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I guess my favorite topic appears to be Swansea City AFC, appertaining to the vast number of posts I’ve written on the subject. Well, It was a unique experience for my home town team to climb from the depths of the football league to the elite of the Premiership and survive 6 years.

Unfortunately, the last 18 months have proved to be a bit of struggle. In 2016 we were lying 15th around Christmas and decided to part company with Gary Monk who had led the club to 8th position in their previous season. We subsequently finished a comfortable 14th under the tutorlage of Alan Curtis and Francesco Guidolin. This time last year we were languishing at the bottom of the table. The American, Bob Bradley, who replaced Guidolin two months into the season, was sacked after a disastrous few months. Paul Clement was hired to perform a miracle by walking across the River Tawe into the Liberty Stadium and duly saved their precarious Premiership status.

It was clearly obvious to anyone that followed the Swans that the squad was not good enough to survive another season in the Premiership. They had two outstanding players in Sigurddson and Llorente who could walk into any other team in the Premiership, and Clement was anxious to strengthen the squad in the August transfer window. However, Sigurddson did not want to endure another season at the bottom end of the table, and made it perfectly clear that he wanted a transfer.

Everton made a sizeable offer for his services, but the Club haggled over the transfer fee for weeks until he eventually signed for Everton. However, Clement was given little time to find a suitable replacement, and to make matters worse, Llorente was sold to Spurs on the transfer deadline.

Clement had ratified the signing of Roque Mesa from a Spanish club who performed adequately in La Ligue, but has underwhelmed in the Premiership. Former fan favorite Wilfred Bony was purchased from Stoke City, but he hadn’t played regularly for 18 months, and one TV pundit claimed that “his legs had gone.” I tend to agree. I believe he has scored one goal in the Premiership this season. Hull City was paid 15 million pounds for Clucas’ services which brought the number of players in the squad  who had been relegated with their former clubs to four.

Clement acquired the services of two young players on loan: the much heralded Sanchez from Bayern Munich and Tammy Abraham from Chelsea who last season scored 24 goals in the Championship for Bristol City. Neither player has adjusted to the rigours of the Premiership which at the same time has not affected their over inflated egos!

Okay, to recap let’s take an overview of the nucleus of the squad:

• Four players, Fer, Olsson, Ayew, and Clucas were with previously relegated clubs,
• Two players, Carroll and Naughton, were Spurs reserves,
• Two players, Sanchez and Abraham, who are on loan are immature, flatter to deceive and not effective in the Premiership,
• One player, Mawson, showed promise last season, but appears to have regressed,
• Two players, Ki and Bony, are injury prone,
• Two or three players, Britton, Rangel and Routledge, are past their sell by date,
• Fabianski and Fernandez are adequate but would benefit with better players around them,
• The other players, Fulton, McBurnie, and Mesa (he cost 12 million remember) for example, are fringe players and have yet to make an impact on the Premiership.

Twelve months on and Swansea City find themselves bottom of table again. Last season’s miracle worker, Paul Clement, was ushered through the exit door on December 20th, and Carlos Carvalhal was appointed as the new manager on December 28th. He was previously manager of Championship side, Sheffield Wednesday, who dispensed with his service on Christmas Eve. It’s a strange appointment because Wednesday are lying 15th in the Championship, so what makes the Swans owners believe that the new manager can right the ship which is now in very murky waters.

That brings me to the two new American majority  owners who remind me of shifty second hand car salesmen. Need I say more?

Swansea City have begun another season in unconvincing fashion. Manager/Head Coach Paul Clement (whatever title he deems to call himself) blames the late activity in the summer transfer window for their inept start. Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Icelandic international was the one truly class player in a team that narrowly avoided relegation last season. Clearly Sigurdsson had expressed a desire to play for a top six club in the Premiership which he deserved, for he alone, with a vital contribution from Llorente was instrumental in keeping them in the Premiership.

In the summer, Leicester City made a derisory offer to acquire his services which the Swans quite rightly rejected. However, Everton pursued their man and by increasing their offer  eventually matched the transfer fee of 45 million pounds that the Swans were demanding for their best player. Sigurdsson had earlier refused to go on the preseason tour of the USA which prompted the Swans to accept Everton’s offer. Quite why Sigurdsson agreed to join them is a matter of conjecture because they are not a top six club, and are currently languishing  in the bottom third of the table along with the Swans.

Meanwhile Everton signed Wayne Rooney on a free transfer and the prodigal son has returned home creating a dilemma for Sigurdsson and their respected manager Ronald Koemann. Both players prefer to play in the “No 10” slot, and Sigurdsson currently resembles a fish out of water with Everton hovering over the relegation zone.

Clement signed three midfield players, Clucas, Mesa and wonder kid Sanchez to replace Sigurdsson, none of whom have set the Premiership on fire. They overpaid for Clucas who admittedly was quite effective for relegated Hull City. But 15 million pounds for an average player? Do me a favor!!! Mesa was the first to be signed in the summer for 11 million pounds designed most probably to replace the aging but very effective Leon Britton. Let’s not forget, Clement was pressured into recalling Britton for the relegation battle, and he duly delivered adding calmness, solidity and direction to a struggling team.

Unaccountably Britton was omitted from the starting line up in the opening matches of the new season. Mesa didn’t replace him because in Clement’s opinion the little Spaniard was not ready to play at the pace of the Premiership having starred in La Liga  last season. However, it is more than a coincidence that the Swans recorded their first victory in over a month against Huddersfield when Britton was restored to the team.

I don’t quite know why the Club’s scouts could not have prepared a better assessment of Mesa’s talents commensurate with the Premier League. They can’t use the feeble excuse of not knowing what a Spanish player is capable of  in the Premiership when Mesa is the twelfth Spanish player signed by the Club or has featured in the team since they won promotion to the Premiership.

Angel Rangel was the first Spanish player signed way back in 2007 by ironically a Spanish manager, Roberto Martinez. The other Spaniards to follow in his foot steps are Jordi Armat, Michu, Andrea Orlandi, Pablo Hernandez, Chico Flores, Jose Canas, Alvaro Vazquez, Alejandro Pozuelo, Borja Baston, and Fernando Llorente.

The impact of the Spanish Armada on the Club has met with mixed fortunes. Rangel has proved to be one of the stalwarts of the team costing next to nothing. Chico Flores formed a formidable defensive partnership with Ashley Williams and his transfer fee didn’t break the bank. Michu proved to be one of the bargain buys in Premierhip  history. He cost 2 million pounds and in his first season scored 22 goals from midfield. Unfortunately he was plagued by injury and didn’t complete another full season before returning to Spain.

On the negative side, the Swans paid 15.5 million for Borja Baston in 2016 on the basis that he scored 18 goals in his last season in La Liga. Unfortunately he failed to replicate his prowess as a goal scorer in the Premiership, achieving one solitary goal in 20 appearances. During the summer, he was packed off on loan to a Spanish club the name of which escapes me. However Llorente, a striker with World Cup pedigree and 3 Serie A titles  on his resume was snapped up for 5 million pounds around the same time as Baston was travelling in the opposite direction, and repaid the Club by scoring 15 precious goals to help secure another season in the Premiership.

Nevertheless, 26.5 million has been wastefully spent on Baston and Mesa with little return for the money. A Club of Swansea’s size can ill afford to spend that amount of money and receive precious little in return. I have no idea who is in charge of scouting for new players, but he deserves a kick up the backside. Better still, it’s time he received his P45.

What constitutes a world class football player? He is someone who can change the game in a split second whether it’s through a defence splitting pass, scoring goal from nothing, making a defensive stop to prevent a goal, all of which should be executed on a consistent basis. Basically a world class player can spin on a dime and light up a stadium with one phenomenal movement, creating one breathtaking moment never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it. He is a match winner; a game changer.

For example, Gordon Banks’ spellbinding save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup, or one of Jimmy Greaves’ goals from a scissor kick, maybe a tantalizing run through the opposition’s defense by George Best or Ryan Giggs leading to a sublime goal, or the proficiency of a goal scoring machine like Ian Rush.

I maybe a couch potato, but I have seen many Premiership matches over the past few years, and rarely does any player in the Premiership have me  jumping out of my seat in excitement. Ronaldo (Manchester United) and Luis Suarez (Liverpool) had that effect on me, but they were unfortunately sold to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. Gareth Bale had a hint of greatness in his time at Tottenham Hotspur, but sadly he was also sold to Real Madrid.

There are twenty clubs in the English Premiership and in my opinion less than a dozen world class players. Manchester City have spent millions of pounds on players, but I would only describe Silva, de Bruyne, and Aguerro as world class assets. Chelsea possess one in Eden Hazard, and potentially their new striker Morata. Liverpool have two: Coutinho and Mane. Harry Kane at Tottenham is quickly  developing into a world class striker, capable of scoring goals with either foot or his head, and inside or outside the penalty box. His colleague, Dele Ali has the potential to reach world class, but can be a little head strong and a tendency to drift out of games.

Alexis Sanchez wasted too much time in the summer attempting to engineer a move away from Arsenal which affected his game considerably. However, on his day he can touch the considerable heights of a world class player. One could argue that one player cannot make a team, but his absence can undoubtedly affect its performance. A case in point is Gylfi Sigurdsson who was transferred from my club, Swansea City to Everton. Gylfi Sigurdsson has the ability to create and score goals and is arguably the most effective dead ball specialist in the league.

The Swans bought  two or three fairly capable players in the summer transfer window, but with the loss of Sigurdsson the Club is playing like a ship without a rudder. Notwithstanding the dearth of world class players in the Premiership, I believe that not one of the Swans 25 man squad would earn a place in any of the top ten teams in the league. Indeed, Swansea are continuing to select three or four players (Naughton, Fer, Carroll, and Olsson) who are not of Premiership standard.

The transfer fees that are paid for mediocre players is outrageous. Liverpool paid 40 million for Oxlaide-Chamberlain who is an athlete masquerading as a football player. Manchester City paid 50 million each for Raheem Sterling and John Stones. Is that the price you pay for potential these days?

I just watched Arsenal defeat Chelsea in this year’s FA Cup Final. Champions Chelsea looked tired and jaded while Arsenal appeared to be rejuvenated winning the Cup for the third time in the past four seasons. Why didn’t Arsenal play like this during the season? This is the same team that was annihilated 0-5 at home by Bayern Munich  in the Champions League only a couple of months ago. Based on this result Wenger, Arsenal’s beleaguered manager, has probably saved his job for yet another season or two. Nevertheless, they did miss qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in twenty years.

Ironically, it was Chelsea’s 0-3 defeat to Arsenal earlier in the season that prompted new manager Conte to introduce his system of three central defenders which he had successfully implemented in his time as manager of Juventus and latterly Italy. Chelsea reeled off 13 successive wins which propelled them to the title.

Speaking of which, normal service was restored in the Premiership with little chance of another minnow doing a Leicester City by snatching the title from under the noses of the elite teams. Chelsea deservedly won the title with an ever improving Tottenham Hotspur runners up. Manchester City finished third which prompted their manager Pep Guardiola to quote: “If I had finished 3rd at Barcelona or Bayern Munich (his previous two clubs) I would have been sacked!” Liverpool squeezed into the top four at the expense of Arsenal and will be playing Champions League football for the first time in a number of years.

Chelsea won the title from Spurs by a comfortable seven points, but more significantly was the 15 point gap between the seventh placed team, Everton and the rest of the division. Prior to this season the consensus leaned towards the premise that the Premier League comprised three layers; the top six, the middle tier who don’t usually contend for the title, but are safe from relegation struggles, and a bottom six or seven proverbial relegation contenders. Now, any team from 8th position downwards should fear the drop.

England will have five representatives this year because Manchester United also qualified by winning the Europa Cup in benign fashion. It is rumored that United will have a transfer fund of 300 million pounds to spend on new players in the summer. Manchester City has kick started the off season crazy spending spree by paying  Monaco 43 million pounds for their playmaker Bernard Silva.

My home town team, Swansea City (yes, it’s a euphemism) gave me some sleepless nights. They had a meager total of 12 points and bottom of the table on New Year’s Day with half the season over. Paul Clement became the fourth man to manage the team since last August (Alan Curtis was caretaker manager for two spells.)

He obviously got many things right to muster 29 points from the second half of the season, but the key decision for me was to play Mawson and Fernandez as the two central defenders for the remainder of the season. Bob Bradley had chopped and changed his defensive pairing continuously throughout his brief reign and the Swans were conceding goals at nearly two per game. Fernandez and Mawson brought stability to the back four, and it was no coincidence they only conceded two goals during the last five games of the season, winning four and drawing the other away to Manchester United.

What was incomprehensible was the six game stretch in the middle of Clement’s tenure where they only managed to pick up one measly point. Clement’s hiring had initially galvanized the team to the extent they were four points clear of the relegation zone until they hit a six game brick wall.

Fortunately Clement turned to thirty four year old Leon Britton in their hour of need. Britton has been a first team fixture for fourteen years, having played in all four divisions of the Football League with the Club, helping them rise from near extinction to the promised land of the Premiership. Britton is the epitome of the” Swansea Way” of playing football, retaining possession and passing, and his influence on the strong finish to the season should not be under estimated.