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Clear Waters |
Notes from Gods waiting room .........
Originally from Port Talbot, Lee Waters is 24 years old and is an exiled
Swan living in God's waiting room, Bournemouth with his girlfriend Ann. He
has been following the Swans since 1992, a season ticket holder right up
until moving to go to the University of Plymouth. Although not as
experienced as some contributors to the site he has seen the Swans go to
Wembley (twice), St James' Park (Newcastle) and St James Park (Exeter), plus
many others. Enjoys taking a sideways look at life and football.
Tuesday 6th August 2002(and it's not simply oodles of Cash!) Alrighty then, a brief history, which will hopefully give you an idea of where I'm coming from. 1992 pre-season I was about 15 years old, what did I know about football, well Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs played for Manchester United so too did Eric Cantona. My Mum's boyfriend supported both Man Utd and Swansea City. I did rather well in my exams and as a gift he took me to the Vetch to see The Swans take on Man Utd, my first live footy game. Numerous things happened to me in the game, Man Utd were playing a new purchase called Dion Dublin, he was awful, the Swans had a guy in the centre of the park who easily controlled things effortlessly, Super John Cornforth. Mark Hughes was poncing about in front of the Swansea City defence, when all of a sudden Mark Harris went through him like a train, a roar came from the North Bank, I really got into the game. Now I'm sure that we can all remember our first game kick by kick. In true football fan style I was deceived during that game, I didn't know any better, I think the score (in true pre-season fashion) was 1-1. I thought “The Swans can't be that bad they have just drawn with Manchester Bloody United.” For the next three seasons I had a season ticket, I didn't miss a home game and went away as often as I could, I was hooked. A lot of the contributors of this site have seen the Swans through thick and thin, they saw them beat Tottenham Hotspur and the like, we were top of the first division, tra la la. They have also seen the club go through near extinction. I have seen the Swans playing averagely in the second division, losing to West Brom in the play-offs, I have seen them relegated, promoted and relegated again, Autoglass trophies and Wembley play-off losses. I left Wales to study a Business based degree at Plymouth Uni, which wasn't such a bad thing as I was able to follow the swans and still see them play Exeter, Plymouth and Torquay. My point is that, where are we – third division, why (in my opinion) – poor management and poor planning. OK Doug Sharpe saved the Swans in the 80's and I'm sure made quite a bit of money for his building firm in the duration, but what did he do? Frank Burrows was one of the best managers at the Vetch since I have been a supporter, he settled the team, it seemed mid-second division was his target, which he achieved regularly with the one up front the formation. The Swans youth programme was great bringing through talents like Christian Edwards, Jason Bowen etc. which by and large were groomed for sale. Doug Sharpe often stated that there was no money and sales were being used to pay off debts. We won the Autoglass trophy against Huddersfield, who subsequently bought Steve Jenkins (one of our best players) and were promoted. After winning at Wembley we did nothing!!!! From this point on things went completely The Independent Travelling Swans (TITS hur hur) UP. Dougie left, through little pushing from the fans, Frank left, Bobby Smith, Jimmy Rimmer, Alan Curtis and Ron Walton all gone, and replaced by shortsighted poor businessmen. Whilst the likes of Charlton, Crewe and Bolton were charging up the leagues with pretty much the same management teams we had 6 managers in 7 years, hardly a stable base to support. Don't get me wrong I don't want to see the likes of Kevin Cullis given a chance at my club, but having a manager/coach for over 4 years is in my opinion a good thing. The team will start playing in the style of the manager, plans for the future can be put in place. I hope that we will be seeing Cusack in place for a very long time. Hopefully he will be able to emulate people like Dario Gradi, Alan Curbishly and Sam Aladyce, who have all shown great loyalty to their respective clubs and reaped the rewards. Ultimately, arguably, the most successful league manager of his generation, Alex Ferguson, was nearly sacked back in 1986. Manchester United were struggling in the league with a smattering of dodgy new signings (ie Gary Pallister, Paul Parker and Neil Webb, who all went on to play for England), his job was apparently being on the line for a league cup game against Man City. Martin Edwards and the Manchester United board showed faith in Ferguson, and look what he has achieved. I also believe that Curtis' return to the Vetch has to be good, although it is obvious that whilst he has been away he has been on a rather intensive pie-eating course, I don't think that his dedication to the club can be doubted, also his knowledge and experience at all levels of football can be very handy! If Swansea City can get behind Cusack then we have a good future, but we must be patient. With our support, for the club and Cusack, it is not out of reach for us to be a strong first division side. No one expects Cusack to emulate Ferguson, but I would like to see the board emulate Edwards & Co. The key to success in today's football is perseverance. Call me crazy, but I hope it wont be too long when we can draw with Man Utd during a league match!!! All the Best Lee If anyone has any feedback to give me, I'd love to hear from you at lee@scfc.co.uk You can comment on this article by visiting the guestbook Previous articles: #16 #15 #14 #13 #12 #11 #10 #9 #8 #7 #6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1 Click here to go back to main page
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