Promotion Straightforward – What a load of Tosh!

With recent results having been disappointing, hopes of claiming an automatic promotion spot seem to have receded as far as the sea in Swansea Bay at low tide. If not exactly sharpening knives, some critics of Brian Flynn have cast away their sheaths and picked up the stone. If the issue of tactics is something …

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A Child’s Christmas with Herbie

Christmas in South West Wales in my early ‘teens will always be remembered for certain things. The anticipation of the build up, the excitement of opening presents early on Christmas morning, the orgy of consumption in the afternoon, accompanied by the growing desire to escape the claustrophobia of family and call on friends. After the …

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Do it again

Those who continue to be sceptical as to the purpose and involvement of the Supporters Trust in Swansea City or any other football club might wish to reflect on the latest developments in the Leeds United saga of woe and financial misadventure. Sadly, it seems, little changes. For those who haven’t followed the tale that …

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Ode to joy

So Peter Jackson believes that Lee Trundle behaved unacceptably toward his fellow professional players in the recent match against his Huddersfield team at the Vetch. He may not have spelt it out, but rather like the judge who believed that women who dressed in a certain way were asking to be raped, Jackson implied that …

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Team of the Century – Well Almost

A new season kicks off with fans optimistic on the basis of improved performances on the pitch in the latter half of last season. The common wisdom is that the attack will cause nightmares to any team in the division whilst our own defence whets the appetites of opposing strikers. Question marks surround a goalkeeper …

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It all adds up to Eleven

As the summer rolls by it seems that Brian Flynn has succeeded in persuading most of the players who finished last season on a high to re-sign. A feeling of quiet optimism seems to be surrounding the club, and the next few weeks should prove interesting as the final members of the squad are put …

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Leon Britton v Hull City 2003

Red Shoes Local Hero

So it all came good in the end, in the best Hollywood traditions. Not even Stephen Spielberg could have manipulated our emotions more effectively in a tale that kept twisting to the very last. Now the final credits are rolling, and if the story had been turned into a multiplex blockbuster, an emotive theme song …

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The Search for Players who can control a football – Part 3

It’s just before six in the morning, the gloaming skies are lightening by the minute as the sun comes up over the mountains, and we’ve just arrived at the Peruvian-Bolivian border. Despite lying under the towering Andes and next to the vast watery expanse of Lake Titicaca, this is a bleak and rather depressing place. …

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The Search for Players who can control a football – Part 2

We’re sitting on a plane flying high over the Peruvian Andes. As far as the eye can see the ridges of green and brown mountains push up into the sky in which we fly, testimony to the incredible forces of nature which caused the formation of this massive natural barrier along the west coast of …

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The Search for Players who can control a football – Part 1

You have to hand it to London Transport. It’s six o’clock on a Wednesday evening and we’re stuck at Victoria. The District, Piccadilly and Central Lines are out and we’re due to check in at Heathrow in a little over an hour. For weeks I’ve been reading of the need for calm and patience when …

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