Former Swansea C chairman Mike Lewis is back in football as part of a new group in charge at Exeter City.

Lewis has joined together with spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller, Geller's son Daniel and former Scarborough chairman John Russell to take over the cash-strapped Third Division club.

And the ex-Swansea owner, who sold the club on to Tony Petty for £1, will become joint vice-chairman along with Geller junior, while Russell and Geller senior will become the club's joint-chairmen.

The group was unveiled as new owners at St James's Park yesterday and Lewis said: ''Our first aim is sustaining Third Division membership and then we will look at whether that squad is good enough to take the club further forward.

''We do have certain ideas about how a club should be run and between increasing income and decreasing expenditure we hope to save £300,000 a year.

''Our target within three years is to get the club to a position where it's washing its face again - by that I mean not losing money.

"That can only happen if it goes to plan, that we have more people watching us and that we have a bit of luck.'' Lewis also said that Russell and himself were 'not convinced' about the idea of supporters' trusts owning clubs after the situation that has arisen at Lincoln City.

''We are not opposed to the idea of working with them and talking about some form of representation at board level.'' The former Swansea chief was also keen to put his failings at the Vetch behind him.

''Myself and John have both had bad experiences in football, '' he said.

"But after 27 years in the game my pluses outweigh my minuses.

''I have apologised to the Swansea fans for what happened and although I can understand why they might say to the Exeter fans 'keep this man away from your club', I just want to use my experience to help Exeter.''

JONATHAN COATES fears Monday's FAW Premier Cup final against arch-rivals Cardiff City will mark the end of his nine-year career at Swansea City.

The 26-year-old midfielder - one of 11 remaining out-of-contract players at the Third Division club - has not been offered a new deal and is resigned to being shown the door after Swansea tackle the Bluebirds at Ninian Park.

Coates, who joined the Swans in 1993 as a trainee, said it would be a "massive wrench" to leave his home-town club, but admitted he had let himself down and didn't deserve to stay at the Vetch.

"I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm not going to get a new contract," said the Swansea-born player. "It will be sad to leave. I've lived in the city all my life and been with the club since I was a schoolboy.

"But there's no point pretending I've done enough to earn a new contract. I could have done a lot more to persuade the manager to keep me on, particularly in the last 10 games of the season.

"I knew it was either a case of impressing the Swansea manager to earn a new contract or impress anyone watching from another club. But I let myself down. I can't think of one game where I played well for 90 minutes." Coates was signed by Frank Burrows and became one of the club's most promising youngsters, playing some of his best football during Jan Molby's 18-month spell in charge from 1996-97.

The former Wales Under-21 international played a major part in Swansea's surge into the Division Three play-off final in 1997 - a game which ended in heartache when Northampton Town snatched an injury-time goal to win 1-0.

Coates played another key role in Swansea's race to the Division Three championship under John Hollins's stewardship in 2000.

But lately the midfielder, who has made more than 200 league appearances, has struggled to maintain the form which once earned him a handful of call-ups into the senior Wales squad.

"In hindsight, it would have been better to move on a couple of seasons ago when I was doing well," said Coates. "Now, instead of leaving of my own accord, I'm effectively being pushed out the door.

"But the fact is the last two seasons have been my worst ever.

"I came back from injury at the end of last season and the club got relegated.

"Before this season started, I had high expectations for myself and the club, but I didn't progress.

"I couldn't find any consistency. And for the club it has been an awful year.

"I'm expecting to receive the bad news after we play Cardiff. I'll be disappointed when I'm told I'm not wanted, but that's football for you. I've seen it happen to so many people at the club.

"Looking on the positive side, maybe it's time for a change. I've been here a long time. My wife and I have often spoken about starting afresh and having a new experience somewhere else."

Coates will not be the only player enjoying a Swans-song at Ninian Park on Monday. Ryan Casey, Steve Brodie, Mamady Sidibe, Craig Draper, Stephen Healey, Chris O'Sullivan and either Chris Todd or Neil Sharp are expected to follow Coates through the Vetch Field exit door.

"Monday will be an emotional occasion for quite a few of us," said Coates. "It's a nice game to finish on and let's hope we can beat Cardiff. Their disappointment in the play-offs might just mean this is the best time to play them.

"Everybody at Ninian Park will still be disappointed and we're expecting a backlash from that. We might catch them on the back foot."

FAW Premier Cup final
Cardiff City v Swansea City, at Ninian Park, Monday, 13 May (kick-off 1855 BST)

Live coverage on BBC Sport Online, BBC Two Wales and BBC Radio Wales

Swansea City striker Steve Watkin says next week's FAW Premier Cup final gives the players a perfect opportunity to end an otherwise horrendous season on a high note.

Watkin and co have endured a season of almost constant uncertainty and change at The Vetch.

Three different owners, near bankruptcy and three different mangers in a season made merely surviving for another year an achievement.

But, now, Swansea are only 90 minutes away from getting their hands on some silverware.

It's definitely one game when you don't need any extra motivation
And since that would mean beating rivals Cardiff on their home turf, Watkin says winning their first ever FAW Premier Cup would be taste doubly sweet.

"It's been an awful season," Watkin told BBC Sport Online. "I've known nothing like it in 10 years as a player.

"So we just want to salvage what we can from a bad season and finish on a high note.

"Cardiff against Swansea are always big games and there should be a great atmosphere.

"There is plenty of hostility between the two sets of fans and great rivalry between the players so we want to win the game.

"It's definitely one game when you don't need any extra motivation."

Swansea have certainly had plenty of time to prepare for their second successive Premier Cup final.

They finished their league programme over three weeks ago.

LIVERPOOL and Fulham are prepared to help Swansea City rebuild for next season by offering players the chance to join the Third Division club on loan.

Swans player-coach Nick Cusack plans to bring two or three Premiership players to the Vetch and has been promised a helping hand from French pair Gerard Houllier and Jean Tigana.

And the Professional Footballers' Association chairman, who has released midfielder David Romo, has spoken to other Premier League as well as Nationwide League managers who have players in need of first-team experience.

"We obviously can't afford to bring in experienced, highly-paid Premier League players," said Cu-sack. "But what I'm hoping to do is bring in two or three who are young or have been on the fringes of the first team and need to play regular, competitive football.

"I spoke to Gerard Houllier (Liverpool manager) at the PFA dinner and he said he would be willing to help out. I've also spoken to Jean Tigana (Fulham manager) and Micky Adams (Leicester manager) who have both been very positive.

"I don't want to say it is definitely going to happen, but it would be an exciting development for the club and the fans if we could recruit - for a few months or even a season - from the Premier League."

Cusack even suggested Swansea could become a feeder club for a top-flight side like Fulham who, in return, would send players to the Vetch to jump start their careers.

The 36-year-old, who made more than 100 appearances for the Craven Cottage side between 1994 and 1997, said, "We obviously wouldn't want to let all our best players go.

"But link-ups with bigger clubs are important for the small clubs in the present climate. It's the way forward and something which we may have to foster at Swansea.

"Myself, Alan (Curtis) and Roger (Freestone) are trying to build relationships with other clubs and last week we spent a day at Fulham - one of my old clubs - looking at what they do."

Cusack, who will announce his retained list after the FAW Premier Cup final clash with Cardiff City at Ninian Park on Monday, yesterday staged a behind-closed-doors trial game at the Vetch involving 20 outof- contract players.

"I invited players from First, Second and Third Division sides to come to Swansea for the afternoon and the response was very encouraging," said Cusack.

"Simply by coming down, they were showing the kind of attitude and drive to play the game that Swansea City Football Club needs.

"It gave Alan and myself the opportunity to run the rule over several players at once and I'm hoping that it will now bear fruit.

"As you saw towards the end of last season, we are deficient in many areas of the pitch and need to bring players in who can make a strong, positive contribution."

Several members of the current squad - 11 remain out-of-contract following Romo's departure - will pull on a Swans shirt for the last time on Monday.

Romo, 23, who was signed by former manager John Hollins in October 2000, has been released from his contract eight weeks early to enable him to find another club.

Romo made 33 league appearances during the 2000-01 campaign, but was frozen out under Colin Addison and only played 10 games last season.

"This year has been horrible for me," said Romo. "I am disappointed to leave Swansea and would just like to thank the fans for supporting me while I was there."

Cusack said, "In fairness to David, I wasn't going to keep him on next year and he could see that he wasn't going to be pushing for an FAW Premier Cup final place."

The Swans have confirmed they will be playing three pre-season games in Holland at FC Den Haag's ground between July 19 and 23.

City will play the home team, Belgian side FC Kortrijk and another as yet to be confirmed team between those five days.

The games come in advance of the first home pre-season fixture against Crystal Palace on July 26.

ANY lingering doubts Julian Alsop had about leaving Swansea City two years ago were well and truly extinguished yesterday as Cheltenham Town conquered league newcomers Rushden & Diamonds to claim a place in the Second Division.

The towering striker, who joined the Gloucestershire club after helping the Swans win the Third Division championship in 2000, scored his 26th goal of the season as Cheltenham added another chapter to their amazing success story in a superb Division Three play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.

Afterwards the 28-year-old was critical of the offer he received to extend his two-year stay at the Vetch.

But yesterday he ensured he had the last laugh on his former club who face another tough season in the Football League's basement division while Alsop plies his trade a level higher.

"Swansea effectively just said to me `here's a one-year deal - take it or leave it'," said Nuneaton-born Alsop.

"So I decided to take a gamble by joining Cheltenham and it has paid off.

"I love Swansea and the fans, but the way a small club like Cheltenham is run - and the way they look after the players - is much better." Alsop joined The Robins a year after they won promotion to the Football League.

But six years ago Cheltenham were still aspiring to be a Conference club, their tiny Whaddon Road ground then home to Dr Martens League football.

"It's mind-blowing to think how far this club has come," he said. "A couple of years ago Cheltenham would have been happy to stay in the Conference.

"The 14,000 fans who supported us at the Millennium Stadium would never in their wildest dreams have thought the club would be in the Second Division."

Whether their inspirational manager Steve Cotterill will still be in charge next season remains to be seen.

Cotterill has been linked with a move to First Division Portsmouth and could finally be tempted to test his managerial skills away from the cosy surroundings of the Cotswolds.

As for Rushden & Diamonds, another season in Division Three will do them no harm.

The club - an amalgamation of Rushden Town and Irthlingborough - has only been in existence 10 years and manager Brian Talbot has performed a minor miracle to guide the Northamptonshire outfit into the play-off final in their first season in the Football League.

The Diamonds were muscled out of yesterday's contest as Cheltenham took a firm grip on the second half.

However, last season's Nationwide Conference champions were first to threaten when Jamaica international Paul Hall made a surging run into the 18-yard box.

The former Walsall midfielder twisted and turned his way past two Cheltenham defenders before firing just over the crossbar.

Hall turned supplier 12 minutes later, whipping in a right-sided cross with which fellow Jamaican Onandi Lowe connected first time to force a superb blocking save from Town 'keeper Steve Book.

But it was Cheltenham who carved out a lead on 26 minutes.

Midfielder Martin Devaney's 10-yard effort was cleared off the line but the ball rebounded back, struck Devaney and dribbled in off the inside right post.

A moment of sheer brilliance from Hall provided Diamonds with the equaliser less than 60 seconds later.

In a move engineered straight from the kick-off, the hard-working midfielder pulled Rushden level with a cool left-foot finish which he looped over Book.

Cheltenham fans - who thought they had avoided the nerve-jangling play-offs until Town lost to champions Plymouth Argyle on the final day of the season - were soon roaring again when Alsop put The Robins 2-1 up only four minutes after the interval.

Talbot must have been cursing his side''s failure to clear as Alsop grate-fully received two bites at the cherry.

The striker's far-post header was only half-cleared and, finding it diverted back into his path, Alsop pounced to slot smoothly past Diamonds 'keeper Billy Turley.

From there on, poor Rushden looked utterly dispirited and with 10 minutes to go Cheltenham pounced once more to ensure Talbot's men would face another season in Division Three.

Former Lincoln City midfielder John Finnigan bagged his side's third and decisive goal, neatly curling the ball past Turley after substitute Neil Grayson had cracked a ferocious effort against the crossbar.

The Diamonds had a wonderful chance to grab a goal back - and set up a tense final few minutes - when Hall went on another magnificent run.

But midfielder Stuart Wardley's resulting 15-yard effort sailed agonisingly over the woodwork.

Crystal Palace have revealed that they will visit The Vetch to take on The Swans in a pre-season friendly on Friday, July 26, kicking off at 7pm.

Although The Eagles have made it clear that their pre-season schedule has yet to be finalised, the First Division side hope to travel to Wales for the warm-up game two weeks before the new Nationwide season begins.

Crystal Palace finished the recent season in 10th place, nine points short of the play-offs, so the team under the management of Trevor Francis will provide a stern test.

First-team players who may take part include Dougie Freedman, Aki Riihilahti and talented young striker Clinton Morrison.

Curtis uneasy on agent power

New assistant boss Alan Curtis says football agents are not needed in the lower leagues but admits they have a role to play in the top-flight. Curtis says he is not overly impressed by the growing role that agents seem to be playing in the game and has questioned the wisdom of Swans players using them at all.

Curtis said: "They can be a real nuisance. But I suppose they are needed. "In the lower divisions I think players only need one if they're moving to a Premiership club, because all the advice they need they can get from the management structure at their club.

"From my experience, nearly all the current Swans squad have them, but I think the money they spend on them is unnecessary." New Swans consortium backer Mel Nurse also has mixed thoughts on football agents, insisting they can be good for young players but admitting they are not always so.

He said: "Everything's the wrong way round these days - the younger players have all the money and the older ones don't. "I think the best way agents can help is by advising players to put money away and secure their futures for after they've finished playing.

"Some agents have clearly tried to take advantage of players for their own ends and that's wrong. The best way they can help is to have the players' interests truly at heart."

SWANSEA CITY mascot Cyril the Swan is eyeing a career in politics after a monkey was elected to be mayor of Hartlepool.

The 6ft swan mascot of the troubled soccer club wants to be a National Assembly member.

And his election pledge is that he will donate the £41,500 a year salary to hard-up Swansea City.

Hartlepool went bananas for H'Angus - mascot of the Third Division football team - in the local elections last week and he was chosen as mayor.

Now Cyril has set his sights on the Assembly elections next year to break into politics.

Despite several brushes with the authorities, Cyril's unruly reputation will not rule him out.

He earned himself a touchline ban for a pitch invasion and has appeared before the Welsh Football Association for bringing the game into disrepute.

However none of his convictions are of a criminal nature which would rule him out for five years.

Swansea City spokesman Peter Owen said last night, "Cyril was very interested in the English election results.

"He quite fancies being an Assembly member because he could represent our supporters across a wide area.

"He did once consider joining the Conservatives but the colour blue brings him out in a rash because of the Cardiff City connections.

"He'll probably be an independent and then he can use his left and right wings at the same time.

"Cyril does not actually need any money so his salary of £41,500 would come in very useful to the club."

H'Angus - otherwise known as 28-year-old Stuart Drummond - will earn £53,000 a year as mayor of Hartlepool.

He won over voters with his free bananas for schoolchildren pledge.

CARDIFF City are to field a near full strength team in the FAW Premier Cup final against Swansea City on Monday, May 13.

The Swans come to Ninian Park for the final - and Bluebirds owner Sam Hammam is paying for all their supporters coaches to Cardiff.

Andy Campbell looks certain to lead the City attack as they aim to win the FAW Cup for the first time.

Full-back Gary Croft and goalkeeper Stephen Bywater have both left Cardiff City after their loan spells to return to Ipswich Town and West Ham respectively, but virtually all other players who are fit will be included.

And manager Lennie Lawrence is set to reward talented winger Leon Jeanne with a place in the squad for the FAW party.

Jeanne has sparked in the reserves, scored goals regularly and fans would love to see him perform against the Swans.

Robert Earnshaw is unavailable because he is in the Wales squad for their match against Germany the following evening, while Scott Young will not be risked because of his niggling groin injury.

Danny Gabbidon, too, is ruled out by injury, while Neil Alexander is going to the Far East on tour with Bertie Vogts' Scotland.

Mark Walton will play in goal against Swansea, while fit-again Andy Legg will return after missing the play-off semi-finals.

Tickets are now on sale at Ninian Park and for further information, call 0845 3451 400.

Cardiff City (probable): M Walton (gk), R Weston, A Legg, S Prior, G Kavanagh (capt), L Fortune-West, J Bowen, W Boland, M Bonner, L Maxwell, P Thorne, L Jeanne, P Brayson, M Simpkins, J Collins, L Kendall (gk).

* Cardiff City have named a young squad for their Welsh Youth Cup final against Llanelli at Ninian Park next Thursday (7pm).

They include 15-year-old Ryan Morgan.

Cardiff City Under-18s: M Porter (gk), D Brimble (gk), S Williams, K Huggins, B Anthony, D Parslow, N Fish, M Parkins, M Hayward, D Thomas, R Ingram, S Fleetwood, R Morgan, A Taylor, T Khalil.

Out-of-contract midfielder Andrew Mumford has penned a new deal which will keep him at Swansea City until 2004.

The Neath-born 20-yearold has committed himself to the club for the next two years after coming of age in the first-team this season.

Securing Mumford's signature despite interest from Cardiff, Wigan and Bristol City is a major boost for player-coach Nick Cusack as he plans for next term.

The highly-rated youngster's form in the second half of this season won him a first call-up to the Welsh Under-21 squad and should earn him the club's player of the year award when it is announced in 10 days' time.

"I'm really pleased to end all the speculation about my future and I'm glad to be staying with Swansea, " former Llanelli player Mumford said.

"As soon as they offered me a contract, I was always going to stay.

"Now I can look forward to next season where I'm sure we can have a much better time than this year." Mumford's two-year deal is thought to be on vastly improved terms to his previous contract.

Cyril the Swan fancies a career in politics because a monkey mascot mate of his has swung himself a job as a lord mayor.

And he is not monkeying around, either. Cyril does not spend money and he reckons the £41,500 a year he would get as an AM would be a useful boost to the coffers of hard up Swansea City.

Politics in Hartlepool went bananas when townsfolk voted in H'Angus, the mascot of their third division football team United, at the English local elections.

Now Cyril has set his sights on the Assembly elections which take place next year and his ultimate flight of fancy could even be as an MEP.

His unruly reputation will not rule him out.

None of his convictions is of a criminal nature, which would have barred him from public office for five years.

H'Angus has also incurred the wrath of the authorities on his travels.

He made amorous advances to a woman steward at Scunthorpe, and had a bizarre encounter with an inflatable doll in Blackpool.

Cyril has earned himself a touchline ban for a pitch invasion and has appeared before the beaks of the Welsh Football Association for bringing the game into disrepute.

Spokesman for the Swans Peter Owen said today: "Cyril was very interested in the English election results.

He quite fancies being an AM because he could represent our supporters across a wide area.

"He did once consider joining the Conservatives but the colour blue brings him out in a rash because of the Cardiff City connections.

He'll probably be an independent, and then he can be on his right and left wings at the same time.

"Cyril does not actually need any money so his salary of £41,500 would come in very useful to the club and working three days a week would mean he could still do his proper job at the Vetch." H'Angus will earn £53,000 a year as the town's official representative but will have to use his alternative identity of 28-year-old Stuart Drummond.

H'Angus won over Hartlepool voters with his free bananas for schoolchildren pledge.

The Hartlepool connection with monkeys dates back to the Napoleonic wars, when one, which was the only survivor of a French shipwreck, was captured.

It is reputed to have been executed because locals thought it was a spy.

Chris Coleman, whose top-flight career was almost ended by a horror car crash, has finally been recalled to the Wales squad.

The Fulham and former Swansea City defender, who missed all of the season through injury, has played just five reserve games in his comeback but it is enough for Wales boss Mark Hughes to recall the 31 yearold for the friendly with Germany on May 14.

Coleman has not played for his country since the game in Warsaw against Poland in October 2000 when he starred in a 0-0 draw against the country that finally won the World Cup qualifying group.

Swansea-born Coleman was then almost killed in a shocking car crash the following January when he suffered severe injuries, the worst being a shattered right leg.

There were immediate fears that he would never play again, and it has been a long road back for Coleman who has had eight operations on the leg.

The defender, who actually broke both legs when he crashed his Jaguar into a tree, was overjoyed with news of his recall.

He said: "I couldn't believe it to be honest when Mark rang me up and told me he wanted me to be in Cardiff with the rest of the squad.

"I have always said that, along with playing again in the Premiership, my biggest dream was to get back into the Wales squad, and now it's happened.

"Mark rang me a couple of weeks ago to see how I was and say he was considering bringing me into the squad if I felt up to it.

"That was a nice boost for me after what has happened, but I never dreamt really that I would be back involved so soon.

"Now I've been given the opportunity and I'm absolutely delighted to be back with the lads after all this time."

Cardiff have released ticket information for the FAW Premier Cup final against The Swans at Ninian Park on Monday, May 13.

Cardiff will be all the more determined to take the trophy following the disappointment of Wednesday's play-off semi-final defeat at the hands of Stoke City, but after an unsettling season at the wrong end of the Third Division, Nick Cusack and Roger Freestone would love to take some silverware back to The Vetch.

Prices are £8 for adults and £6 for concessions for Swans fans, who will be in the Grange End of Ninian Park. The match kicks off at 6.55pm.