Swansea City season preview – Enter the Dragons
Football has a tendency to overhype. Arsenal are not Barcelona, and neither are Swansea City. The Swans aren’t as good as the Gunners either, but they are about to deservedly share the same stage.
They were dubbed ‘Swanselona’ at times last season as struggling headline writers sought to praise boss Brendan Rodgers’ attacking style which took them into the Championship playoff final. Once there, a virtuoso Wembley performance from winger Scott Sinclair earned the Swans promotion at the expense of Reading, and while you won’t quite find a Messi in Mumbles, you will still discover a football team that provides good value.
That Swansea are the first Welsh club to play in the Premier League is remarkable enough, but to truly understand the pride emanating from this corner of South Wales, you need to realise where the Swans were just eight years ago, and how history has somewhat repeated itself.
Quite simply they were rock bottom in 2003, scrambling to stay in the Football League under the stewardship of Kenny Jackett – coincidentally battling alongside Hull City, another of English football’s leapfrogging clubs. Promotion from League Two in 2004/05 kick-started the revolution, and while John Toshack’s Swansea side famously jumped from the fourth division to the top of the first between 1978 and 1981, the current vintage enter the new campaign with a real hope that – unlike their predecessors – they won’t return whence they came within five years.
Why such confidence? It’s obvious that Rodgers breathes it. This new prince of the Principality has worked with Jose Mourinho in the past – something he’s never shy to bring up – and the Northern Irishman has used all of the coaching experience and setbacks picked up at Reading, Chelsea and Watford to create a determined, winning mentality. He barely let on, but beating the Royals at Wembley 18 months after they sacked him brought great personal satisfaction.
He’s faced unwelcome problems at either end of the pitch in the build-up to his first top-flight campaign as a manager though. Goalkeeper Dorus de Vries’ departure for Wolves ended a successful four-year stint between the sticks, while forward Fabio Borini’s loan deal expired and he returned to Chelsea to pack his bags and then set off for Parma.
In his place has come record signing Danny Graham - the Championship’s and in turn Watford’s top goalscorer last season – whilst a deal for the Utrecht and sometime Netherlands ‘keeper Michel Vorm has been wrapped up on the eve of the season. Both will add quality, but retain a worrying lack of Premier League experience.
The young defender Stephen Caulker – on loan from Spurs – can be described similarly, but adds to a squad whose genuine sense of excitement and ambition could be bottled ahead of this campaign.
Sinclair has more loans on his CV than a struggling EU country thanks to his time at Chelsea, but along with exciting talents such as Nathan Dyer, Joe Allen, Stephen Dobbie and new arrivals Wayne Routledge and Leroy Lita, has a point to prove. Prove them and the Swans could be keeping company with Arsenal for a while longer.
Barcelona will have to wait though.
Manager – Brendan Rodgers: The arrival on these shores of the fresh-faced Andre Villas-Boas has forced young managers to reconsider just how young they are, but at 38 Rodgers has already gone through more than many of his new contemporaries have in their careers. Expect a fist-pumping, confident presence on the sidelines as the Swans do battle.
Key signing – Danny Graham: A few steps back was definitely a giant step forward for the striker, who couldn’t stop scoring once he swapped first club Middlesbrough – where he went on a succession of loan deals – for life at Carlisle United in 2007. The goals have flowed since – particularly at Watford in the Championship – but the club record signing now faces the ultimate test of a step up in division, environment and class.
Key departure – Dorus de Vries: One hundred and eighty-three appearances over four years develops its own blend of experience, and the Dutch goalkeeper’s calming influence at the back will be missed by a Swans defence now facing new challenges. He’s been replaced by another Dutchman in Michel Vorm, and the 27-year-old’s settling- in period could prove vital to his new club’s fate. No pressure there then.
Possible XI:
Vorm
Rangel – Williams – Monk – Taylor
Allen – Britton
Routledge – Dobbie – Sinclair
Graham
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