Swansea City FC: The rags to riches story

Swansea City have been in the Premier League for past two seasons and they have gained lots of fans and followers due to their style of play. They are challenging for the European places this season and they have also reached the finals of the League Cup this season. But nobody could have imagined this 10-12 years back when they were on brink of bankruptcy after being relegated to the third division.

In July 2001, Swansea City was relegated to the third division. The club was then sold to an Australian businessmen for just 1 million pounds who then sacked 7 players and eight others saw their contracts being terminated. There was a great turmoil in the club which led to a massive rift among fans against the new owners. Seeing this, former Swansea player Mel Nurse, who was rallied on by club fans, tried to buy the club back from the Australian owners. In between this, 2 managers were sacked and the club was on the verge of relegation. Fans even took to the streets to protest against the owners, who were forced to sell the club to Mel Nurse.

Initially, the new owners had to deal with an estimated £1.7m debt. This led to the formation of a Swansea supporters trust which bought the club shares to save the club from bankruptcy. This led to fans’ representation in the club board. At this time, not even Mel Nurse could have imagined the future that lay ahead for the club. After this, the club managed to avoid relegation and had respectable mid-table finishes for next few seasons. Due to their good financial system, the club started to climb divisions.

In 2007, Roberto Martinez was appointed the club manager. He completely changed their style of play and now it was influenced by Barcelona‘s style. The club was also called ‘Swansalona’ by fans due to their playing style. After Martinez left, the same style was carried forward by Brendan Rodgers. He led them to Premier League promotion in his first season at Liberty Stadium.

During the bad times, the owners were making decisions as supporters rather than as businessmen. And there were fans who had the club in their heart. Just some years ago, the club did not even have funds to pay the electricity bills of the stadium and now they are one of the most profitable clubs in Europe. Swansea is an ideal example of how a football club should be managed. A place where all fans are respected and their views are taken into consideration. The city of Swansea was always second to everything, including football in Wales (behind Cardiff), but due to their Premier League success, the economy of Swansea has risen to great heights.

Swansea are also very lucky to get managers who have not tampered with their style of play. Nine out of 10 managers wouldn’t have suited their style, but the management have carefully chosen managers like Martinez, Rodgers and now Laudrup who have taken forward the club’s style of play. This story of Swansea city can easily inspire a Hollywood film. Any Swansea loyal fan would be proud of their rags to riches story. I am a die hard Chelsea fan but feel very dejected when the owners don’t even respect the view of fans and I feel very jealous of Swansea fans who are ever respected and actively participate in the club’s decision making. I can hope we can see them for a long time in Premier League and hope they mesmerize us with their play.