Today’s Championship play-off final between Reading and Swansea City is often termed the £90m match or even the richest match in the world. In fact either title is a bit misleading as it includes the £48m of parachute payments that would go to a club that came straight down again which are spread over four years.
Today’s Championship play-off final between Reading and Swansea City is often termed the £90m match or even the richest match in the world. In fact either title is a bit misleading as it includes the £48m of parachute payments that would go to a club that came straight down again which are spread over four years.
However, there’s no doubt that there’s a lot at stake, especially for Swansea City who could become the first Welsh club in the Premiership (as distinct from the top flight). Many commentators, myself included, thought that Cardiff City would be the first Welsh club to make it. Perhaps we were too easily seduced by the relative glamour of the cosmopolitan, high profile capital city. But one can see a scenario in which the Swans stay up and the Bluebirds join them next year so that they can renew their intense rivalry.
The media focus is very much on Swansea City because they offer a more interesting story. Reading have been in the Premier League before. They are based in one of the most prosperous areas of England, the Thames Valley, whereas even the stoutest defenders of Abertawe would admit that it faces regeneration challenges. Arguably there is something a little bland and boring about Reading who are essentially a benefactor club, albeit one that have built a large and loyal fan base.
Swansea have the more interesting back story. After going through some very hard times, they finally left the Vetch Field in 2005 (it has just been demolished) and moved to the sparkling new Liberty Stadium which is an impressive sight as you leave Abertawe on the train.
Chairman Huw Jenkins commented, ‘Very rarely have we had any consistent spells of success or growth. It’s usually been a good year and then about six bad ones. The last ten years, since this board got involved, we’ve managed to get some sort of stability and slow, continued success.’ In their last set of accounts the club show a profit of nearly £600,000.
I was interviewed by Sky about the match yesterday (I haven’t seen the 15 seconds they have used so far). The interviewer, Darren Little, asked me whether the Premier League would prefer Swansea to go up. Officially, they cannot have preferences of this kind. Ian Holloway said that they wanted Blackpool to go down, but the Premier League denied this. They would, wouldn’t they? But Blackpool’s attacking style of play added something distinctive to the competition, as did their colourful manager. There’s no harm in a bit of controversy as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.
Like Blackpool, Swanse play an attractive 4-3-3 attacking style which has drawn inspiration from Barcelona. Unlike Blackpool, they should strengthen their defence if they go up. That doesn’t mean they have to abandon their style of play: parking the team bus in front of goal will get them nowhere, nor would it have helped Blackpool.
The capacity of the Liberty Stadium is just over 20,500 so there are limits to the extra gate money they can raise. If they are promoted, they presumably won’t go down the QPR route of big increases in ticket prices because the local economy wouldn’t stand it (not that QPR fans get the point of their club using Chelsea rather than Fulham as a basis of comparison with the cheapest season ticket £329 at Craven Cottage).
Either Swansea or Reading are going to find it challenging in the Premier League. At worst, they will get a boost to their finances if they come straight down again and will be more competitive in the Championship. If they can survive the first season, they could stay on for a few years. It’s been done before.