Sunday’s 5-0 win against second division team Bradford in the League cup final deservedly brought major silverware back to Liberty Stadium for the first time in over 100 years. Whilst the result was expected against a team 72 places below them, Bradford had already beaten 3 premier league teams to get there (Wigan, Arsenal, and Aston Villa) so complacency could not be an option. Swansea’s path to victory was arguably better, defeating last year’s winner, Liverpool and Champions League winner’s, Chelsea.
The victory is a reward for the way the club has been managed for the last 10 years which has seen them rise from the third division to the premiership. The Chairman Huw Jenkins has spent extremely wisely, eschewing the fashion for getting into debt to win success. A small team like Swansea will always struggle to retain talent as teams with much deeper pockets will always swoop in to get the best players and managers. Their success is in stark contrast to fellow promotion team QPR, a team that has spent big yet languishes at the bottom of the EPL. Swansea’s rise has been punctuated by an ever changing manager – Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers and currently Laudrup. Each time a manager has left the team has improved by the next canny appointment. Can this carry on? Who knows but whatever happens in the future the ride has been worth it.
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