Spitting Feathers
By Nigel Davies
The place where the Editor's 'ead explodes in the most spectacular fashion......
Rage-o-Meter
1 = ANGRY
2 = FURIOUS
3 = PSYCHOTIC
“It’s an important game, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. I’d rather win promotion and get beat by Cardiff twice.”
These were the words uttered by Swans boss Michael Duff and they could be considered ‘ill advised’ coming after a very poor home defeat to Bristol City.
They look a Hell of a lot more damaging than merely ‘ill advised’ in the light of defeat by Cardiff, especially when your Swans side has taken those words to heart and simply given up the game in defeat in the hope that it will magically lead to a promotion at the end of the season.
Look, I can sort of see what Duff meant when those words spilled out of his mouth post Brizzle defeat, but it was a ham fisted way of trying to reduce the pressure on his struggling side.
And worse than that, it’s handed his critics – who are many, and growing – a rather handy giant stick to beat him with impunity.
No matter how long Michael Duff remains manager of Swansea City, and it’s looking more and more like his tenure will be on the short side, those words will haunt him.
Defeat in the Derby is bad enough, but it happens. Defeat in the Derby with less fight on show than an episode of Super Ted is unacceptable, and those words will be like petrol tipped over the flames of fury licking all over the Jack Army at the moment.
Duff not only made a rod for his own back with those words, he literally stripped himself naked in the street and allowed himself to be beaten and humiliated for all to see.
Trying to play down a fxture that has ignited every emotion in a Swans fan for the entirety of out history was dull enough, but doing so when you haven’t even won a game for the club let alone convinced anyone that we can be promotion candidates was monumentally stupid.
Duff will need to demonstrate that he “gets it” by the time Cardiff come to the Dot Com looking for their own version of the Double…but the chances of him lasting that long as Swans boss already look slimmer than a Dennis Lawrence leg.
Those words are gonna haunt Duff, but probably not for much longer the way things are playing out…
One of the reasons we lost out in the South Wales Derby was the presence of Wales Captain Aaron Ramsay in the Cardiff midfield.
Ramsay was breathtaking or outstanding, but he did prompt his side effectively, outplayed Matt Grimes completely and did convert the second goal from the penalty spot late on.
But let’s have it straight – Ramsay’s mere presence on that field was an absolute disgrace!
Let’s remember that Ramsay is captain of his country, OUR country, and he’s walked off the pitch after 50 minutes or so of a vital qualifying game for his country in order to guarantee fitness for the derby a few days later.
Given the fact Wales didn’t make the game safe against Latvia until deep into injury time, we may very well have come a cropper and dropped points without Ramsay’s “leadership” as Captain.
The fact that Robert Page indulged Ramsay and Cardiff says an awful lot about him and his weakness as Wales boss too.
The truth is both of them got lucky with Wales and Cardiff winning their respective matches but it was a massive insult to the rest of the country that the Captain was allowed by the Manager to put Club over Country!
I’m waiting patiently for my big money transfer to Saudi Arabia – after all, anything else with two arms and two legs seems to be subject to a gazillion pound bid, so why not me?
Ok, the multiple answers to that question revolve around the fact that I’m well overweight, my legs barely work anymore and I’m not a footballer – but that never stopped Lee Tomlin pulling on a Cardiff shirt, eh?
Well if the Saudis are not going to come in for me and turn me into an instant millionaire when the transfer window reopens, maybe I can persuade them to pump a few million into the Swans to take Liam Walsh out to the Middle East?
I really feel sorry for Walsh…there’s a very good player there inside the boy’s brain…but his body just isn’t robust enough for professional football.
Yet another series of injuries put a dead stop on his late season run of games last March, and they’ve robbed him of an entire pre-season and the opening months of this season at least. We just can’t rely on him as part of our squad, especially with the equally fragile Joe Allen on our books.
If the Saudis want to use sport to radically improve their humanitarian image then they should splash some of their cash in South Wales, and spirit Walshy away on a life changing contract to play in a league that will never have the demands of a top European one.
Then again, Walsh is just as likely to have his hands cut off for stealing a living as he is to be strutting his stuff in the land of sand and oil wells!
It was good to see Luis Rubiales get his comeuppance, finally forced to quit as Spanish football supremo.
Watching Rubiales refusing to step down after his unsolicited kiss on the lips of Spanish World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso was bad enough. Watching him doubling down in sneering fashion, insisting that the kiss was consensual and accusing his victim of lying, was misogynistic gaslighting or World Championship standard.
Mate, you clamped your hands on her face as you forced your sneer laden lips onto hers!
What you should get, Senõr Rubiales, is a bloody good slap, an American Marines style ‘Code Red’ with the full Women’s Spain squad taking it in turns smacking you with you snooker ball inside a pair of tights, you sexist pig.
But I guess we’ll have to settle for you having your well paid job taking away from you and the restraining order handed out by the Spanish courts.
Oh-effing-lay!
