{"id":1925,"date":"2021-09-13T09:55:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T08:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2021-09-19T21:24:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T20:24:38","slug":"remember-when","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/2021\/09\/remember-when\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember When…"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Remember when\u2026<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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...We Last Appointed RM as Manager<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Nigel Davies <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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With more than a hundred years of often turbulent, sometimes terrific Swansea Town\/City history, it\u2019s easy to forget some of the more colourful events of the past. Our Remember When\u2026\u2026. feature helps you recall the remarkable and the ridiculous throughout the decades. In this instalment we recall the last time the Swans appointed RM as manager in what proved to be the inspired appointment of Roberto Martinez.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Looking back now it’s hard to imagine a Swans side boasting the likes of Leon, Trundle, Robbo and Tate struggling but that’s just what was happening as the dying embers of 2006 roared into furious flames engulfing Swansea City manager Kenny Jackett at the beginning of 2007.<\/p>

And quite simply Jackett couldn’t stand the heat.<\/p>

A steadily worsening run of form over the New Year had seen the club’s League One promotion push stutter and by the time Oldham delivered a 1-0 defeat at the Liberty during the first week of February the stutter had turned into a grinding halt.<\/p>

That defeat had seen the Swans dragged out of the play off places and they were left floundering a massive 11 points short of the automatic spots.<\/p>

Jackett had met with the club hierarchy to discuss the slump and loan targets had been suggested to try and help the manager turn things around…only for Jackett to catch everyone by surprise a couple of days later by indicating he wished to quit.<\/p>

Jackett felt that he’d become an easy target for fans and media alike, and for the club’s sake as well as his own it was better if there was a parting of the ways. Jackett’s near three year tenure had come to an inglorious end.\u00a0<\/p>

A stunned Huw Jenkins elaborated for the Press:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I was very surprised when I received a call from Kenny on Wednesday and I’m very disappointed with how things have worked out. He was upset. He’s thought things over and felt the criticism against him was difficult to take.<\/strong><\/p>

He didn’t know where to go from here – whichever way he moved forward, he felt it was only a matter of time before the criticism from the supporters or the press would get on to him again.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Caught on the hop by Jackett’s sudden exit, the club handed the reigns to player coach Kevin Nugent whilst a thorough search was conducted to identify a permanent replacement.<\/p>

There was certainly no shortage of options as more than 50 applications were received, whilst the club approached a couple of possibilities that hadn’t formally applied.<\/p>

One of those approached was veteran manager\u00a0Joe Royle – the sort of experienced candidate that had strong support amongst the Swans board. Royle however indicated that he wasn’t interested and his name was struck from the list.<\/p>

Another man approached by the club was\u00a0Roberto Martinez.<\/p>

The former Swans captain had been released at the end of the 2005\/06 season after his souring relationship with Jackett had broken down beyond repair. Martinez reluctantly moved to Chester where he found himself playing regular football again.<\/p>

But the lure of returning to South Wales, where he felt he had unfinished business, and the chance to fulfil his dream and follow in his father’s managerial footsteps was a strong one, and so the Spaniard let it be known that he was indeed interested in taking charge at the Liberty Stadium.<\/p>

It was by no means a done deal though; by this point the 50 strong list of applicants had been whittled down to a more manageable list of names that included the likes of Dean Saunders, Kevin Blackwell, Gary Megson, Andy Ritchie and Nigel Worthington.<\/p>

The likes of Micky Adams, Mark Bowen, Gary Speed and Mark McGhee had fallen by the wayside whilst a cheeky application by former manager John Hollins was respectfully turned aside.<\/p>

Martinez was viewed as a favourite for the post…but only one of them…former Swan Saunders was the frontrunner if the Press was to be believed (yes, quite!).\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Meanwhile things on the pitch were getting no better, Nugent unable to coax a reaction out of a group of players stunned by Jackett’s departure.<\/p>

A 2-2 draw at lowly Doncaster was followed by a 0-2 home defeat to League One leaders Scunthorpe and the Swans found the play off gap growing.<\/p>

Despite this, Jenkins still didn’t want to be rushed into making an appointment, preferring to get the\u00a0right\u00a0<\/strong>candidate rather than the\u00a0hasty\u00a0<\/strong>one.<\/p>

A round of interviews was conducted, the three men in the running alongside Martinez said to have been Saunders, Blackwell and Gary Megson.<\/p>

The Board took their time to digest what they’d seen and heard from each candidate and there seemed to be a dilemma in front of them.<\/p>

On the one hand Martinez had impressed with his philosophy and attitude, plus he knew all about the club and the current crop of players and was also extremely popular with the fans. But at just 33 years of age and with no managerial experience experience it would be a huge gamble to hand him the reigns.<\/p>

On the other hand there was Gary Megson; an experienced manager and a strict disciplinarian in a similar mould to Jackett, Megson was seen as a safe pair of hands.<\/p>

As the Board mulled over the decision, Nugent prepared the side for the away trip to Yeovil – not expecting any announcement of a new manager until the following week at the earliest.<\/p>

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Nugent was working under the impression that he’d still be in charge for the trip to Rotherham the following Tuesday…but he hadn’t banked on the intervention of ‘the other club’ involved in what was becoming a protracted process.<\/p>

Chester manager Mark Wright had publicly stated that his club wouldn’t stand in Roberto’s way if he was offered the Swans job, but behind the scenes Chester were putting pressure on for a decision on their player’s future to be made.<\/p>

With Chester demanding the Swans make up their minds over the future of their player, and an influential one at that, plus the damage the uncertainty was doing to the club’s promotion bid, it was time to be decisive.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jenkins and the Board made up their collective mind to appoint Martinez (although I remember being told that the collective mind had changed Jenkins’ decision to go with Gary Megson).<\/p>

Compensation was quickly agreed with Chester and Martinez was now Swansea City manager – but with a crucial fixture at Yeovil the following day Jenkins wanted to keep it under wraps until the following week at least, as originally planned.<\/p>

That plan went up in smoke, partially due to Chester wishing to close the book on things but also due to Roberto’s eagerness to get started.\u00a0<\/p>

It led to the announcement hurriedly being made on the Friday afternoon before the Yeovil game the following day instead of after the Rotherham game the following Tuesday.<\/p>

An annoyed Andy Oakes – Nugent’s preferred goalkeeper over Willy Gueret – felt this contributed to the Swans’ poor performance and single goal defeat against the Glovers.<\/p>

Maybe he had a point with the squad prepared by Nugent but meeting the incoming gaffer in the hotel on the morning of the match. Nugent and Colin Pascoe may have been barking orders to the players from the dugout during the game, but it was the beady eyes of Martinez in the stands that the players could feel burning into them with every misplaced pass.<\/p>

What was even more bizarre was the sight of Nugent giving a post match interview to the newspapers whilst Martinez was just a few yards away talking to the TV cameras!\u00a0<\/p>

Perhaps it was a fitting end to a spell that had seen the Swans lose six out of seven games, their play off spot AND their manager.<\/p>

The club had it’s new man at the helm now though…a young and charismatic man with an overwhelming desire to play a passing game. A man with the initials\u00a0RM<\/strong>…sound familiar?<\/p>

The RM of the Roberto Martinez variety breezed into the club and won seven of his first eleven games in charge and so nearly salvaged that lost play off spot. Only a last day 3-6 home thrashing by rampant Blackpool killed off that dream, the Tangerines taking advantage of the Swans’ need to chase goals to overturn a goal difference as well as points deficit.<\/p>

But with a full pre-season and a little time, the following season under Martinez was one of success and magical football. That’s a story for another instalment of Remember When… though.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the meantime, back in the here and now, let’s hope that this latest appointment of an RM as manager has a similar outcome…<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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...if it does, then there are good times ahead! <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Remember when\u2026 …We Last Appointed RM as Manager By Nigel Davies With more than a hundred years of often turbulent, sometimes terrific Swansea Town\/City history, it\u2019s easy to forget some of the more colourful events of the past. Our Remember When\u2026\u2026. feature helps you recall the remarkable and the ridiculous throughout the decades. In this instalment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2412,"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions\/2412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atfv.co.uk\/fanzine1-4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}