Brian Flynn's Barmy Army??

I am going to try to make this column a foil for Mr Pessimism, an alternative and I will try to make it as Optimistic as possible!

The Cash strapped swans have plumbed new depths since the last column, bottom of the league and a new “Director of Football” or manager as we like to call him. I have been doing a bit of research on Mr Flynn and co. Brian is from the same town as Colin Pascoe, Andy (Turncoat) Legg and our very own Kristian O'Leary, more importantly he is from the same town as me!!!

Looking at his record as a player he achieved a lot, he played against England when we beat them 4-0 (I didn't know that we had beaten England so convincingly) and went on to win 66 Caps for the Land of my Fathers. He had a successful career at league level, playing for Burnley and Leeds Utd, where he was voted player of the season in 1978-79. On the Welsh club front he played for both C*rdiff and Wrexham. His management career started at Wrexham as we all know, where he took a struggling side and turned the club around with the help of Kevin Reeves and Joey Jones.

Flynn at Leeds

During his spell at the club many questions were asked about his style as a manager, although he was loved at Wrexham fans were baffled by his approach. Flynn usually preferred sitting in the stands to the dugout, where Jones and Reeves were found barking the orders. Although Managers sitting in the stands for the first half is not unusual, but Flynn would spend the whole game there. Flynn stated that he, Reeves and Jones had such a close relationship that they would agree on most things that happened during a game, tactics would be agreed hours before matches and often stuck to. Flynn has said that there was communication between him and his assistants, but not by 'phone, is he telepathic???

Also Flynn lived in Burnley throughout his stay at the club, which led fans to question his loyalty to the club, Mrs Flynn and her family are all from Burnley, Flynn stated that he often spent more time in Wrexham than at home and he like the fact that he had the opportunity to get away from it all. FACT Burnley is a long way from Swansea!!!!

It was also said that Flynn had a tendency to upset player, something he refutes, apparently Watkin and he parted on good terms.

Flynn had met Reeves whilst playing at Burnley and said of Reeves “He is a man you instantly like”, so quite what the Swansea board thought of him boggles the imagination. Flynn's link with Jones obviously comes from his international career. So it seems obvious that Flynn likes to surround himself with friends who he can trust, hopefully this will apply to Alan Curtis with whom he played at Leeds.

Flynn also has connections with Alec Fergusson and Manchester United, as long as he doesn't bring Barthez to the club we should be OK. Although Flynn is quiet and demure he has a skill of building a team, as of this moment, he has lost one game (Torquay) and drawn against Neath! Flynn looks to be making an assessment of the squad and casting his eye over all players, even Jonathan Coates. Flynn built a good strong football club at Wrexham, he was able to develop good young players and bring them through the ranks. I won't bother going into his Giant Killing exploits in the FA Cup, because we all know what went on there. My first experience of Wrexham was one St Davids day at the Vetch (During Frank Burrows stint) it was great, a good derby between two teams who shared similar feelings towards C*rdiff as we did it was a great game I think we won 3-1. Later that year Wrexham showed us what they were made of by beating us 4-3 at the racecourse, however they were at one point 4-0 up, it was one of Steve Torpey's better games!!

Flynn uses his experience well, whilst at Wrexham he split the training duties into specialist areas, Jones would look at the defenders, Flynn Midfield and Reeves took the forwards. This would fit in well if Curt could take the forwards and Big Rog with the Goalies. Flynn also doesn't agree with having a Chief Scout at the club, he would often take charge of searching out players from Premiership and First Division reserve games. The Conference often works out expensive with a lot of players with well paid part-time jobs.

The only way is up for Flynn now, if he can motivate the team, a skill lacking in Cusack's arsenal. If he can get players working as a unit, we will start picking up points. Brighton & Hove Albion were in a pretty dismal state of affairs at one point, no cash bottom of the league etc, but now they are doing fairly well in the First Division. There was a question on the mailing list as to whether someone who had been bottom of the league in September and managed to avoid the drop, this I don't know but I do know that Brighton have come out smelling of roses!

This has to be one of the worst periods in Swansea's history, even when we near extinction in the eighties, at least we weren't bottom of the fourth!! If Swansea cannot hold on, then life is going to be hell, will we be in the conference? Will we be in the League of Wales? Will we be simply wound up? Who knows? If only someone did.

Another question, where does Flynn's allegiance lie? He has played for C*rdiff & Wrexham and Port Talbot is split down the line between Jacks and Bl**birds!

All we can do is persevere for the rest of the season and see what comes of it!

Who are we???