It doesn’t seem possible but to-morrow represents opening day to a new season in the English Premiership. Most of us couch potatoes are still reeling from the magnificent achievement of Team GB at the London Olympics, and a little depressed that the Games are assigned to history.
It’s quite amazing to me that Rory Mcllroy winning the PGA Championship last weekend was almost overshadowed by the Olympics, but golf will be given its platform when the Ryder Cup is staged in the USA next month. Nevertheless a final round of 66 would suggest the “Boyo” is back to his mercurial best.
It’s only a couple of months ago that we were entrenched in the European Championships with Spain confirming that winning the World Cup in 2010 was no fluke by adding European Champions to their impressive resume.
So we return to the bread and butter of the Premiership, and my thoughts go out to my home team Swansea City. They finished a credible eleventh last season when many soothsayers were predicting relegation.
However, the off season has witnessed several changes in management and player personnel for the Swans. Manager Brendan Rodgers and his assistant Colin Pascoe are now at the helm in Liverpool. Rodgers signed player maker Joe Allen from his old team for 15 million pounds, Steven Caulker returned to Spurs following his successful loan spell, and another key loan signing, “The Iceman” is now a Spurs player on double the wages.
Scott Sinclair has one year left on his contract, but has refused to sign a new one. Consequently it’s almost certain that the Swans will be selling him to receive some value before he becomes a free agent, and it is rumored that Manchester City are very interested in him.
On reflection one would agree that the guts have been ripped out of the team, but we must trust in the old cliché that the Club is bigger than any one individual. Arsenal will attest to that having sold their captain and last season’s top scorer Robin Van Persie to their dreaded rivals Manchester United.
Fortunately the Swans have become accustomed to losing managers to bigger clubs (maybe it’s debatable whether Wigan Athletic represents a bigger fish than the Swans,) and they wasted little time replacing Rodgers with Danish legend Michael Laudrup. Before we get too carried away, Laudrup was a legend as a player, but has achieved only moderate success as a manager/coach with a succession of clubs: Brondby, Getafa, Spartak Moscow and Real Mallorca.
He wasn’t slow off the mark in signing some replacements. Kyle Bartley was purchased from Arsenal, Jose Manuel Flores from Genoa, Jonathan de Guzman on loan from Villareal and Michu, an attacking midfielder who scored 15 goals for Ray Villecano in La Liga last season and looks like an absolute bargain at 2 million pounds. None of the players are household names, but neither were Michel Vorm, Nathan Dyer, or Danny Graham all of whom performed extremely well in their first season in the top flight.
Obviously, it’s a voyage of discovery with so many new players in the squad and Queens Park Rangers is not a happy hunting ground for the Swans. Nevertheless Michael Laudrup is making the right noises: “the philosophy of the Swansea team fits mine.” It’s good to know that the coach and team are on the same page at the beginning of a new campaign, so fingers crossed and let battle commence.
Postscript: What do I know? QPR 0 Swansea City 5 (Two goals by debutant Micho.) WBA 3 Liverpool 0.
