Mr Pessimism

Welcome to the latest ramblings of Mr P. As I write this, I have just read Clive, Gareth, and David’s view of the match last night and it sounds like we’re back to ways of old. When will we ever be consistent? The last time we were consistent was during the championship season. We were consistently awful but nicking a one goal lead and hanging on for dear life for roughly 85 minutes. I was unable to listen on Paltalk due to me working until late to rectify an issue that arose in work. It was hell but, from this report, I think I got the better deal.

A survey was taken amongst Swans fans in the last week and it’s categorically proven that 8 out of 10 supporters think that the Mr Pessimism column is better than nothing. I can only say that I’m truly flattered and I’ll keep this going as long as there’s a demand for it.

Well, in the last week, we’ve seen the arrival or a certain Mr Katzan, who has been lacking in presence since the takeover. I was hoping that now we have all the people required to get a first meeting of the board arranged, that we’d start seeing some news and action from the vetch. Unfortunately, this has yet to materialise. All I’ve seen from the official site and newspaper cuttings are the bare bones of nothing. I’m disappointed as during the Petty regime, we got a lot of press announcements but they were always taken with a pinch of salt since we knew the source of the info was more at home with untruths than with fact.

Still no news about the transfer ban, yet I don’t feel this is as pressing an issue as it was a couple of weeks ago. With a few wins and draws under our belt, safety is practically guaranteed this season. We can build during the summer but I urge management (whoever they may be) to not do a John Hollins and bull$hit us. If there’s no cash, say there’s no cash. Maybe we’ll get some investor in to help or a surge in the home gates finally!

I’m shocked at the number of people talking of hitting the play offs though. A truly dire squad lost 2-0 at home to Halifax in September and the same squad is now being tipped as play off material by some? Naaaah, a reality check is needed and I guess it’s Mr P who has to state it categorically. We’ll not make the play offs this season. Even in the unlikly event that we do, we’ll not make the final. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re not good enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Swans dearly but I have to be realistic. If you had a child who was thicker than Sam Hamman’s waistline, you couldn’t expect them to become the next nobel prize winner. I don’t make any distinction between that and the Swans. I’d love to be proved wrong though.

There are a number of stories being touted about being facts or whatever regarding the current management team. Whatever happens to be true, misheard by a usually reliable source, or an outright lie, I’d like to say that I support the current management regime. Their only faults at the moment are they’re forced to work with a squad that has been abused by John Hollins for the last few years and have hardly been able to strengthen the woeful inadequacies in the squad that Mr Hollins left. They also have no money to make any replacements right now, and even if they did, they have a transfer ban until debts are paid by the club so they haven’t really had an opportunity to make any team strengthening. We badly lack any creativity, firepower, midfield general and experience at the back. Ok, Smith is injured but he’s only one player.

Anyway, back to the point. Some of the named bandied around are most unagreeable. Andy Legg as player-manager? No way! John Cornforth? He has Swansea at heart but I feel he needs a couple more seasons to earn his management spurs. His work with Exeter has been great but he needs time to mature before I feel we start thinking of poaching him as a manager. Coach, maybe, but not a manager. Dean Saunders? I’d possibly like to see him come in as an assistant if he came in, groomed to replace Colin Addison. Then again, what’s wrong with Peter Nicholas? I don’t think he’s been so bad.

Anyway, I’ll bring this page to a close. Same time, next week!