SWANSEA CITY v WEST BROMWICH ALBION http://www.swanseacity.comJ
ust 12 months earlier, the
Swans were celebrating
winning the Division Three
title but, following a
disastrous season that resulted in
relegation, they found themselves
back in English football’s basement
division.
A saviour when leading the team to
promotion, manager John Hollins
was now under pressure even
before the 2001-02 season began.
With little money to spend on new
faces, he went for the tried and
tested by bringing back the flying
John Williams from Darlington, as
well as giving successful trials to
Nicolas Mazzina and MamadySidibe, who would have a good
campaign and eventually play in the
Premier League with Stoke City.
However, after just two wins from
the opening six games, Hollins was
sacked and Colin Addison took over
at Vetch Field, assisted by former
Welsh international Peter Nicholas.
It was not just on the field where
the problems lay. Frustrated at the
financial losses being made and
seeing no movement on the
proposed building of a new stadium
in Landore, owners Ninth Floor plc
sold their stake in the club to
former commercial director Mike
Lewis for a pound.
The proviso was that Lewis wouldrepay loans of over £800,000 to the
company but, with nobody looking
to purchase the club and pressure
on him to secure the Swans’ future,
he ended up selling the club to
Australian-based Londoner Tony
Petty for the same amount of
money.
However, the talk of money coming
in from Australia to help the club
was soon seen as a smokescreen
as, following a 1-0 loss to Rochdale
within days of taking over as
chairman, Petty immediately placed
the entire first-team squad on the
transfer list while telling the higher
earners to take a massive pay-cut.
The Swans were fortunate to haveGWYN REES TAKES A LOOK BACK THROUGH THE HISTORY BOOKS AT A
MEMORABLE SWANS CAMPAIGN.CLASSIC SEASONS 2001-02
JOHN WILLIAMS MAMADY SIDIBE NICK CUSACK