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Press cuttings |
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Friday, July 12, 2002 Hartson: we need Hughes full-time |
| Evening Post
John Hartson reckons Wales need to have Mark Hughes on a full-time basis to give the country a massive boost. |
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Thursday, July 11, 2002 Steffan's taking all his mates to match |
| By Darren Witcoop - Neath Guardian A NEATH football fanatic has netted a host of Swansea City prizes after winning a website World Cup predict-a-score competition. Steffan Borland, aged six, of Brynau Wood, Cimla, fought off more than 250 online Swansea supporters by predicting the most correct World Cup scores on the scfc.co.uk Swansea City Football Club website. Competitors had to predict the final score of every Every game played and point were awarded for correct Predictions. And he certainly hit the jackpot when he found out what he had won from the independent Swans Website. In addition to the season ticket for next season that he had won Richard Keen Insurance Brokers, who sponsored the competition, also supplied a new home kit and he will also run out as team mascot in one home fixture in September. In addition to this a block of 20 tickets has been set aside for members of his football team - Cimla Youth FC - to attend a home fixture next season. Mum, Janet Borland, said she was very proud of her son. She said: "He is absolutely over the moon since winning and cannot stop smiling. "To win a competition is great but to win prizes from your favourite team is even better." Young Steffan also admitted his lucky punts had made his school friends very envious of him. "I can't wait for next season now and especially as I can watch every home game," said the Crynallt Infants' School pupil. |
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Thursday, July 11, 2002 New Swan Reid likes what he sees |
| Evening Post New Swansea City signing Paul Reid has been impressed with what he has seen so far from player-manager Nick Cusack. The 34-year-old has spent 16 years in the game and admits to getting into a routine when it comes to preseason training. But the left-sided midfielder, snapped up on a free transfer after being released by Bury, says training so far has been like a breath of fresh air. "It has been refreshingly different, " said Reid. "Nick has got some good ideas and, although it's been hard, he's mixed it up and kept everyone on their toes so it's been enjoyable." Since arriving in Swansea, Reid has proved he can more than hold his own in training, both on a bike at Afan Argoed Country Park and on the road in timed runs along the seafront at Swansea Bay. He has impressed onlookers with his fitness after showing younger players a clean pair of heels. "I've always been able to run, " he added. "I am not at peak fitness, but I am not far off it. It's been hard but fun and certainly different for me as we've done things which I've not done before. "Going out to places like Afan Argoed Country Park has been enjoyable. We had a hard bike ride followed by cross country which just gave us variation to the normal training." Reid will be part of the first-team squad which will travel up to Lilleshall tomorrow to take on Barry Fry's Peterborough United in a friendly behind closed doors. Cusack will include trialists Emiel van Eijkeren, Marc Millar, Dave Theobald, Richard Hurling and Jamie Wood in the squad to travel. |
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Thursday, July 11, 2002 Defender hunts Swans place |
| BBC Online Swansea City are running the rule over 18-year-old Welsh international Geraint Frowen as he prepares to take part in the Northern Ireland Milk Cup. Full-back Frowen has been released by Leicester City at the end of the second year of a three-year scholarship, but has been included in the Wales under-19s squad. The Pontyclun-born defender will be training with Swansea before the tournament, which starts on July 19, hoping to impress. Swansea's youth development officer, Wayne Powell, said: "He needs to keep fit, with the Welsh games coming up at the end of the month. "We have space for one more third-year scholar, so we've invited him to pop along and work with us for the next week or so. "He played a number of reserve games for Leicester last season, so he's been playing at a high standard. "If we like the look of him, then there's the possibility that we might take him on as a third-year scholar,"he told Swansea's official website. |
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Wednesday, July 10, 2002 Swans and Wrexham in Digital protest |
| Western Mail CASH-STARVED Swansea City and Wrexham will today step up the pressure on the owners of collapsed broadcaster ITV Digital to try to re-coup their share of the ?178.5m television money owed to Football League clubs. Wrexham and Swansea will join representatives from most of the other 70 Nationwide sides to protest outside the London offices of Carlton and Granada over their failure to honour the remaining two instalments of ITV Digital's ?315m three-year contract to televise live matches. But Second Division Cardiff City, one of the few fortunate clubs who do not rely on the television money, last night refused to confirm whether they would join the Swans and The Red Dragons in the protest. Clubs left on the brink of bankruptcy when ITV Digital folded were handed a lifeline last week when it was announced the league had secured a new £95m deal with Sky to screen Nationwide and Worthington Cup matches. But they are determined to press ahead with action against Carlton and Granada, beginning with today's protest and culminating in the case being heard at the High Court in London on July 26. "The fact the league has secured a new TV deal with Sky does not mean the pressure is off Carlton and Granada," said Swansea managing director Don Goss, who will represent the club in London along with non-executive director Don Keefe. "The protest gives us the chance to impress upon the companies how vital a source of income the TV money is. We must fight to receive what is owed." Wrexham vice-chairman David Rhodes, who will be the North Wales club's representative in London today, said, "It is important we keep up the pressure on Carlton and Granada. "What shocked me is that these companies believed they would be awarded the digital licences again last week (they went to the BBC and Sky). "That would have been an absolute disgrace after what happened with ITV Digital. Clubs like Wrexham depend on the TV money and we must do everything we can to recover it." In addition to today's lobby, Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff have each been allocated a day to protest outside the offices of Carlton and Granada leading up to the High Court case. The Ninian Park club have been nominated for July 15, Swansea July 25 and Wrexham July 26. Following discussions with the Metropolitan Police, it has been agreed that no more than 50 supporters per club be allowed to take part in the two-hour protests. |
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Wednesday, July 10, 2002 Swans' Sidibe set for trial with QPR |
| Western Mail QPR manager Ian Holloway is giving a trial to Swansea City striker Mamady Sidibe. The French forward captured Holloway's attention with a goal in Swansea's 4-0 rout of Rangers in the FA Cup last season. Sidibe will train with QPR this week and is available on a free transfer after failing to agree a new contract at Swansea. Holloway said: "He has been offered less favourable terms by them so he's going to be a free transfer. "He only trained with us for the first time on Monday so we'll take our time to have a good look at him. "We need someone who is going to be a threat with his head in the box." |
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Tuesday, July 09, 2002 Youngster facing op |
| Teamtalk Promising youngster Richard Duffy is facing surgery and a further four month lay-off with his long-standing back injury. The 16 year-old defender, who made his first-team debut in the FA Cup defeat at Macclesfield in December, has already been out of action for five months with disc trouble in his lower back. It was hoped that rest would help to clear up the injury but now it has been confirmed that Duffy faces surgery to cure the problem. A further period of rehabilitation will then rule him out until late in the year. |
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Tuesday, July 09, 2002 Supporters' club taken under Swans' wings |
| Evening Post
After many years of running supporters' trips up and down the country, Foscfa have been taken under the Swans' wing and been renamed the Swansea City Travel Club. |
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Sunday, July 07, 2002 Sidibe set for R's trial |
| Teamtalk Swansea's giant French striker Mamady Sidibe is set to join QPR on trial ahead of a possible free transfer to Loftus Road. Sidibe was close to sealing a move to Rangers just after the end of last season but talks ended when the player was said to have been offered more money elsewhere. Barnsley were believed to be interested but no move materialised, so Sidibe is still a free agent and Rangers boss Ian Holloway has made another approach. The former Racing Club Paris forward scored eight goals last season and although his form was patchy, he gave Rangers all sorts of problems during Swansea's FA Cup win in November. Sidibe has been carrying an injury so a trial with Rangers is now being mooted. He is expected to link up with the R's squad next week so Holloway will able to assess his fitness and form. |
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