Ten Questions For Swansea City

We asked Swansea City reporter Kevin Elphick ten questions about our forthcoming fixture at Swansea, the Liberty Stadium and More.

1. How does it feel to go straight from League Two to the brink of the Championship over 2 seasons?

It’s been great, especially when you consider that we nearly went out of the whole league just 3 years ago.

The club’s directors have turned the club around superbly, from being in debts and going into administration to paying �600,000 for players in January alone.

Some fans don’t want promotion to the Championship to happen too soon though which is fair enough. We started off well but I tend to think now we are not quite ready for the Championship. I’d like us to build up a team ready to compete in that league rather than winning promotion, and coming straight back down. That’s not to say that I don’t want to go up, as hopefully we still have funds to improve the squad if we do win promotion again this year.

2. Who should Swindon fans keep their eyes on during our match on Tuesday?

The obvious choice would be Lee Trundle but Rory Fallon will want to perform well against his former club.

Andy Robinson has been scoring regularly from midfield and Leon Britton always troubles the opposition with his pace and skill down the right wing.

3. Do you think Swindon Town will avoid relegation to League Two?

With your game in hand being against us hopefully for our sake you won’t gain points over Rotherham and Hartlepool. It’s very close between you lot and it’s hard to say on who out of the 3 will go down.

You have some tough games against Huddersfield and Brentford as well as a big game at home to MK Dons. I think maybe the bottom four as it is will go down, unfortunately.

4. How has Rory Fallon been since joining the Swansea and how has he been received, and finally was £300,000 too much for someone of his calibre. At Swindon we certainly find it amusing someone would pay so much for someone who has had one good half season?

I think Jackett was desperate for a targetman after failing to bring in the main target – Grant Holt.

He’s worked hard, he’s superb in the air but he’s just had no luck in front of goal until now. There have been split views from the fans. Some have given up and don’t rate him whatsoever while other’s have been more patient and think he’s shown a lot of promise. I’m with the latter!

�300,000 was far too much to pay though. The chairman has been reluctant to pay much for players who were obviously worth more than our bids, so it was surprising when we bid �300,000 for Rory.

5. You have the new Liberty Stadium. We at Swindon are looking to build a new 20,000 seat stadium. How has the new stadium helped the team on and off the field?

A new stadium gives you such a huge boost. With better facilties as well as better crowds it gives you more money to spend on improving the squad.

There’s that new stadium buzz going around (which is starting to wear off now) but it certainly has played a big part in our success this year.

6. Where do you expect to see your team finish this season?

A top 2 finish is now highly unlikely but I’ve never ruled it out although anything less than a win on Tuesday and I don’t think it’ll be possible.

We must up our game for big matches against Oldham and Southend but I’m not confident we can beat both those teams.

I think we’ll finish in 4th or 5th place.

7. What has been your biggest memory of the 2005/2006 season so far?

It has to be thrashing Bristol City 7-1. It could have been even more and Bristol City that day were truely awful but they’ve turned things around well since then.

Beating Chesterfield 5-1 also sticks in the memory as well as Trundle’s goal against Yeovil from just inside the opposition’s half.

8.What are your personal views on the Lee Trundle controversy? Do you feel the media over-reacted and do you think Trundle’s actions will cause even more friction amongst both sets of supporters?

It’s annoyed me really because despite winning the Trophy, all I’ve heard and read is Trundle, Tate and their flag.

It was wrong to do it but it’s not as if he meant to do it, it was a spur of the moment thing as he was given the flag by a fan after the game. He shouldn’t have bothered putting that t-shirt on though and I would have thought that he would know better, especially since he’s looked up to by thousands of fans.

The media have definately overreacted and the FAW never help us out in bad situations. I think it’s unlikely that we’ll be playing Cardiff next season but if we do, hopefully his antics won’t stir up even more trouble than you can expect from these derby games.

9. Who has been instrumental in Swansea’s success this season?

Lee Trundle and Akinfenwa formed a good partnership at the start of the season while Tate and Britton have formed a great partnership on the right hand side.

You also can’t forget about captain Roberto Martinez who performed well last year but has since gone off the boil a bit. It’s hard to pick out 1 or 2 players as the team as a whole played well together which led to our early success in League One.

10.What is your prediction for Tuesdays match.

With it being at home I think we can edge this one 2-1 but with you battling against relegation I think it’s possible you may get a draw (1-1). Predicting Swans results at the moment isn’t easy!