Opening Salvo!
By ATFV Online Editor Nigel Davies
Hello and welcome to the (belated) third edition of ATFV Online – the fanzine with more bytes than a Mike Tyson fight, more hits than Welsh football fan band The Barry Horns but less virus than a Microsoft Windows new release…
It’s been a long time since the second experimental issue of the new online version of ATFV came out – over 12 months in fact!
A combination of the Covid enforced shutdown of sport coupled with a a loss of love for football over that period is part of the reason behind the long hiatus.
Add in the stress and pressures of my ‘Day Job’ as the Covid crisis has engulfed the city, the country and the world, and a delay was inevitable.
In fact the last few weeks as I’ve worked on this new issue has reminded me why I kept putting it off…it’s been really difficult trying to combine working on the job that pays me a wage (and boy do I know that I’m luckier than most to have one of those right now) and the demands of putting something like ATFV together.
In the old days I had a strict print deadline and about £700 of my own money at stake in printing costs, and that acted as a galvanising force to make me get the job done.
Nowadays, with this new fangled web version, it is all too easy to put things off, procrastinate, change the planned content on an almost daily basis.
It’s something I’ve got to come to terms with and get my head around – otherwise it will be another 12 months before you get to read issue 4!
I’m hoping you will find this issue worth the wait though.
We’ve got some terrific content from some cracking contributors – the usual suspects of Chris Leadbeater, Martin Jones and Steve Carroll are joined by Wales Online columnist Guto Llewellyn and Supporters Trust Chairman Andrew Godden in these electronic pages.
This issue also sees the Lazarus like return of ATFV “founding father” Phil Sumbler, the man who started this publication all those many years ago.
Phil’s article Back To Our Roots is full of positivity – and considering he was Chairman of the Supporters Trust during the bleak times since the acrimonious sale of the club I deem that pretty significant.
It matches the rest of this issue which is, with the exception of one article I’ve written about the club’s American owners, overwhelmingly positive and supportive of the club.
And boy does it feel good to be back writing in that way about Swansea City Football Club.
It is fully deserved too as the club is much more stylish on the pitch and much more in tune with supporters off it.
Fair play to former Chairman Trevor Birch and his replacement Julian Winter for overseeing the gradual reset that has brought this club back in tune with its fan base!
And on that positive note I shall sign off the Salvo and let you enjoy this new issue of ATFV.
Nige
