r/swanseacity

Watching football is fun. It's more fun and/or meaningful for me to watch Swansea than any other team. That is any other team in this league or any other league. Or any national team.

Let me say that I respect the views and choices of everyone, no judgment here, just some of my opinions. All football fans love football, whether club or country or both, and that is as it should be. I would like to get out ahead and apologize if this post offends anyone.

I know it comes from a place of passion and love, but int'l football is, at its core, boring to me. I just cannot get myself to care about the football, about the stories, about the whole thing really. I dread every int'l break during the year. I go into a mini-depression for those two weeks every time. I never watch a minute of the football, just always check if a Swansea player got injured.

There are jacks out there who know what I mean. Garry Monk even cast some shade on international breaks when he was our head coach. How much better would each season be, how much better would the football be, if it wasnt interrupted and put on hold for two weeks throughout the year? Our guys could get rest, spend time with their families instead...

Maybe this has to do with me being from the US, I dont know. We didnt even have to qualify for the tourney and I couldnt tell you anyone who plays on our team except pulisic, reyna and scally. I literally fell asleep during the USA v. Bosnia game. The US government is embarrassing and pathetic and it really shows when football is concerned, hopefully the world can see that now.

All I can see from every team is a hodgepodge group being pasted together every 10 weeks and the only reason they are all there is they share a nationality or heritage. I can't remember the last time a commentator talked about a footballing identity of a national team. I am glad our three footballers will be able to get a rest and not miss too much of our pre-season. Matos is adamant that this time spent together will be the most important thing we do in the off-season and I tend to agree there.

Don't even get me started on how FIFA found a way to make a commercial break with ads in the middle of each half. Gross. On top of all of this, the players are tired. Mentally and physically tired and need a holiday to recharge, not more work. The football on offer is objectively pretty sad.

I find this whole bloated world cup thing to be simply a huge payday for FIFA and a huge corporate windfall for the advertising industry. I cannot wait to get back to Swansea City and this new exciting season. To get back to real games with real teams, to get back to the footballing side of things.

I can hear many if you already formulating counter-arguments and coming up with valid reasons why intl football is important. But, my head wont be turned. I am already old enough and have seen enough club and country football to know the truth. I'll always be more proud to follow Swansea than any flag out there.

I am feeling very positive about the whole club right now, from owners to staff to players and cant wait to see what next year brings. I hope we finally hit the ground running this season and have a flying start.

Let' go Swans!

This is a shot in the dark, but I met a guy in the merch line at the Metallica concert in Cardiff last week. We had a great conversation and I immediately regretted not getting his name and number as I walked away, but it was chaos. He has been on my mind since. He is 38, has a 5yo son, and works for Swansea City FC. Anyone know someone who would fit that profile?

Burgess's Australian went out on penalties to Egypt. This follows New Zealand and South Korea failing to make it out of the group.

Rumours we're about to sign him from MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps. If true, this would be pretty much exactly what I've been asking for in terms of dynamism, intensity and creativity from a deep lying midfielder.

https://www.reddit.com/a/answers/s/HSN884xE5R

His goalscoring and creativity for a DM is phenomenal:

4 goals (xG 2.92 all four goals from outside the box) and 10 assists in 2025, 6 goals (xG 3.4, 3 from out of box) and 4 assists from just 14 games in the MLS in 2026. Above average defensive stats too.

Contract is up at the end of the calendar year, so should be available for a modest fee.

This would be a terrific signing, just from a pure footballing perspective, but being a current USA international (1 goal one assist in World cup) would be of huge marketing benefit.

Really hope this comes off.

Our recruitment of late has one consistent theme - strong defensive stats, whatever the position. This is true of Yeo and, to a slightly lesser extent, Walta. This makes perfect sense, as it's crucial to effecting a high intensity pressing game that you need most, if not all players able to contribute. So far so good.

However, if you look at the key creative metrics of expected assists, chances created and big chances created, Ronald, Widell and Stamenic are all well below average, whilst Franco is average. Even the departing Galbraith was only average, although his stats were impacted by him playing a lot at right back. Only Eom of last year's players was well above average on these three key creative metrics. Walta and Inoussa had good creative stats before they joined us, so hopefully they'll deliver on that promise. Likewise Yeo, who has excellent all round stats.

However, I feel if we're truly ambitious for this season a more creative and dynamic 6, in the Joe Allen mold, should be high on our wish list. Don't get me wrong, Stamenic is decent, but the right 6, alongside Franco and Walta, with Yeo and Eom out wide, could see us challenge for the top two. Caicedo joined Brighton for £4 million, so you never know what bargains Jamestown may be able to identify.

It will be interesting to see what sort of replacement we'll get for Galbraith. Given we have Franco, Widell and Walta fighting for the two 8 positions, with Eom and Ronald perhaps able to play in the position if needed, perhaps we'll be looking at a more mobile 6, or a 6/8 hybrid, a bit like Joe Allen? Stamenic did well for us in his first Championship season, but I feel his position needs to be challenged if we're to seriously challenge at the top of the table.

Although the financial regulations are changing from this season I assume PSR will still apply to the financial year just concluded, based on Hull's actions in selling players at the last minute. I would welcome any correction if this assumption is wrong.

How close are we to being in breach of PSR? The deferred purchase of Walta suggests we're pretty close. Also, if you look at the accounts for the past two years our loses after tax were £36 million, £21.5 million of which were in the last year. A generous assumption is that our loss this year will be of the order of £22 million. If so, our three year loss would come to £58 million. That's against a threshold of £41.5 million. Money spent on the academy, women's team and infrastructure can be deducted. If this is £5 million a year then that would put us in breach by £1.5 million.

That figure of £22 million is a total guess, but given that we had a managerial sacking and our player trading was surely down from the £8.1 profit the previous season (did we even make a loss?), then that assumption may be generous. However, Tom Gorringe did make substantial savings of the order of £3.5 million if my memory serves.

If we did in fact, as claimed in some quarters, sell Galbraith for only £5 million up front then the profit would only be £3.6 million. Would that be enough to save our bacon if we're running close to the limit? Selling Galbraith for a meagre fee would be a big disappointment but that would pale into insignificance against a points deduction.

I would welcome any corrections or clarifications to the above. Hopefully my concerns are misplaced, but the delayed Walta signing at the very least points to things being tight.

Hi all 👋

Full disclosure: I built this, so mods please bin it if it's not allowed. Season's done, no FPL until August, and the World Cup's the only thing keeping us going. So I've been building FootyIQ (footyiq.games), a little site packed with daily football games to scratch the footy itch through the off-season.

The main one is Forgotten Footballer, where each day there's a mystery player and you guess who it is from hints (clubs, nationality, era and that) plus a blurred photo.

There's a few other daily games on there too, including a World Cup one to go with the tournament. Takes a couple of minutes. Would genuinely love feedback since you know your players better than most!

Left for Man U. Not clear if we received a transfer fee, although if not presumably we will get money for his training development in the academy.