Pointless going over all of that again, Pat. In my defence I don’t think we’re where we are because of “missed commercial opportunities”.
I believe Swann’s denied it but my understanding is that he and his family played a major role in bringing players to the club. If that is the case then I believe it was the main contributory factor to our being in the current predicament. Recruitment should always have been left to the manager and his staff, with the Chairman’s role being to look after the financial side and that alone. Over and above this his hire and fire attitude to managers has been a disaster.
Where I have some sympathy for Swann is covid, which will undoubtedly have hit his business interests very hard given its impact on the hospitality sector. However, covid hit most people hard and I think it’s poor for Swann to use this as an excuse, which he appears to be doing even if he is accepting responsibility for the club’s plight. It certainly appears that he’s put his personal and business interests above those of the club, which would be more understandable had he not been the one to have created the problems in the first place.
Swann’s saying he wants the club to be financially sound but if he’s transferred assets to cover losses — and I believe this to be the case but, again, cannot be 100% certain — I think this is very poor given where it’s left us. As I’ve said before his plans were sound but his execution and decision-making have been the exact opposite. Ultimately, Swann has taken the club from a great position — we were in the Div 1 play-offs just a few short years ago — to an appalling one and I will never, ever forgive him for that.
