Opening Salvo!
By ATFV Online Editor Nigel Davies
Hello and welcome to issue 8 of ATFV Online – the fanzine with more presence in Swansea than Michael Duff (not difficult!), more family oriented than Andy Coleman yet more provocative than Paul Watson sitting next to that ‘orrible little Scummer Nathan Jones…
Oh it’s good to be back! It’s been a long time since the last issue thanks to another bout of health problems on my part.
Close to four months off work and unable to attend games or work on ATFV’s many charitable exploits left me in a pretty dark place to be honest.
It’s not easy being the Darren Way of fanzine producing, I can tell you!
I had the most vicious cough and for some reason I practically lost my voice, leaving me sounding like a cheap Sean Dyche knock off or the love child of Rod Stewart and Bonnie Tyler.
It appears that I caught Covid last October although I’m more convinced that I had a dose of the Whooping Cough that’s said to be going around.
Each cough was simply terrifying as I’d keep coughing until I literally ran out of oxygen in my lungs, and I would then take in a huge gasp of air that would leave me dizzy and full of pins and needles in my fat face.
I am much better now but I still have the cough to an extent, only really sparked off when I laugh…
…just as well I’m a miserable old git then!
I’ve not been the only one sick over the period since the last issue – Swansea City has been fighting for it’s life too.
The Michael Duff days marked a sick decline that was, for his tenure, terminal.
We then experienced a month on life support under Alan Sheehan – and fair play to him, he worked wonders to keep the patient just about breathing – before finally bringing in Luke Williams just as the January transfer window opened.
The addition of two pacy wingers has made everyone feel a little better about things, and although the side got smashed by the division’s top sides in his first few games it appears Williams has stabilised things enough to suggest a recover in the short term.
One of the worrying symptoms of all this is that a long, l-o-n-g time fan like me hasn’t missed going to watch the Swans live during my enforced absence from games.
I am starting to itch a little to get back to the Dot Com now that Williams has us trying to play some football again, but life under Duff was a real grind and the whole atmosphere around the club under this ownership is a difficult one.
Our support is ebbing away under this regime. You only had to be there in those early games to see that 16,000 tickets might have been sold but there was nowhere near that many seats actually filled.
That’s going to translate into lower and lower season tickets sold, reducing income yet more.
God forbid us dropping down a division too as that would be catastrophic for a club that is relying on multi million pound handouts from its shady owners to keep the lights on.
The future of the patient Swansea City is very much in the balance but for now we need to staunch the flow of blood and survive this season and stay in the Championship. Williams can deliver that and ATFV will support him in his attempts.
Meanwhile the Editor of ATFV is off to cough his throat clear and then sing the Swansea City Song with Ma Tyler and Pa Stewart…
…while all of you read and enjoy issue 8 of A Touch Far Vetched the fundraising fanzine sponsored by Simply Print Wales!
