him to Everton, leaving us with very little time to find a replacement. We didn’t, and now here we are in the Championship, but with a very decent profit made!
Is McBurnie touting himself for a move?
Another top article from @joshkilmister on the @oli_mcburnie situation
McBurnie might well be pushing for a move, but keeping him is a no-brainer https://t.co/KV8a4FdMwC
— Vital Swansea (@VitalSwansea) June 6, 2018
There are also conflicting reports about the future of Wilfried Bony, with some rumours saying that he’ll stay another season, while others say the Swans want to offload him as he doesn’t have a relegation clause in his current contract.
Follow all the latest transfer rumours in the forum thread here
Huw Jenkins’ Annual Salary
Talking of money, the Guardian released details of each Premier League club’s finances from 2016-17. It showed that our chairman Huw Jenkins was paid a salary of £633,666. Three sixes? Coincidence. That’s £12,000 a week, and for what exactly?! It makes you wonder what he’s earning now, more than a year later.
Is Alfie Mawson Overrated?
With Alfie Mawson being linked with a move to Spurs this Summer, I asked fans on Twitter if Mawson is overrated. Is he good enough to go to White Hart Lane and earn a first-team place alongside Ben Davies?
Personally, I think the potential is there but he didn’t have a great season last year. Defensively he still looks vulnerable at times and I can’t help but feel that he’s a bit of a John Stones – looks good with the ball but out of possession, there’s room for improvement.
Mawson overrated or not? I think he is and he'll do well to get a move to Spurs. Potential is there though to develop into a much better player.
— Vital Swansea (@VitalSwansea) June 6, 2018
As expected, there were mixed reactions, many thinking he is indeed overrated, some saying his English nationality doesn’t help,
Very good player with plenty of potential but a bit overrated. Don’t think he deserved his England call-up and think he’d need serious improvement to make it at a top 5 team. Love the guy though and he’s definitely too good for the Championship.
— Guto Llewelyn (@GutoLlewelyn) June 6, 2018
Slightly overrated – the fact he’s English doesn’t help him. That’s not to say he’s not a good player because he clearly is but he’s still got a lot to learn and is not a top 6 player imo. We will have done very well if we get £20m for him imo.
— G ???? (@ghs_1986) June 7, 2018
Has a lot to learn imo. Got caught out a few times last season. Was clear to see he’s had his head turned somewhere. Overrated
— Jacob (@Jacobscfc1) June 6, 2018
He was injured all spring and got surgery after our last, kept playing cause we had no better option, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt
— Semper Nemo ???? (@semper_nemo) June 7, 2018
So hopefully that’s a fair and balanced representation of the sort of replies we received, you can see all of them by clicking on the original tweet above.
Match Day Ticket Prices Are Reduced
This week, Swansea City continued their pledge to ensure that Swansea City fans only pay £20 for away tickets in the Championship next season.
We will once again be subsidising the price of away tickets for Jack Army member! 🙌#WeAreTwenty
🎟➡️ https://t.co/wutfHzYWuZ pic.twitter.com/q7MXJb341r
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) June 6, 2018
Match Day ticket prices were also reduced, but some fans still weren’t happy with no reductions made to season ticket prices.
🎟 We are pleased to announce a deduction in matchday ticket prices for the new 2018-19 season…https://t.co/Ll9RnUhDYf
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) June 5, 2018
This pretty much perfectly sums up my thoughts on the ticketing matter:
We all took our chances when we renewed our season tickets – we knew the price, knew we might go down. That’s it. Case closed. No way should the club hand out refunds, partial or otherwise!
— A Touch Far Vetched (@touchfarvetched) June 6, 2018
While this doesn’t:
This is disgusting & shows how out of touch club is with REAL fans. What about fans who bought a ST? Why don’t we get a reduction as well or instead?
Being relegated means I can’t make many midweek games cause of work what about putting this money to compensating ST holders?— Jonathan Gough (@jongough3) June 5, 2018
And finally, improved Passing Network Maps
You might have seen us publishing some new passing network maps recently, and our most recent article saw us comparing the passing maps of the games against Southampton (2017/18, lost 1-0 at home) and Fulham (2011/12, won 3-0 away).
We changed the background to white, added some player labels and some colour schemes for passing accuracy, check them out below:
Passing Network Maps Comparison – Premier League 2011/12 vs 2017/18
Next up (by request in the comments) is a Manchester City away comparison (2011/12 vs 2017/18 season).
