People are condemning Coleman and the results are clear to see – JackArmy.net

The first home league game of the season is traditionally a well attended match, with fans usually returning in large numbers to catch a first glimpse of the summer signings and see how the pre-season work is coming along.

The Swans' first home league game came yesterday afternoon when Preston North End arrived in SA1 and were duly dispatched 3-0 by the Swans. The victory was as comfortable as the result suggests, although it was clear that there is still work to be done. While there were positives to report, the better news (if you look at it that way) is that there is still significant room for improvement.

It is no wonder that Luke Williams was a happy man when he spoke to the press yesterday evening and he knows he will be greeted by a near-capacity stadium next Sunday when Cardiff arrive in SA1 for the first of the two South Wales derbies of the season.

Behind the scenes, however, there should be great concern among those controlling the finances this morning as to why so many seats around Swansea.com Stadium were empty. An official attendance of just over 14,000 – mentioned in the Swans' TV commentary – was countered by the reality that there were certainly fewer than 13,000 in the stadium. In fact, estimates put the number closer to 12,000. That is a worrying statistic for the first home game of a league season and certainly a reflection of the fact that the club continues to decline under the current ownership model.

This was a point we raised on X last night and it generated a huge amount of reaction (and to be fair, not everyone agreed with this view), but the general reaction is a general indication that fans have done exactly what Andy Coleman asked them to do, which is to judge him on his actions.

If today’s presence is not a message for Andy Coleman, he may never get a clearer one

The fans are voting with their feet on the way we are led, and that is clearly because of Coleman, Levien and the rest of the bloodsuckers.

They were judged by their actions! …

— SwansNews (@swansnews) 17 August 2024

Andy Coleman arrived at Swansea in May 2023. During that time he is just approaching the end of his third transfer window, he appointed (and sacked just a few months later) Michael Duff and spent a month looking for a replacement for him when he made the decision to do without Duff in December. He has constantly talked about our transfer windows being planned and that we will make early moves and in the second and third he proves that we leave things until the last minute. The less said about the first of the transfer windows he oversaw the better and signings since that first window have been sparse, although generally better for the sake of balance.

We keep hearing that 'deals are difficult to get done' but that's largely down to the way we conduct our negotiations because it really is difficult to get deals done. After all, other teams seem to be able to cope. Last season we inflated the club's finances (at the end of the season) by £2.5m a month, partly down to poor transfer dealing in the past but partly down to letting general spending get out of control and no matter what people tell you, there's no way Coleman and Gude (and anyone else you want to include here) are working here for free.

The club has been groomed for a sale for a number of years, as we know, but there is a reason why buyers have not been particularly forthcoming. In the eight years under this ownership group, we have fallen from a team that was relatively comfortable (but never quite secure) in the Premier League to one that would be described as lower mid-table at best in the Championship. Play-off struggles under Steve Cooper have been replaced by a frequent over-reliance on average Championship players and a style of football that does not resemble the Swansea Way as often as our strategy calls for.

All of these are reasons why there were more empty seats at Swansea.com Stadium yesterday. People are simply voting with their feet. Too many have gone from being season ticket holders to casual stadium visitors and with the development of the new Sky deal and readily available TV coverage outside the stadium, people are simply choosing not to go to games more and more often.

The new owners are working continuously with “our Supporters' Trust” (words used by Andy Coleman on yesterday's show) around the match experience but everyone seems to have lost sight of the fact that the match experience for a football fan is determined by the performance and result on the pitch and all too often in recent seasons that has been lacking so much that people have not turned up. Steve Cooper and Russell Martin have not been supported as much as they would have liked and are now both in the Premier League as managers. As good as the four new signings this summer have been, we are still four to six players short of having a team that can compete at a higher level in this league on a consistent basis. Yesterday's performance was good but it will take a shift of much more than ninety minutes to get people back into the stadium on a regular basis.

So there are undoubtedly excuses for yesterday's crowds, but really they are just that. The fact is that Andy Coleman asked us to judge him on his actions and that is exactly what many are already doing. We know there will be big crowds and big crowds next week but the subsequent games against Norwich, Bristol City and Stoke will tell a very different story and no amount of music, food, flags or other initiatives will change that – quality signings with the intention of improving the team will do that.

And if that realisation doesn't come through behind the scenes this morning, then we're in for another few bumpy days as more and more people become disillusioned with the club. Andy Coleman won't be able to change people's mood overnight (apathy is a word I heard several times yesterday), but he needs to take steps in the right direction relatively quickly or the league's attendance could fall below 10,000.

It's up to you, Andy.

Images courtesy of Getty Images, Athena Picture Agency and Swansea City Football Club.