All,
From 1st September I will be taking over responsibility for SCFC and trying as best as I can to do as much as Dai has over the last 8 years. I can assure everyone that things will stay the same with the site being updated daily with Papertalk and after games with Match Reports. I am also hoping to ensure that Predictascore carries on as well as other favourites like Caption Competitions.
I would like to get from users any ideas, suggestions on what the site could do as new thoughts and features are always good to include. Please Email the Site with any suggestions you have. I will look to collate all of the suggestions together then and maybe get you all to vote on new ones to introduce! The site T's and C's will stay the same and so please ensure your taking note of these still!
So, lets look forward to the next 8 months and please let me have your suggestions.
Thanks,
Jim

Rob
I'm sure I could see an A in front Helen's tattoo.

Dark horse that Ascot geezer

LOL no wonder SS is always smiling, yer


[www.newsoftheworld.co.uk]

hey Ascot thats cool, we will have to invite Vera to come along too yer

well done Rob Banx. Pint when we meet up.

Vera, you'll have to join us to get the gossip

Glad you had a good night Ascot.
Did you lot sign any new players?

Brownie - dont do it mate.... unless of course she's a good welsh girl .

Crabalocker fishwifes

is referenced from "the Beatles, I am the walrus, innit

My wallet survived, despite Pete tasting beer for the first time and realising how much he l ikes it, and Brownie looking forward to his up-comoing nuptuals. While we watch the mighty Swans thrash Leeds, he'll be tying the knot. While we travel home, Brownie will be heading off on his honeymoon. Brownie, mate, when the big moment comes just lay back and think of Trundle

Thanks also to Mark and Chris for making it our biggest night yet, with five Jacks putting the world to righjts and gossipping like crabalocker fishwives (a prize for the fiirst to cite the reference for that!). Did you know Swans had £10m to spend at the end of last season? If you'd come along you could have helped us spend it - we had a great night.

Next get-together will be before the game at Watford. Venue to be agreed - watch this space. hic!

Re: PTJackInExile

BRAVO!! BRAVO!! Well written Sire!

Apologies, but I noticed an error in my previous post and wish neither to compound confusion upon my fellow Jacks, nor to be left open to a torrent of abuse from the negativity brigade.

"Now, given we have 4 spaces left in a 25 man squad, with 2 of our known targets (Lansbury, Nouble) being under 21, we would still have 2 spaces left should we sign both. Sign Kemy and it leaves another 1 space."

What I meant to say here was that even if we signed Lansbury and Nouble, we would still have 4 spaces left in our squad to sign more players, with 3 spaces left if Kemy comes in. That would leave 3 spaces for those apparently elusive strikers/defenders a lot of fans are apparently desperate for.

As manager of Chelsea Reserves, Rodgers must have had a good old look at what players are the cream of the crop out of the Premier Reserve teams, and is perfectly positioned to pick out a gem or two from clubs that currently don't appreciate their talent enough to include them in their squad of 25. This not only blows the Luke Moore theory (being an attractive name out of those left out) out of the water, but opens up a whole plethora of opportunity to pick up quality on the cheap.

Ascot Jack - The sentiment is greatly appreciated, and a nice pint of black & white would have gone down well today! Alas, I reside in Wurzel country for my sins! Hope its a good meet though, full of constructive optimism. I feel sorry for your wallet however!

PtJackinExile

Good post but one thing I disagree on is Rangel and Pratley not jumping ship therefore being committed to the cause and wanting to stay.

Rangel was desperate to Leave for both Fulham and Blackpool and if a fee could have been agreed he would have gone on both occasions.

Pratley came out and said he does not want to discuss a new contract, he is banking on a big signing on fee when he leaves for the highest bidder next season on a bosman just like Leon did.

So lets not kid ourselves on there reasons for still being at the club.

Its not out of love for the club thats for sure.

4 squad places left with Nouble and Lansbury u21's which wouldn't count to that number.

Only Kemy is likely to impact that count, and our good friend the Congo goalkeeper we've got on trial too.

PTjackinexile

One of the best posts i have read on here for a while. Excellent article , agree with everything you say, i,m sure next week we will have a striker if not 2. There are four places up for grabs, 2 strikers, Augustien and Lansbury.Would Nouble and Lansbury count because they are under 21, can anyone tell me.

Good on you PTinExile (though difficult to read on my phone, that's not your fault!)

If you happen to be in exile in London a pile of us are heading for the Lamb & Flag right now and I'll be glad to get a pint in for everyone who's coming.

So, with another transfer window come and gone, it has taken no longer than 48 hours for SWEP, the clubs ever-adoring, optimistic sponsors to question as to whether a 'quiet deadline day' will 'cost Swansea in the long term'. Whoever wrote that non-article, here is your answer - print this tomorrow... NO! What is the reason for such confidence I hear your internal dialogue scream... let's walk you through it shall we...

The transfer window is not 24 hours long. Most sensible, stable clubs only looking to change on-field personnel will identify targets throughout the summer, and work towards securing names on their shortlist. The Swans, despite another summer of upheaval, HAVE done this despite SWEP's ignorance. Neil Taylor, Scott Donnelly anyone? You can throw in Kemy Augustien on this list too, despite it not being official yet.

Now, those Jacks fortunate to have seen the apparently barrell chested, stout looking latter during pre-season (I have not) have generally displayed excitement about his enthusiasm for long range shooting and his liking for the opponents box. He has yet to feature in a Rodger's squad as far as I am aware, so this goes some way to explaining the strength in depth we already have at the club.

Also, had Pratley and Rangel been absolutely adamant that they wanted to leave, well, lets face it, they would have done. Players have the power at this moment in time, and if they really want to jump ship they will. Neither have. What does this tell you? Not a lot, other than they are not desperate to leave, and thus we should trust in their commitment to our cause. After all, such trust may well change their minds entirely, and whilst players do on the whole play for their pay packets/bonuses, they will in part raise their game for an adoring crowd also.

BUT WE ARE SHORT AT THE BACK, WE NEED COVER I hear you cry! We do? Really? Monk, Williams, Rangel, Tate, Taylor, Richards, Serran, Grimes. Only 4 can play at any one time in our system, meaning we have 4 players in the stands waiting to prove themselves. Monk has a dodgy back, yes, but Tatey was on the whole superb at centre back last season and Taylor I feel is good enough to slot in on the left and will get better with every game (though needs help defensively at present). Richards has proven time and again he has what it takes to make it at this level and has given a good account of himself wherever he has played. I have no doubt he will do the same again this season. So, our defensive cover looks like this:

Monk, Williams, Tate, Serran, Grimes (CB), Taylor, Tate, Richards (LB), Rangel, Richards, Tate, Serran (RB). More than adequate cover there at present, with only Serran (ability) and Grimes (inexperience) being ones that fill me with any doubt. But please remember, even Serran has had good runs in the team, he is just off-form this start of season - its football, it happens.

WE NEED A STRIKER OR GOING NOWHERE you may plead. I would argue we would like a striker, and will get at least one from the loan market (a very, very good one if we snare Mark Nouble I am excited to declare). With our undoubted strength in the middle of the park, and Kemy potentially adding to that, we can afford to push Prately/Allen up in behind Dobbie if we lose Cotterill or if he is needed to cover on the wings (though we have adequate cover there already).

"WHAT IF DOBBIE GETS INJURED YOU PLONKER!" 2 word answer - Scott Sinclair. This boy LOVES scoring goals, LOVES taking players on out wide AND in the middle, he has played up front for Chelsea Reserves and would relish being the man to twist and turn his way into the box, or to run onto through balls, or to turn/jinx past his man in the Championship and get himself high on the top scorers charts. We have signed a real gem in this boy and the club should be applauded in literally mugging Chelsea for him!

Now, given we have 4 spaces left in a 25 man squad, with 2 of our known targets (Lansbury, Nouble) being under 21, we would still have 2 spaces left should we sign both. Sign Kemy and it leaves another 1 space.

Now, SWEP seem to suggest that we ought to worry about struggling because we haven't splashed out. Look at it this way: Assume we sign Augustien, Lansbury, Nouble and 1 other, in addition to having signed Donnelly and Taylor already. That's potentially 6 players signed, at minimal cost, and not one of them has thus far had any detractors at this level (admittedly for various reasons).

Man City have overhauled their squad, spent £100m+ on countless players, and look disjointed and worse than last season for it.

WHAT IF WE DON'T SIGN THOSE PLAYERS? Well, this depends on how you feel about Rodgers I suppose. Thus far I have found him to come across as knowledgable, enthusiastic, astute and with superior contacts than anyone at the club in the last 10-15 years - the calbire of players we are being linked with speak for themselves. If the Lansbury's and Nouble's don't come in, others will, make no mistake about that.

So, SWEP, should we be worried that our quiet deadline day will cost us in the long term? Truthfully, the ONLY thing that worries me about our club at present is the fact that one of its main sponsors insists on continually printing sensationalist bile intended to sell papers and wind up the boo boys into a frenzy.

Support the club or take your toilet rag elsewhere. By all means be critical/negative when something potentially negative ACTUALLY HAPPENS i.e., is FACT. Keep your spuriosity to yourselves so we can enjoy SUPPORTING our club through good and bad.

Rant over. Bring on Leeds. STID.

doh. already answered i think.

Those 4 slots Ascot Jack, do Lansbury, Nouble count as they are under 21? Same for Taylor, Allen, Sinclair. So in reality, there many more than 4 slots left.

re 32115) Tony S

I just knew some smart arse would try and have the last word.

Re: 32102) Dafydd y Garreg Wen wrote, "Had Trundle played more we'd definitely have made the play-offs - in fact I think we'd have gone up automatically."

It's at least as hard to predict the past as it is to predict the future!

32113) John

Absolutely right, John, good spot

As most of the loan targets are Under 21 (e.g. Lansbury and Nouble) they wont count towards the 25. Therefore he reasonably thought no harm in putting Morgan and MacDonald on the list

you have to wonder why Buck doesn't look at the likes of Rosinior who is still, apparently, free as defensive cover.

Ideally we need either a centre back or a full back (or another tate!), with Tate covering the alternative position.

Reading seem to have the right idea though - lee Hendrie (currently training with them) and Ian Harte (free transfer). Mind you, the goals they sold in gylfi going to Germany for 6 odd million.. how that affects them i don't know.

Are Emergency Loans allowed outside of the 25?

Ascot

Yes if we were to sign 2 strikers Lansbury and Kemy that would leave no spaces for a defender if needed.

Will the Lansbury deal happen now not sure myself I have a feeling he was being lined up to replace Pratley.

Or could be Lansbury Kemy 1 striker and a defender possibly go back in for Reynolds from Motherwell.

Time will tell

"4 slots, one for Kemy, so still 3 possibilities of loanees to come."

That'll be Lansbury and 2 strikers, then, according to what we konw Buck has been trying to do. If we need cover in the back four it would make sense to leave one of those squad spots free, don't you think?

ROW, you're right that we need to give it ten games before drawing any conclusions, but at this early stage, having seen three league games live and the other one on the internet, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Defensively we look OK, but we are a bit thin on cover. In midfield we have an embarrassment of riches, and this will only increase if we sign Kemy Agustein and get Lansbury on loan.

We look very exciting going forward with the pace we have on the flanks, but what we really need to boost our challenge is a proven goal scorer. We are creating chances but not converting enough of them. Not sure Nouble is the answer. Kuqi definitely isn;t; perhaps Beattie will surprise us all and stay injury free
when he returns, but I'm not counting on it.

As for the opponents so far, I'd say Hull are lower mid table, Preston are potential relegation strugglers, Norwich lower mid, Burnley play off contenders.

Really looking forward to going up to Leeds and seeing if we can come away with at least a point in that hostile atmosphere; that's what we need to be able to do if we want to be serious contenders this year.

Squad list makes sense.. bodde and Butler are long term injuries not expected back till January when the window and squad list reopens..

Morgan and Macdonald are only on short term loans anyway, and they had to be named in the squad if we were going to play them in the future as both are over 21.

4 slots, one for Kemy, so still 3 possibilities of loanees to come.

25 man squad has been named with no Bodde or Butler.

21 players have been named so there are 4 places available for loan players.

Also Morgan & Shaun Mac included so i presume they can be recalled at short notice

Delay making the first judgment of a season until ten games are played, they say.

And the definition of real success cannot be too far away from 20 points, an average of two a game, which would be 92 over a season.

That looks a distant hope given we have lost two of the first four.

But to achieve it we would need to win our home games against Cov, Scunny and Derby, hold on for two draws and sneak a win from away games at Leeds, Forest and Watford.

Improbable but not impossible.

Its a strange thing to look at the table and see which of those teams are above us and which below.

One game at a time please Brendan. Leave the speculation and target setting to us.

moonpig,

in response to your post, i think verajack covered most of the points well.

Trundle was a legend. In the past. Some fans can't accept he's gone. End of.

Over the last 14 years of this guestbook there have been countless times when i've read the immortal words: "we should resign him... becuase he's a jack!"

I'm not dissing him for his past.. i just dont believe he's got a long term future for us - look at Leon and Pratley... two stalwarts of the sides for many years... i don't see many calls for Britton to come back now that Gower has slotted in... and i'm sure Pratley will be the same.

Re: Transfer Activity

There's obviously been a lot of interest in the comings and goings in the period leading up to the close of the transfer window.

I took at look at the August transfers data from Soccernet, as it relates to Championship sides.

There were 119 transfers listed, of which 31 involved a fee, most often not disclosed. That's 26% paid transfers, of the balance, 62 (52%) were Loans and 22% were Frees.

Of those paid transfers, only 21 of them involved a Championship side buying a player, 18%.

An average of just under one purchased player per Championship side.

Does anyone else get the impression that the majority of clubs are being very cautious in terms of what they spend !!

About half the sides didn't spend a penny on transfers in the month.

Crystal Palace, Leicester and our friends down the road were the most active with inbound players.

Had Trundle played more we'd definitely have made the play-offs - in fact I think we'd have gone up automatically. But what's gone is gone.

On which note, I'd like to add my appreciation to those before for all Dai's work over the years. It's gone largely unnoticed by most of us, although I hope the club are making some small gesture.

I particularly liked Dai's "salute" to us all shown in a 'photo on the back page of the Trust's recent Newsletter. Made me chuckle. I thought at first he was waving his fist at somebody on here!

Would we have made the play-offs last season if Trundle was given more playing time?

Super Swans

Would we have made to play-offs last season if Trundle was given more playing time?

Would we have made the play-offs last season if Dobbie stayed with us?

Would we have been even close to the play-offs last season without Mr.Sousa at the helm?

I think fair answers (a matter of my own opinion) would be:

Maybe,
Yes and
Probably not.

'tis a funny ol' game.

Super Swans

Exactly my sentiments Vera. Good post.

Moonpig
There is no doubt that Trundle is, and always will be a legend at Swansea City.

So you won't hear me or other genuine fans, that had the pleasure of actually watching him play, disrespect him.

The sad thing is that many of his fans can not accept that his career at this level are over.

Sad but true, so when people come on the guest book and claim that he is still good enough to play for us - this does start the old debate off again, and some of the reponses can be a bit disrespectful.

I'm not going to give my reasons why we shouldn't/should have signed him back from Bristol, as my opinion may or may not offend a ledgend of ours.

So lets all cherish our fond memories of Trundle. And please no more calls for him to return as a player ... this only provokes people to take cheap shots at him, and the posters of such messages.

To all...I respectfully sugest that - if you have nothing good to say about him.... say nowt

Moonpig

I see it as a reaction to people who constantly wanted Trunds back in the Swans team and saw him as forever being the answer to every problem we have. Like you I am chuffed I got to enjoy Trunds' performances for us in L1. But I prefer to remember him like that, and not the guy who started to go around in circles before usually losing the ball to the smarter defences he faced, as we improved and he slowed down.

Be realistic and remember him at his best.

Maybe Huw Jenkins is in a catch 22 situation. if he spends say 800,000 + on a player he needs to guarantee that player will add at 1,500 new supporters a week. If that doesn't happen the swans are down financially. It makes no sense to pay large amounts of money for a player unless he improves the team and brings in new supporters to cover the outlay. Swans supporters sometimes stay away, even when we're playing brilliant football. Under the circumstances I would only go for loan players, as they can be returned if they don't work out, and only cost while they're on loan to us. Just an honest opinion.

Jeff Reading, why do you and others have to take a dig at Trundle?

He may not be up to it for us now but I am so glad that I saw him play for the Swans on many occasions.

I will never forget the skills and goals that he brought to us.

So the failure to loan Caceido from Man City is an "exclusive" non newsworthy item in the Evening Post. Will the next one be when Lansbury turns out for Leeds against us next week?

LONDON JACKS

Tonight's the night, as Brownie reminds us, for any Swans supporters in London to get together at 7.00pm in the Lamb & Flag in Covent Garden

[www.beerintheevening.com]

Join Brownie, Mark, Pete, Chris and me, and hopefully a couple more who haven't been before. All welcome for the LIVE version of all that's best in this Guestbook.

And the first round is on me. Hope to see you later

come on he could have said he put a bid in for Ronaldo it sells papers and keeps the interest going.Tell us when he signed a player then its good news

Amazing news in the EP that we were on the brink of signing Felipe Caicedo from Man City.

What a coup that would have been.

At least it shows that Rodgers has good connections and is looking for some real talent to improve our squad.

Let's hope he gets the luck he deserves.

at the moment as last season the guest book is full of sunshine, good to see!

however i for one thought that Sousa started the season with a plan A,B and C (i was so wrong) now everyone on here is so optimistic about buck, thats great!

But, i feel he is only looking at the british market, Roerto got some great foreign players on the cheap, as he has done with wigan again! im so glad to see the adventure in our play and maybe with the new rules sactioned by the league Buck is the best man to get us to the promised land.

however, i do feel a scouting network needs to go further than teenagers at prem clubs! discuss

Trundle, again...
Saw him play at Haverfordwest last Friday, in Neath's 3-0 win. First goal to Chris O'Leary, next two to Mr LT.
Lee was tidy, if a bit selfish, should have scored in the first half, could have laid one on too, but took his late goals well.
Yes, he would score for Swans as a sub. Yes, he gives you a different option. Yes, I'd play him before Shefti and Gorka.
Best player on the field on Friday night? For me: Matty Collins.
Did we miss something there?
I think he needs someone to believe in him.

lookin forward to seein all the retrabates, ie london jacks in the lamb and flag tomorrow night.jeff, id love it if you could come along would love to talk footy with you i think youd be great company. i remember linton browns first home goal he scored against lincoln on a cold tuesday night.he looked like a world beater that night, sadly it went down hill from there on.anyway lookin forward to seein the lads and pete get the beers in

Edward,

As was previously pointed out by chatz, thank god Buck doesn't follow the advice on here.

Trundle? *insert any expletive here* The sooner he retires from football the better so we don't have to put up with this rubbish year after year.

Lets be blunt if we want a quality striker we have to pay.I fully appreciate that Moores' name is at this moment in time a "forum" name,but funnier things have happened in football,I am being serious when I say I would rather Lee Trundle back than Moore.

Luke Moore cropped up in discussion because he is one of the most high-profile players that missed out on a 25 man squad, and could be of interest to us. All the others are crocked.

Edward; I wouldn't worry too much. These are the ramblings of all us closet managers..don't think Buck takes advice off the GB

Just looking at the GB after work and froze with horror when seeing the name of Luke Moore as a possible loan signing,if you think Beattie is bad this guy makes him look like Shearer.Close relations of mine come from Aston, huge Villa fans and were pleased as punch when he was shown the out door at Villa and were even more pleased when WBA paid Villa money for him.His goal per game record is worse than Beattie 0.15 and in no way should we be wasting one penny on him.If Luke Moore turns out to be the sum of our ambition then all I can say is that we have none.