Russell Martin

A MESSAGE FROM RUSSELL MARTIN

Go od evening and welcome back to the Swansea.com Stadium for our Championship game against Fulham.

It’s only three days since we were last in action here as we entertained Coventry and made it back-to-back league wins and three home victories on the bounce.

I was really pleased with the result and loved our first half performance, but I didn’t really love how we played in the second half.

We have a fairly young team who haven’t been in the position of being 3-0 up very often and we didn’t manage the game well enough in the second period.

I have said before that I don’t get too emotional about results. I get emotional about performances because performing well and performing consistently will get you the results in the end.

We have to do better than we did in the second half on Saturday, but having said that I was extremely proud of the way we played in the first 45 minutes.

To play the way we play takes huge courage and huge attention to detail. The players looked after each other and the ball in the first half and the intensity to win the ball back was excellent – we limited Coventry to one shot and that was from our mistake.

Our first goal was an excellent example of ball speed, one touch play and the intensity that we know we can produce on a regular basis, and Pato took it superbly to give us the platform to go on and control the game how we wanted in that opening period.

Our second goal was probably one that appeared more direct to some, but it certainly wasn’t. The pass from Fish to start the move was unbelievable, he showed massive courage to pick out Flynn and his body movement on the turn was excellent, which allowed him space to drive forward and pick out Michael who finished brilliantly. I’m really pleased for Michael because he’s finding some form now after a difficult start with us but he’s working hard and getting the rewards.

The second half was a bit messy for us, and we didn’t have anywhere near as much control as I’d like but back-to-back wins shows the hard work the guys are putting in.

Tonight’s visitors Fulham are enjoying a fantastic season under Marco Silva and more than deserve their place at the top of the table.

Even though we lost the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage, I thought our performance that night was great and we showed the team we want to be by dominating possession, creating chances and playing with massive courage and connection.

Your support here on Saturday was incredible once again and hopefully we can produce another performance for you to be proud of

Enjoy the game,

Russell

MATT GRIMES A MESSAGE FROM

Good evening and welcome to everyone joining us from around the world for this evening’s Championship fixture against Fulham at the Swansea.com Stadium.

We go into the game off the back of a brilliant result against Coventry City at the weekend.

It was a really pleasing result and we were delighted with our first half performance. We know we could have been better in the second half but we managed to get a third goal and did enough to get the three points.

To get back-to-back win was huge for us, and it was great to do that against a strong side who have been doing well this season. We took a lot of confidence into the game following Monday’s win over West Brom at The Hawthorns.

It was a different experience for Korey playing left wingback and he did brilliantly. He showed his versatility and played an important role setting up the opening goal.

Scoring three goals shows the confidence in the team and we were all delighted for Michael getting two goals and an assist. He got himself into really good positions and his speed adds another dimension to the team. The challenge for us now is to maintain the levels from our first-half performance and use that as a springboard going forward to continue the run.

It will be a tough test this evening against top-of-the-table Fulham but we will go into the game with confidence and will look to impose our game.

We will look to use the home advantage as best as we can and will aim to put in another good performance in front of the Jack Army.

Enjoy the game today!

Matt

A MESSAGE FR M SWANS TRUST

To celebrate International Women’s Day we thought that it would be great for some of our female members and supporters to introduce themselves to you - Sian Davies (Swansea City Supporters’ Trust (SCST), Cath Dyer (Swansea City Disabled Supporters Association (DSA) and Amy Clement (Her Game Too). Sian to kick off:

My family have supported the Swans for five generations. One of my earliest memories is being at the Vetch on a winter’s night with a few hundred other fans watching Swansea schoolboys. When I retired from a career in education and being a Welsh speaker, having learnt Welsh in my early 20s, I wanted to become more involved with the Swans and give something back to the club that is, and has been, such a large part of my life. I’d been a member of the Supporters’ Trust for many years and was lucky enough to be elected to the Trust Board; this is my second term as a Board member. I have a number of roles within the Board including responsibility for the membership database. For many years the number of women members of the Trust has, sadly, been very low and one of my priorities going forward is to try to remedy this. If, as female fans, you’d like your voice to be heard, join the Trust at www.swanstrust.co.uk/jointhe-trust and if you’d like to be involved in initiatives to increase the number of women Trust members please email me at info@swanstrust.co.uk or come and speak to me at the Trust Pod outside the stadium before home games.

Over to you Cath:

A Swans supporter since 1981, enjoying glory days at the Vetch, and mingling with players during discos in Harpers. I met my husband in Barclays, a fellow Swan, we have three children, two of which are disabled. We moved to Llandrindod Wells but still made the journey to the Liberty. Being bilingual and musical, I led a Cylch Meithrin, and became a teaching assistant in English and Welsh schools, playing the piano for the school in the Urdd Eisteddfod.

Following a move back to Swansea in 2010, I joined the Trust so that I could give something back to the club that had supported our disabled daughter's journey, and joined the Travel Plan committee, Awards night committee and undertook Welsh and English interviews.

I was fully involved in setting up the DSA (www.swansdsa.org.uk) with Ian James. We aim to ensure everyone has their best matchday experience, is included and that we are there for them.

And finally, Amy:

Her Game Too ( www. hergametoo.co.uk ) was founded by myself and 11 other girls in May 2021. We are all passionate football fans who have experienced sexism whilst talking about, attending, working in or playing football. Our research found that sexism in football spreads much more widely and deeper than we had originally thought and our initial campaign video certainly supported this, receiving over one million views in 24 hours. We want women to feel safe and welcome in the football world. We want to raise awareness, educate, inspire and make a change. We urge female fans to get involved with their football trusts and communities so our voices can be heard. Join the Swans Trust, ladies!

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Swansea City AFC Foundation has given over 250 free books and 50 WHSmith vouchers to six primary schools in the local area to celebrate World Book Day (Thursday, March 3).

The initiative aims to support young readers as part of an exciting partnership between Premier League Primary Stars and the National Literacy Trust.

The partnership has enabled 27,000 free books to be distributed to schools across England and Wales via 81 community organisations affiliated to professional football clubs, all of whom deliver the Premier League Primary Stars education programme.

National Literacy Trust research found that children who own their own books are nearly three times more likely to enjoy reading. Lockdowns have made it difficult for children to access physical books because of school and public library closures, so getting copies of books into the hands of children is more vital than ever.

Since the launch of the Premier League Primary Stars education programme in 2016, the Premier League has distributed 152,000 free books to schoolchildren. Curtis Grant, education manager at Swansea City AFC Foundation said: “World Book Day is an event we have always been passionate about celebrating at the Swansea City AFC Foundation. By combining the appeal of our professional club with our strong presence of positive role models throughout our partner schools, we feel we can make a huge impact to pupils’ attitudes towards reading.

“On Premier League Primary Stars, we have teamed up with the National Literacy Trust for a number of years and the partnership really supports our aim of developing pupils' love of reading through sport.

"This year, they have provided us with over 250 free books to share with schools and pupils that may be less fortunate and not own so many exciting books. The scheme has gone down as a massive success again.”

Swansea City club ambassador Lee Trundle joined the Foundation in delivering the free books and vouchers on World Book Day to local schools. Trundle, who published his own autobiography in 2010, spoke to the Primary Stars participants about the importance of reading, as well as taking time to sign the books they received on the day.

Jim Sells, sport and literacy programme manager at the National Literacy Trust added: “World Book Day celebrates the power and joy of reading. We know that children who have books at home do better in school, so we are delighted to be able to distribute such an incredible number of books and vouchers to schools across the country, with the help of the community organisations at 81 brilliant football clubs.

"For this year’s World Book Day, we are challenging as many pupils as possible to join their local library, gaining a lifelong access to books and reading for free! I’d like to thank our partners at World Book Day, WHSmith and Walker Books for making this possible."

To download a free copy of 'Football School: Terrific Teams', and to access football-themed activities visit: wordsforlife.org. uk/premierleague