Хорошее Утро Nick,

What's Russian for "I was being sarcastic"?

Наилучшие пожелания!

Mr One Eye

Ref M Thomas

Nugent 8/10 Last night

Possibly his worst game ever

He won nothing in the first half ,
his first touch was shocking and
only came to life (using this term
very lose ) when we took the
lead. How someone is allowed to walk
for 70 mins is beyond me.

Great result last night and not too bad a peformance. Good move from KJ to drop Connor as Nuge had a decent game an it might sharpen Connor up. On the down side, we are still woeful in front of goal and but from one world clas save from Big Willy it might have been a different outcome. Goodfellow although he scored is more lightweight than Leon sorry but not for us I'm afraid. On the plus side we got 3 points last night. Maylett and Thomas are near to coming back. Robinson is now available but should be left on the bench for a game or two for some reflection. As for KJ he is either a master tactician (resting his 2 strikers for the last 10 mins last night) or dead lucky as we scraped home in the end. Either way he's the man (said with a large piece of humble pie on my plate) ANYONE know if the Kiddie game will be brought forward from 3.0 aon Boxing Day?????

Just want 2 say well done 2 the club 4 an outstanding effort with Cyrils xmas party on sunday....xcellent turn out!!

The players were there in force....with the xception of Tate (who i s'pose stayd after saturdays match in manchester wiv his family!) and Maylett.
Jackett was also there as wer 2 club officials.

It was great 2 hear the youngsters cheer as each player was called up on2 the stage!
Well dun to the organisers!!!!

A rather strange feeling coming away from last night's game. On the one hand happy (and not a litle relief) that we got the win that reverses the mini slump. Had we lost than the ghost of last season's second half collapse would have started to haunt us. Add in our first good result on the outskirts of Oxford, and we should have been elated.

Yet deep down there was a gnawing doubt, as the final ten minutes or so were too close for comfort against a very poor side. Whilst they created very little clear cut which probably vindicated Kenny's decision to go to 4-5-1, you cant help feel that if you keep on inviting sides to play the game in your half that sooner or later they are going to create something. Remember England v France.

This seemed a little bizarre bearing in mind we were playing ten men. As long as we had two up front then Oxford needed to keep three or four players back. Once we'd gone to one up front they only kept two players back.

I think we have two basic problems at the moment. Firstly, whilst Monk and Austin are a very solid defensive pairing, their distribution is awful. Time after time they whacked hopeful balls forward to nobody in particular when under no pressure and with men free. When Tate or Izzy play the distribution from the back improves hugely, and we start to try tokeep the ball and construct attacks rather than merely giving it away and inviting pressure. I would favour a combination of one strong man and one footballer.

Secondly, with both Roberto and O'Leary lying deep we have a good defensive shield, but a huge gap in the centre of the pitch between the midfield and the attack. Might the answer be to pull Trundle deeper and play Forbes as an out and out striker, rather like the situation at Wrexham a few years ago when Trundle and Morrell combined to great effect?

This is not a carp at a hard won three points and welcome win, but just voicing the doubts that suggest that a better side than Oxford might find us out. Scunthorpe's record suggests they are better than Oxford, and it will be interesting to see how we fare on Saturday.

My player ratings:

Gueret (8) a rock solid performance, capped by a stunning save low down to push away a goal-bound header.
Ricketts (9) MOTM, worked his socks off in defence, constantly in action because of Goodfellow's deficiencies, and supported attack impressively down flank.
Austin (8) unspectacular but unflappable, one stunning last ditch block in area to save certain goal late on.
Monk (8) dominant in the air, efficent on the ground, you can't argue with him being first on team sheet every time becuase of his consistency, very harsh booking (have refs got it in for him?).
Gurney (5)Tate should be picked ahead of him on this performance, off the pace for most of game, gave winger far too much time and room, nowhere near ball in arial challenges.
Goodfellow (4.5)in right place at right time for goal, put in lovely left footed corners and made a few good forward runs BUT his inability to hold up the ball or tackle put us under all sorts of unneccessary pressure, especially in final 20 mins.
O'Leary (6.5) typical midfield destroyer performance, lots of tackling and hard work, wish he could support attack and use ball better.
Martinez (7) solid performance, did a lot of midfield tackling and sprayed the ball around at every opportunity, would like to see him in last third of field occasionally.
Forbes (7.5) destroyed Oxford down right with his pace, great workrate all over field as usual, WHY OH WHY can't he make his final ball more telling?
Nugent (8) we all know he's useless on the ground, but did sterling work as targetman last night, never stopped jumping for and winning headers, even managed to get mis-cued shot on target which led to goal.
Trundle (5) got into perfect scoring positions four times and failed to hit target on three, defender deflected away the other shot. Inexcusable for class striker. He's going through barren patch and needs to come out of it soon, becuase he's vital for our promotion ambitions.
Subs:
Connor (4) failed to get into game and hold ball up to relieve defence as he was put on to do, looks right out of sorts.
Anderson (7) did well at shoring up midfield, got some useful tackles in.

What a strange game! We were so dominant against the ten men after we scored, it was embarrassing, but failed to capitalise in a ten minute purple patch. Then Jackett, probably still smarting from the last two defeats, took off our strike force with 20 minutes to go and said "OK, let's have an attack and defence training exercise for the last 20, see if you can score against us".
Fortunately, we hung on by the skin of our teeth! When we had the chance to hit them on the break on three or four occasions, we always took the wrong option and squandered it.
Still, three points is three points, and I was ecstatic leaving the car park amongst the throngs of dejected Oxford fans after our ABYSMAL defeats there in the previous two seasons.
Great travelling support, by the way, and great vocal encouragement with very little negative chanting. Well done, boys. As to all the Oxford whingers moaning about the ref on Radio Oxford on the way home, get real! He was spot on with his decisions - if your defender pulls back a forward when he's clean through, it's a booking (his first card) and when he shoulder blocked Forbsey who had again pushed the ball past him and was leaving him for dead, there's only one option, second yellow and Goodnight Vienna.

I agree with Jim White and his summary.We should be shutting up shop when we have the killer second goal.
But we have to remember,the team have beeen low on confidence lately,and would understandably protect the lead.This win will go someway to restoring confidence.
Im very happy to take the three points when it looked like we were getting dragged into the play off places.
Well done Swans,6/10 can do better

Does anyone know if the scunny game is all ticket for swans fans ??

I'm working in m'boro on friday and am travelling down to scunny on sat morning.

I went to the game last night and took a friend who works for Reading FC. This account is based on our post match discussions and an account that he would give were he scouting for Reading.

Swansea played well for periods of the match; we looked better playing against 11 men than we did against 10. Goodfellow did not play well this evening, but he did score. He appeared lightweight and tended to shy from the tackle. We can't all be Kris O'Leary, but Goodfellow seemed off the pace and content to sit back when he lost the ball rather than put in the second challenge. I didn't see him at Stockport, so to lambaste the lad after 1 fixture seems a little unfair.

Trundle played OK, created space and had 4 chances. Was his substitution injury related?? It seemed that the Ref had done his homework on Lee and gave most of the benefit of the doubt to the defenders when Trunds fell over.

Ricketts was a rock. Gave us width and was tenacious in the tackle. In fact everything Goodfellow wasn't. We needed a 2nd Ricketts on the left wing. Definitely my MoM.

As for our tactics. We really used Nugent as the target man. He worked tirelessly and set up the goal with a bullet header. We will need to be more creative against better teams and use the flanks more. Forbes was quiet, and got kicked towards the end; Goodfellow I have put down enough!

Surprised at KJs decision to revert 4-5-1 against 10 men with 15 mins to go. It invited Oxford, who were poor, to push on. And whilst they never looked like scoring from a flowing move, you can never rule out a 25-yard pile driver, which is the area that we seemed content to play in.

As for the Reading FC view. He liked our defence, particularly Austin and Ricketts. When Forbes is in full flow, he may test the defence, but hoofing the ball up Nugent for him to knock-down will be swallowed by the reading Centre halves; as defence is their strongest area. (although you wouldn't think so after Saturday.) Should we beat Stockport, the 8th of Jan at Reading will be good day out, and achieving a draw would be great for us.

He also commented that Willie's hands were nearly as big as ex-Reading Stopper Shaka 'he's got hand's like dustbin lids' Hislop, and thought Willie made a match winning save when the score was 0-0.

So overall, a professional performance, if a little suspect with the 4-5-1 formation. That said, Oxford were poor and I assume KJ had taken the risk assessment that they were unlikely to score even if we'd played till midnight!! We won 1-0, away from home and took magnificent support. I am travelling down for the Stockport replay, and look forward to the Reading game, fingers crossed!!

PS Even the turnstile operator seemed resigned to how crap Oxford now are, when we bought our tickets. I asked him how much, he said £18.50. I said I want to watch the game, not play in it!! He just laughed, shrugged his shoulders, and said 'Tell me about it!!'

I agree with almost all of Jim White's post below and those who follow the same theme. Our lack of belief ends up making easy games difficult. With this mentality every game will be a hard one, the season will be long, and getting over the occasional setback will get harder and harder.
Last night we turned up determined not to lose. That is OK in itself and is exactly what has made this campaign a success so far.
But when opportunities present themselves as they did last night Kenny seems too hesitant, perhaps not self-confident enough, to grab them.
When they went down to ten and we scored immediately the game was transformed. They threw on subs to change their shape, charged forward leaving a three man back four. Well, you know what I mean!
It was obvious straight away that this would leave gaps but we did nothing to exploit the opportunity. Why not withdraw Nugent and give Connor 20 minutes against tiring legs supported by Trundle to set him loose? A second goal would have killed them off and we could have gone on to get more.
And then having missed that particular bus we decide to give them the ball for the last 10 by withdrawing Trunds and Connor and trying to busy up the midfield with Anderson.
So we ended up hanging on in a game that should have been well won. This was high wire stuff and very risky. We could so easily have lost at least two points last night because of this.
Of course we got all three, so as many have rightly said, that is what the record book and table will show.
But Champions usually can see off lesser teams, saving the big effort for the key games - like the one coming this Saturday. That said Scunny had an escape on Tuesday so maybe that evens it up.
Someone mentioned QPR. What happened there is that we went down, piled forward, and they throttled us for it.
We have to learn to do that.
Moan over. Well done lads. Good three points. Let's be up for it on Saturday.

Another win and another three points. Disappointed to see so many downhearted-sounding people on the guestbook this morning though.

Whilst I agree that this was not a vintage performance, this win did give further evidence of the current squad's ability to simply get the points.

How many games did we all see two years ago, when we played top-of-the-table teams off the park, only to lose by a single goal. Over the Christmas period 2002-03, we must have lost umpteen games by a single goal! How DEPRESSING was that?

Whilst I acknowledge that a more positive approach is often needed, I for one am just thrilled to bits that we didn't actually fall apart at the end this time and concede three stupid goals.

One point though. Jeremy in his match report states that Forbes was 'upended' by their no 5. Well, when we get to the POTY awards in May, can we have a 'lifetime contribution to drama' award for Forbes please? As I saw it, he put the ball past their defender, then jumped into his face! Fantastic!

More of the same please.

STiD

Re. Cyclops Muppetista

For God's sake - I want to hear everyone's opinions and not only the ones who say "we won 1-0 and we're 2nd so we must be great".

We seem to have a good squad but we're not gelling as we would like. Is it too much to ask in this Division ? Maybe it is but I'd still like to hear from everyone so please don't knock people for sharing their opinions especially those who see 90% of ALL Swans games.

Thanks to those who went and took the time to send in the info - much appreciated by the MAJORITY of us.

Re Chris from Aberdare one question were you at Oxford? Jim Whites posting was spot on I would have not given trundle or Nugent more than 4 though.

The worrying thing for me was Jacketts tactics 1 up against 10 men two forwards off one on and a midfielder against a very poor Oxford team we could have won the game by three goals if we had gone for the jugular instead hanging on again.

Still onwards and upwards see you all at Scunny

Chris, these are not the 'same old moan's at all'. They are the views of fans that will support the swans to the end and through thick and thin.

I am very happy that we won 3 points away from home. I will go to Scunthorpe on Sat and hope that we get 3 more. I will say the positives and i will highlight the negatives!! That's our job as a football fan!!

We will always love the team though Chris, don't lose sight of that!

It matters not one jot that we made a p/ss poor 10-man Oxford side look like AC Milan for the last 20 minutes because of some ludicrous, unnecessary and ill-thought substitutions because we would have lost this fixture last year....and...may I say....not in a shy way...yes more..much more than this..

THE JACKS ARE GOING UPWARDS...THE WHEEL IS IN MOTION AND THE HAZELNUT IS IN SIGHT...

Same old moans and groans, yet we have once again applied the pressure. Coming out of our stickiest patch so far this season and with the team nearing full strength, we've gone to tricky Oxford and won!!

As usual every game has its own little story and tonights had one also... "So we should have done this and we should have tried that and we were ridiculous to have gone with the other"... but that's all talk cos what we did get is the black type and that's 3 points and 2nd place in the league.

Better than last years 3-0 someone said. Now last seasons game here, in my opinion, we murdered them and a mad 10 mins saw us concede 3 and lose, that better??? Nooooo!!!

As if Oxford weren't going to apply pressure towards the end, they're struggling, they were home and they had nothing to lose. What about us, i ask you, on the other hand?

Whatever happened, Kenny got his boys on the coach with 3 points and will already be planning for Scunthorpe.

Go On Swansea !!!!!!!!

A good win tonight, though a very average performance against a poor Oxford team.

Couple of comments:

Thought Rickets was absolutely superb, 100% dependable. My MoM.

Guerney was dreadful - was beaten in the air most of the night and very slow to react to anything.

Goodfellow - Was pretty decent when he got the ball into feet and looks like he could be useful going forward, however I don't think he made a single challenge all evening let alone think about making a tackle. Looked like he was scared of getting hurt!

I thought KJ's decision to change the formation at the end was dreadful. Oxford were bearly a threat up until then and we just suddenly invited all this pressure upon ourselves. And if strengthening up the midfield/defence was his aim, then surely Goodfellow would have been the better option to be replaced and leaving 2 up front - especially against ten men.

Anyway, 3 points in the bag. Well done lads...

Jim White's reading of tonight's match is spot on. I back all his comments, other than in relation to Monk/Tate.

A victory tonight but both players and, in particular, manager must do better. Very frustrating match to watch. As bad in many ways as the QPR debacle earlier in the season. Whilst not looking for 11 Swans players to pile forward at every opportunity, we should have pressed much harder and beaten our rubbish opponents by 2 or 3. Why didn't we?

O'Leary and Martinez are playing way too deep and the only defender who gets forward is the excellent Ricketts. Forbesy had a good game and worked hard. But all too often when we should be up and at 'em we're not.

Defensively we're excellent but as Jim says Oxford might have nicked a draw.

Boys you really need to really improve on Saturday.

Rant over (I think this one of the few postings negative of the club's players/manager I have ever made)

Still, better than last season's 3-0 at Oxford!

Well, a victory which is the best thing that I can say about tonight. We are 2nd in the league and although Im not sure how, we are there.

We played ok tonight for large parts of the game and looked like we had come for the point and to maybe snatch a goal where we could. We did get the goal but I was thereafter very disappointed with the way in which we played. We looked to hold onto the league against a 10 man side that threatenend very little. If we had conceded a last minute goal to a 30 yard screamer then I believe we would have had ourselves to blame.

We had plenty of chances in the first and 2nd half to close the game off but we did not seem to want to hold onto the ball. It was as if we wanted oxford to come onto us and this was typified by Kenny's decision to go 4-5-1 for the last 15 mins.

I know that many might say that we won and that's all that counts. I would agree! However, we could have and should have closed off tonights game 3 or 4-0 and that we didnt is based on our defensive first mindset.

This is good, but we can and still might come unstuck against better teams. Talking to some Oxford fans at the end of the game and they thought that we were very avergage. I have to agree tonight. Anyway, some match ratings;

Gueret - 6 - Had very little to do all game barring one save in the 2nd half. Looked commanding and did what he needed to
Gurney - 6 - Did what he needed to. Had a nice header saved in the first half and made some good tackles in the 2nd.
Austin - 7 - Won everything that he needed to and was Mr Dependable yet again. Gave Bradbury (an ex prem striker!) nothing
Monk - 7 I thought that he played well and looked composed and strong. However, he should not have played in my view. Tate did not deserve to loose his place. He showed his class and relationship with Austin but I personally feel that after his sending off he should have been made to earn his place back not get it automatically
Ricketts - 8 - Best player for me on our side. Tackled well, worked hard up the flank, won every ball he needed to and showed that he was up for it tonight. Another great game for Sam
Tidybloke - 5 - I know that he scored but aside from one header, i thought that he was very poor tonight. This is a shame because I thought he played really well on sat. He did not look that interested tonight and i worry that he is way to lightweight for Div 3.
O'Leary - 7 - Was everywhere when he needed to. Made some good tackles and defensive headers. Had one nice volley in the first half
Martinez - 6.5 - It would have been 7 if he had studs in his boots. How many times did he slip over!!! Was better tonight with his tackling and was our fulcrum in the centre of the park. Could have set up Forbes for the 2nd goal in the final minute if only he had passed to the left and not the right!
Forbes - 7 Very hardworking, very solid, very committed, little threat when it mattered (for me anyway) I love forbesy to bits for his efforts but i wish that his brain would connect more with his feet sometimes.
Trundle - 5 - Very average tonight. Had 4 clear shots on goal and could not hit the target once. I think that his tricks got sussed tonight by a premiership (but very poor ref). He lacked effort when he needed and does not anticipate any flick ons at all
Nugent - 6 - Tried hard but is painfully slow and is clearly not the option up front. Wins the odd ball in the air but no-one gambles on these flick on's and so they are worthless.

Subs - connor and anderson were not on long enough for me to get a mark.

Overall - 5.5 - Average performance but 3 points. If we go to Scunny and get all 3 then who gives a monkeys! However, we will be more tested on Sat than we were tonight!!

Good night all! Jim

Checked the league table on Tuesday and it was completely wrong. I'm glad to see Dai's fixed it. Keep up the good work.

I am bored of mark arnold. Dont bother commenting on ticket prices when you only attend one home game a season!

:xmas: YYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH
SWANSEA DID IT! TO BEAT THE DIFFICULT
OXFORD AWAY! NOW THE SWANS ARE ON THE
WINNING TRACK! SO, NOW, SCUNTHORPE, WE
ARE READY FOR THE FIGHT! I FOLLOWED OXFORD-SWANSEA BY TEXT ON TELEVISION AND
I WAS SHOUTING BY HAPPINESS!! I WATCHED LIVERPOOL-OLYMPIAKOS ON SWEDISH TV(ZTV).
IT'S FUN THAT LIVERPOOL WON TOO. BUT MUCH MORE FUN THAT SWANSEA WON!!
WHISKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/VERY VERY VERY HAPPY PAT

I have uploaded two sets of stats.

To see the game stats from the Oxford game, go to:

Game Stats

To see a comparison of this season's results to date with the Championship season, the near-relegation season, and last season, go to:

stats page

Clash of Cardiff's major retail schemes
Dec 8 2004

Martin Shipton, Western Mail
 

WALES' biggest local authority could find itself on the receiving end of compensation claims totalling hundreds of millions of pounds if it allows changes in Cardiff City FC's plans to redevelop its Ninian Park stadium.

Cardiff County Council confirmed yesterday that it has received six separate applications from the football club to amend its proposals for a retail park next to a new stadium to be built opposite the existing ground.

But the suggested alterations have angered developers behind two other major retail schemes in the city. They fear that a beefed-up Cardiff City project could damage their own developments.

Tomorrow, Land Securities, whose £315m St David's 2 city centre redevelopment scheme is due to be completed by 2008, and Bride Hall, the developer of Cardiff's £700m sports village, are due to meet council officials to discuss their concerns.

A Cardiff County Council spokeswoman confirmed that next week, three of the six amendments proposed by the football club are likely to be discussed by the planning committee. The council is due to disclose on Friday whether officers will be recommending acceptance of the changes.

The alterations would involve changes of use in the proposed retail park next to the new stadium. The biggest change would involve permission for a 135,000sq ft "warehouse club" goods discount store. Other new proposals involve clothing and sports outlets.

Cardiff City FC chairman Sam Hammam is understood to be anxious that the proposed changes should be approved to give his scheme a greater chance of proceeding successfully.

He engaged in a strong lobbying campaign to secure support for the original application, even issuing a letter to club supporters urging them to support then council leader Russell Goodway before the local government elections in June.

The scheme was finally approved after the elections, when the Liberal Democrats became the biggest party on the council.

The redevelopment of the stadium, with the associated retail project, has been seen as key to the future success of the club. This season its drive for promotion to the Premiership has faltered following the sale of star scorer Robert Earnshaw to West Bromwich Albion, with the club currently hovering around the relegation zone. Supporters are keener than ever for the redevelopment project to succeed.

A well-placed property industry source told us, "The developers of St David's 2 and the Sports Village are concerned that their projects will be compromised if the scope of the Cardiff City scheme increases. They will be putting their position forcefully to senior council officials on Thursday, warning that legal action is a serious option if the council allows the club to change its plans. It is also possible that other developers who have had their own schemes turned down could seek compensation.

"The whole situation is getting very messy. Obviously the council wants to help the football club succeed in its scheme, but in doing so it could open itself up to expensive litigation."

A council spokeswoman said it was not possible to disclose the officers' recommendations on the proposed alterations before Friday. The planning committee is expected to consider three of the proposed changes next Wednesday.

Well said Dai Patriot!
The Swans have just beaten Oxford
Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
We're back to second place Yesssssssss!
S.T.I.D.

Team Ground Cap Agg High Low Avg Avg A/C
Swansea Vetch Field 10,402 135,594 10,743 3,357 5,895 57%

Season Ticket Sale !

Due to the recent increase in capacity on the North Bank, the club are now in a position to offer season tickets for this area of the ground at vastly reduced prices for the remainder of the season.

From Saturday 4th December, Adult season tickets for the North Bank can be purchased for £132 and concessionary season tickets for £72. The concessionary tickets cover OAP, children, students and the disabled. This is a way of guaranteeing admittance to the last league game at the Vetch!

These season tickets are priced at the equivalent of 12 fixtures. As there are 13 home league games remaining, this not only represents a saving on admission, but also ensures entry for the final three games.

The tickets are available for the North Bank ONLY and are of a limited number. These are available on a first come first served basis from the ticket office in William Street - an ideal Christmas present!

These tickets will be valid from the Notts County fixture on 18th December onwards.

Tickets prices, ticket prices I am bored with this topic. We have rumbled on and on for days, lets get back to this season as we still need to play some rather important games with a view to getting promotion.

Stop being boring ! talk about players, tatics, who's talked to whom, football strips and sponsors anything than boring ticket prices.

FAO Ken Richards.
re:Nico Schroder.
thank you Ken for clearing up who Nico Schroeder was. I was sorry to hear of his death. I must say I cannot remember him playing but as you say he only played a couple of games. Quite unusual to have a foreign player(Belgian) in 1975.Would that make him the Swans first foreign import?

In reply to Mark Arnold, I think that the Club might actually not be much from behind the scenes sales (food, drink etc) so maybe there's a necessity to add more to the entrance ticket.

I might be completely wrong there so would like to hear from someone who knows better. I remember a mate telling me that when he took over as Commercial Director of Everton, the Club were charging a massive.....wait for it £50 per week to the burger stalls right through ground. There were about 50 in total and when they began negotiating, the burger vans immediately offered £1,000 each !!!!! Amazing.

Btw - I really hope the Club get the ticket prices right again. Many things contributed to us staying up a couple of years ago and reducing prices to generate bigger gates was one of them. I think we should trust them on this and it's good to know Leigh Dineen has discussed our concerns but ultimately, a couple of quid on concessions could cost the Club a huge amound of fans.

Just my two rubles worth.

Just a few words before hitting the trail to Oxford.
On subject of website get-together on 18th, hope some will be in Builders BEFORE the game too, as many ex-pats like me will have to hit the long road back home after the match.
I've made my first visit to the 'new' club shop and have to say that while it's not exactly Harrods sur Tawe, it's a step up from the old premises. Had to laugh at the staff, though, they did nothing but moan for the whole time I was in there, along the lines of "yes, it's always this busy on a match day".

Bought a very good quality black rugby shirt there with white embroidered Swans logo for £25.00. I will be modelling it at the Oxford game tonight, especially for any ladies who want to swap shirts with me.

adding to the ticket price debate...

we must not forget there is a certain 'silent' director on the board who has a wealth of experience in dealing with pricing 'leisure' tickets, so at least we have a professional who SHOULD know what he is doing when preparing the policy.

Secondly, I agree with the "lower" price policy, which would encourage a FULL stadium. A full stadium should inevitable result in more people buying drinks/food/programmes/merch etc. Thus, as long as the Swans have some control/revenue share from these activities on match day, then a lower price policy should provide extra revenue than a more expensive/aggressive one.

I agree that the board have done a sterling job regarding ticket price. But the club published proposed charges on its website. We as fans need to let the club know what we think BEFORE the prices are being pasted above the turn styles.
With regard to season tickets - I sincerely hope we do the right thing - but am a little sceptical when people are quoting £299 for a bog standard seat.
As a post from Gary showed yesterday, big admission charges are not the only way of raising big money. I think it is our duty as fans to point that out.

I've been reading the debate on the season tickets and checked the club statement to see what it said. Firstly season ticket prices are yet to be decided. Secondly ' indications' are that concessions will be set at £10 for most areas. 'Most areas' which means to me that there are probably going to be areas where they are perhaps LESS. Before we all jump around criticising perhaps we should wait to see what the board decide. I am sure that the trust director is actively involved and i'm sure he will be trying to get the best deal for the supporter. After all haven't the board got the ticketing prices right so far? They have said that season ticket prices are not available yet and i for one have faith in them to deliver a fair price that also balances the need to strengthen the squad and not get oursleves in financial do da again. Why are we all wasting our valuable time ifing and butting - relax people and wait and see

Just to briefly pick up on several recent postings.

Ticket Pricing
Leigh as our representative at the Club has been quite heavily involved with the proposed ticket pricing. The Trust Board HAS expressed our views to him which he has in turn relayed them to the Club. I would like to re-assure you that all the wide ranging points that people have already raised on this site were also raised by us to Leigh to take back to the Club. Come the end of the day The Club has made the decision about ticket pricing and IS AWARE of OUR concerns. Whether they fall upon their own sword... time will tell, but it wont be through a lack of making them aware how sharp the sword is. (Food for thought, I wonder what the ticket pricing would have been if we didn't have a Trust represetative on the board?)

As far as Nicks comments concerning "..people are asking questions" hopefully the next Newsletter will go some way in answering this. (Not all the way, but it is a start) Hope you paid your Membership fees Nick otherwise you won't be getting a Newsletter.

Depending upon the printers and postman Pat Trust members should be receiving their Newsletter this side of Christmas.

Ron

Just some final thoughts as I listen to my last relaxation tape before setting off for Oxford.
1. Can the Archbishop recommend a decent pub near the ground for tonight?
2. Kappa are in their last season of being Spurs kit sponsor. Do they fancy sewing a few different badges onto the surplus white shirts?
3. Not many opinions on here about whether Tate or Monk should play tonight. Too difficult a question?

Last post today before going off to Oxford a couple of things:

Firstly presumably the trust members on the board had a say in the prices? If so shouldn't we be letting them know what we think of a decision they clearly played a part in. Perhaps they could state their reaons on this site after all isn't their job to represent us

Secondly the club shop is as previously pointed out like a market stall we desperately need to drop Bergoni and get on board a maninstream kit supplier Nike Reebok Diadora etc.. This again seems a common theme and another action for our board members. The additional revenue this would raise may help keep the ticket prices down

Lets hope they are working on these as they don't appear to be doing much else at the moment.

Dai et al,

Good thread started here but, as I always ask, is why weren't/aren't the Trust speaking much about this.

I don't mean Huw and Ron as we always know the score BUT it seems that people are asking questions - should the Trust be asking them too and then answering to the Trust Members !?!?!?

Surely the Trust was set up for this sort of scenario or is their work exclusively chasing thieving cockney wideboys out of town?

An official comment, even if it's only on this guestbook would be a start - after all, probably about 2000 people will read this page today.

Gareth Phillips wrote:-
"have the board given any thought to a scheme to keep exiled fans on board? The current twelve voucher scheme is good value for those of us who get down to around half the home games, but presumably will be impractical at White Rock. "

hmmmm

How about if season tickets purchased before 1st July are priced at a level not very different to the present. Yes, I know there's an upgrade to facilities, but this would be a great incentive for regular fans to renew/buy. On the back of a promotion season and with the new season euphoria we could massively increase the current level of season ticket holders.

The remaining games could then be priced very much on a supply and demand basis. If crowds are good then a big game could be priced toward the top end of our bracket. If the stadium is half empty every week then it makes sense to have lower prices.

This would surely satisfy season ticket holders as to "value for money" whilst giving us the flexibility to have a "Target 10,000" or "Target 15,000" style campaign.

In any event, we should look to have a series of imaginative offers to try to pull in and win over new fans. In particular a pro-active campaign to get kids in is surely a must, not an option. To have people who are interested and want to come along priced out whilst there are rows of empty seats would be a nonsense.

On a slightly different point, have the board given any thought to a scheme to keep exiled fans on board? The current twelve voucher scheme is good value for those of us who get down to around half the home games, but presumably will be impractical at White Rock.

On the subject of a crap official website how about our club shop and merchandise.

Are our Commercial department on drugs, most of the stuff looks as if its of a market stall. This seasons shirts aren't as good as last year and really there is nothing worth buying. I have been after a swans sweatshirt/training top for ages the last good ones we had were the new balance ones. Please can the club get a decent kint manufacturer i.e. Adidas, Puma, Nike, New Balance, admiral even. The Trundle I love DVDS T-shirts were original more of the same please.

At this time of Advent, may I begin with a prayer for 3 points for the Swans tonight. I shall be at Oxford tonight hoping to see great things.

An exiles reunion sounds like a wonderful idea, though I hear that some of the exiles knock back pints of London Pride Ale at rather an alarming pace.

Will SwanseaGirl be there? So good finally to see her using the board to communicate to trust members.

see you fri swansea lass

Just looked at the Oxford official site, and it makes ours look amateurish. They have an excellent review of tonight's game.

Who looks after our official site? Do they ever write more than a paragraph? Ours should be full of info about the new stadium, things to expect, more interviews etc. I am getting a sense of deja vu here...

Nick,

I think it would have sent out a message to the fans if we had offered the lowest price season tickets a similar level to last year.

Some other price led initiatives to fill the stadium up also would not go amiss.

I do honestly hope I'm wrong, and we play in from of a packed stadium every week - but seeing the proposed pricing structure, I fear the worst!

Dai,

What would you suggest our season ticket prices would be ?

Rgds,

Nick

dear ken as i am going to oxford tonight i will not be going to scunny sat.so i will be out fri night my name is susan,i will be wearing a fur coat and xmas tree earings with tinsile around my head.:xmas:i've also got father xmas knickers.my ideal man would be father xmas he only cums once a year but when he does he fills my stockings!what will you be wearing so i can pull a cracker with you.can't wait till fri.who are we ?JACKARMY

Don't disagree Nick, Maybe they are too expensive.

Hulls South stand prices are
£14 Adults
£7 Kids
£9 Other Concessions Student/OAP



Incidently, I posted yesterday they had Adult season tickets for £195 and a 1 adult 1 child deal at £315.

Huw, As for the £13 (if that is what it proves to be if we are promoted).

I’m not as annoyed by it as the kids price but I am distinctly under whelmed. On the face of it, it is a small enough increase and we should retain most of our existing pay on the day support BUT the price will do little to attract any new support. That for me is the real issue with the whole debate.