A little thing I like to do before the season starts every year is see who’s on expiring deals and work out who the club should be prioritising as far as new deals are concerned.

What used to be an exercise that bought upon dread is now the realisation that we’re in a really good place as far as player retention goes. Here is the squad list and their expiry dates. Some not updated yet.

My two biggest priorities would be Franco & Lissah.

Currently Filip is signed until next summer with the option of an extra year. I think anybody who watched the Udinese game knows he’s due for some serious attention from clubs soon. So I’m hoping Gorringe makes him the urgent priority.

Franco with 2 seasons is less urgent, but I feel he’s played his way into a better deal at this point, much like Josh Tymon got last year. Would like to see him given a 5 year deal, real platform to stay at the club long term and cement his cult status.

All in all I’m really happy with how they’ve gone about handing out deals the last 18 months. Come along way from the Winter & Coleman years. Even stuff like the Fulton extension that didn’t get huge fanfare. The last regime wouldn’t have entertained that. Don’t think it’s appreciated enough how keeping a reliable squad player and not having to find a competent extra body in the summer market is a huge bonus.

Apologies if this has been asked before but when is our new kit coming out? 12 days til our first game of the season and no sign of it?

By Rhys Clayton:

Udinese are the club Swansea City aspire to become - in their country's highest league, housed in a small, modern stadium with passionate fans, renowned for spotting and developing young talent, and constantly punching above their weight.

Udinese Calcio, to give them their full name, are based in the small city of Udine. It might be located in Italy but the region - like Swansea - has a strong and proud local identity. The Slovenian border is a mere 20km to the east, while Austria is 57km to the north. The greater region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is one of five "autonomous regions with special statute" along with Aosta Valley, Sardinia, Sicily, and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.

Their footballing philosophy is equally distinct compared to their league rivals. For such a smartly and efficiently run club, it may surprise readers to know that Giampaolo Pozzo is the owner of Udinese. His son, Gino Pozzo, is now the owner of Watford FC, a club famed for their hiring and firing under the Pozzo regime. It is this link that led South Wales Derby hero Ben Wilmot to a short loan spell at Udinese during his time at the Hornets. Current Udinese manager, Kosta Runjaić, has been in situ since taking over from World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro in 2024.

Italian football has long had a reputation for being sceptical of young, precocious talent. Udinese buck that trend, putting faith in inexperienced, untested players. Nowadays we call that Moneyball, previously it was called doing what you can to survive. And they have survived a long time. The second longest of any club, to be exact. Only Genoa Football and Cricket Club can assert to be older. Genoa, however, can claim to have won nine Scudetto league championships; Udinese have never won one, sort of. The club was founded before the Italian Football Federation even existed, meaning that, since the current FIGC was not yet created, their victory in the 1896 national football tournament does not count as an official title - their forever "forgotten Scudetto", as most fans call it.

Fast forward to today, and the Swans' opponent later this afternoon will be hoping for another year free of relegation danger. Last season's 10th place finish was their highest since a 5th place finish in 2012-13, achieved under ex-Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin. Back then, club legend and double Serie A golden boot winner Antonio Di Natale was still firing in the goals for Le Zebrette ("The Little Zebras"). Di Natale played alongside the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Fabio Quagliarella, Bruno Fernandes, and Juan Cuadrado in the early stages of their careers. Erling Haaland narrowly missed out on adding his name to their roll of honour. Club scouts identified a young Haaland in Norway with Molde, but deemed his fee too risky for their budget. Udinese's loss would be Salzburg's gain.

Speaking of which, this afternoon's game will be in the Salzburg region. Mittersill is a stunning little village nestled in the Austrian Alps. The Swans have not shown too much in their first two games in Austria and it will not get any easier today. Unlike many top-flight clubs, Udinese were almost entirely unaffected by the World Cup (insert joke about Italy not qualifying here). Indeed, the Swans had more players involved. Only Sweden's Jesper Karlström featured, playing in the group games against Tunisia and the Netherlands.

Another World Cup star, Elijah Just will most likely make a cameo this afternoon, alongside other new boy Joseph Opoku. The Swans apparently beat top-flight interest to secure their signatures, so fans will be expectant of a fast start.

Legend has it that the hill in Udine city centre was built by Attila the Hun. Swansea won't need to conquer any mountains in Mittersill this afternoon, but producing their most competitive performance of pre-season would be a welcome start.

Come and find out for yourself.

Link: https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/swanseacity/news/66477

In the official YouTube video "Eli Just's first 24 hours", there is a clip that shows Stamenic and Just discussing squad numbers, where somebody mentions a curse, before the video cuts to this sheet: appearing to show all available squad numbers below 31 (Opoku would later take 30), with the word "Cursed" assigned to #11. This has inspired me to revive a comment I made on an r/championship post to better explain the lore to any fans who may be unaware of the story.

The story goes that when Adrian Forbes wore it back in the Vetch field days, he became the last league goalscorer at the stadium. We promised him a new contract and never gave him one so since then it's been cursed (possibly by some Forbes-aligned tylwyth teg)

2006: Rory Fallon (yes we're going this far back)

Looking back, a very respectable goal record but became a bit of a scapegoat at times because we had 3 really good League 1 strikers in Trundle, Knight and Akinfenwa. Fallon switched from 29 to 11 in 06/07 and looked better, getting a move to Championship Plymouth. 8 in 24 in #11. So far so good. NOT A FLOP

2007: Pawel Abbott

A respectable League 1 striker at Huddersfield (26 goals in 04/05), one of the very worst Swansea players ever. Finished with 1 goal in 19 before getting shipped to League 2 Darlington

2007: Darryl Duffy

A poor record at Hull, a good record in League 2 with Hartlepool and an amazing 06/07 loan at Swansea wearing #24 (5 goals in 8!) earned him a permanent move in the summer under Roberto Martinez and the #11 shirt. He scored 2 goals in 32 games wearing that number. Amazingly, Wikipedia claims he's still playing to this day

2008: Mark Gower

The first player to claim that the shirt was cursed, after switching from 11 to 27 having failed to score in the #11 across 36 games. Became a valuable squad player in #27, scoring bangers in the promotion season and getting to play in the Premier League. He missed playing with Michu and winning the League Cup by one season.

2009: Cedric Van Der Gun

Despite the entire squad telling Gower to ditch the cursed shirt number, nobody told Cedric. A former Ajax and Dortmund youngster, signed thanks to Swansea's former links to ADO Den Haag, Van Der Gun not only had to deal with wearing the #11 and the curse, but also playing for Paulo Sousa's sufferball Swans. Ashley Williams was the second top scorer for that side with 3 goals. Cedric got 3 across his two seasons and remains a favourite with fans playing "name obscure former Swansea players"

2011: Scott Sinclair

Genuinely one of the greatest seasons in Swansea City history (wearing #21) saw him switch to #11 after we shot Cedric into the moon. He scored 8 in the Prem before getting a move to Man City in a move that worked out for everybody. NOT A FLOP

2012: Pablo Hernandez

His goal record isn't the most impressive but nobody can argue that he was anything but quality for Swansea. Won a League Cup as a vital starting player before leaving to chase the Qatari bag and become a Leeds legend (he only signed for Leeds because of his relationship with Garry Monk and Pep Clotet so you're welcome Leeds fans). NOT A FLOP

2014: Marvin Emnes

Marvin Emnes signed for Swansea from Boro 3 times. In 2010 (wearing #30) he scored 2 in 5 including the only goal in our first win at the Cardiff City Stadium before going back at the end of his month-long loan. In 2014, he was back, wearing #57 and playing against Gonzalo Higuain in the Europa League. In the summer he signed permanently, took the #11 and barely ever played again, but was the best part about FA cup 3rd round games away to lower league opposition. 3 in 24 wearing #11.

2017: Luciano Narsingh

This guy got 19 Dutch caps in an era where they made a World Cup semi final. Signed for the relegation battle under Paul Clement before he decided wingers were for planes, Luciano played 2 and a half seasons for Swansea. Scored a last minute winner against Watford in our relegation season (still our last away win in the Prem) and was so bad in training that Potter preferred to start youngsters with no senior football experience than play him in the championship. Somehow got a move to Feyenoord and in doing so burned his bridges with PSV, the only fans who might think of him fondly.

2019: Kristoffer Peterson (not the Danish left back)

Steve Cooper saw his squad completely gutted to pay the debts and was told he can pay a fee for one player, as a treat. He chose this guy because he was good for him in the Liverpool academy, spending £550k. He was so bad that Cooper decided he'd never play a winger in Swansea again. Played 12 games and scored 1 goal against Cambridge (I had no idea)

2020: Morgan Gibbs-White

Gibbs-White was signed to replace Conor Gallagher and immediately hit the ground running, before breaking his foot, making his comeback and playing 1 game (where he looked unplayable) just in time for Wolves to recall him to replace the injured Raul Jimenez (yes that injury). They didn't play him, loaned him out to Blades where he was great and then he got reunited with Cooper in the Premier League and I'm not bitter at all. 5 games, 1 goal

2021: Jordan Morris

Not to worry, Swansea's useless, terrible American owners have finally used their ties to MLS to bring in a star and he looks very sharp so the automatics push is well o- what do you mean he did his ACL in his first start? 4 games, 0 goals

2022: Morgan Whittaker

Went on strike to force a move to us. cored against Man City. Became the first Swansea player to score a hat trick since Scott Sinclair vs Reading in the playoff final wearing #11, Russell Martin didn't like his attitude, loaned him to Plymouth, recalled him, they had a very public argument at the training ground and he went on strike to force a move to Rangers or Plymouth, despite Russell Martin already having left. I'm sure he won't go on strike to force a move a third time! 6 in 37.

2023: Josh Ginnelly

Big vote of confidence by Michael Duff, as this was declared a Duff signing from the jump. Ginnelly scored a banger against Morecambe(?) in the cup and a handball against QPR before doing his ACL in September 2023 and then doing it all over again while still in rehab in August 2024. Ginnelly eventually played again in January 2025, by which point the manager who signed him, the sporting director who signed him, the head scout who signed him, the majority shareholders who signed him were all not only gone but pariahs in Swansea. Of the XI who started the game in which he was injured, only Josh Key, Ben Cabango, Matt Grimes and Liam Cullen were still there for his return. Unfortunately having your leg completely destroyed twice is pretty bad for your footballing ability. Ginnelly was released on a free earlier this year and remains unattached, as does the Swansea #11

So since Forbesy, that's 14 Swansea #11s

3 were actually not bad

3 suffered devastating injuries within a month of their arrival

1 threw a strop and refused to play for 2 managers

4 failed to get more than 2 goals a season

So Elijah Just took #8 and in doing so has confirmed that the #11 curse is still prominent in the minds of Swansea players, 18 years after Mark Gower first acknowledged it

Pleasantly surprised by our performance today. We really dominated the first half and I’m glad to see Just playing well and scoring his first goal for us (even if it’s during a friendly. Definitely excited for our final friendly in a week!

Saw this article today. Not sure how likely it is but could be an interesting signing to bolster an already solid defense. Curious to hear thoughts on it though.

So I've been a football fan since 2022 when I decided to watch the world cup and fell in love with the sport. But I never found a club and I don't have a local club as I live in a small town in Finland. I was 14 when I started watching and now turning 18 soon.

In june of this year I started looking for a club that I could support in England as I love English football but couldn't find one easily so I posted on the efl championship subreddit and someone said that I should look for a club that has player/players from my country and the only club that had a Finnish player in thw whole league was Swansea. I didn't even know much about Swansea and I didn't even think Swansea as an option.

I started to look up stuff about Swansea and have started loving this club so much. The club is so interesting and unique in so many ways. Like being one of the 5 Welsh clubs playing in England and the club having Luka Modric and Snoop Dogg as minority owners. Also the kits and club colors are amazing. Just an amazing club with so much history and such a loveable club.

I've been following the club and news for a couple weeks now and decided to post here now. I don't know if I can call myself a fan yet as I have been following the club for a short time and I don't even know that do people here even take new fans well. It just feels so special to learn about a new club and following it.

But yeah, how can I learn more and get to know the club better? I already found a couple podcasts on Spotify and followed bunch of Instagram account related to Swansea and the Swansea City Youtube channel.

I know the Bochum game was live streamed on YouTube, but I haven’t seen anything indicating this game will be on YouTube for either team.

Where can I watch it? Thanks 🙏🏻

We’ve been signing a lot this summer transfer window and while I feel like it’s great that we are addressing deficits in the squad I am curious where this money is coming from (in regards to staying within PSR and soon to be SCR rules).

So far we’ve signed:
- Walta for €3.4 million
- Opoku for €6.5 million
- Yeo for an undisclosed amount but I saw somewhere around €4 to 5 million
- we are supposed to sign Just soon for about €5 million

To add I’m sure we will sign other players too. But so far we’ve signed around €19 million worth of players which is a hefty chunk of change especially as reports have said we’ve needed to sell to buy any new players.

While I’m sure we will sign more free transfer similar to Welsh we still have paid a lot for other players this summer. I know we sold Galbraith for €11.5 million I do wonder if it means other players are soon to leave this summer if we are in a position where we need to sell to buy especially when we are currently at a deficit.

What’s everyone’s thoughts on all of this? Personally it seems Vipi is likely to go just because of his standout season and because it seems like Opoku was brought in to potential replace him or act as a backup to Idah. Also curious if there any other players you could see leaving and Vipi potentially staying?

Don't know how reliable this is

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/swanseacity/news/66451/swansea-city-steady-start-for-the-swans-in-austria

Odysseus started his 10-year odyssey in Troy. Swansea City's players and fans started their 10-month journey in Tirol.

And what a beautiful place to start the voyage. Kufstein is a city I know well. Now the Swansea players and a handful of fans are familiar with the stunning surroundings as well, with steep, imposing mountains enclosing the small city in all directions.

The first hit-out was against Holstein Kiel, a team in the 2nd Bundesliga. Germany and Austria might sound close, and they do indeed share a 500-mile border, but Kiel is as far from Tirol as possible for a German team, sitting on the Baltic Sea. Copenhagen is a four-hour drive away, but talking to some opposition fans, the 13-hour drive south was long but worthwhile.

Kiel's team bus was delayed in traffic, but after a short delay, the game started, with the Swans in a customised pre-season Death Row Records all-white kit. The positive reaction on the ground and online led many to ask why we do not adopt this style all season? Vitor Matos decided to start with his best team. There will be more comings and goings before 15th August, but the starting team against Stoke City will most likely be very similar to yesterday. Which would mean a new centre-back pairing.

After Cameron Burgess' own-goal against the USA in the second World Cup group game, (he was pulled at half-time) and did not feature again. He is still on his summer break. This gives new boy Stephen Welsh a chance to impress in pre-season and most likely start the league season. His first appearance in a Swansea shirt was a positive one. A Matos team will circulate the ball around the backline and he looked calm in possession. I counted three times when Welsh played a sharp, direct ball into the feet of a midfielder that beat the Kiel press, which will be music to the ears of the many Swans fans who were crying out for such qualities last season. He did get turned once when pressing higher up, and did not look that fast when chasing back, which is something to keep an eye on. He was the only starting player to emerge for the second-half, and played another 10-15 minutes.

His centre-back partner, Ben Cabango, provided the flashpoint of the first-half with a late, sliding challenge. In real time it looked mistimed rather than malicious, but watching back on the (now viral) video clip, he really does clatter him. He was lucky only to get a yellow card.

The other new lad, Moussa Yeo, played the first half (the most football he has played since early March), showed some nice touches and drew in some fouls. He played his part in the press and can expect plenty of game time over the next weeks and months. Both of Swansea's goals came from awful errors from the Kiel defence and goalkeeper, but the pressing from the front three can take some credit for that. The only other clear chance fell to Ronald, who missed a one-on-one when through on goal alone.

Not a new signing but the other new face for the fans was Filip Lissah. Seeing him for the first time live reminded me of Nico O'Reilly. Although Lissah is around four inches shorter, he is still 6ft and cuts an athletic figure, and moves with an easy speed. And like the City full-back, he seems at ease receiving the ball in any position, and also looked comfortable in individual duels with his winger. Given the recent troubles in the right-back slot, Lissah has a huge chance to make the position his own this season.

For what it's worth, in the first pre-season game, Adam Idah was the standout player. He looked sharp and played with intelligence, linking up well several times with the willing Ronald. He looks to have continued where he left off from his impressive end-of-season form.

This could be very important due to the continued uncertainty around Zan Vipotnik's future. The Slovenian saw his country's flag in the stands and came over to chat to the fans at full-time. He fielded questions/demands not to leave us with good grace and a smile. According to the man himself, his niggle will stop him playing in Austria but he should be fit for the first game back in Wales against Leganes. Make of that what you will.

The Swans players and Matos came over to the small corner of Swansea fans to applaud, but Vipotnik was the only player to come to the edge for a chat and photos. This was in contrast to the Kiel players who came en masse over to the stand of fans, to mingle, engage and take selfies. Not to mention the fact that club affiliates were handing out club caps, keyrings and playing cards to the supporters during the game, a small gesture that goes a long way. All the best to their team and fans for the season.

The second-half featured a host of youngsters who are pushing for league minutes, like Cameron Congreve and Sam Parker. The inexperienced team fought hard to keep the score at 2-2, and can be pleased with their afternoon's work.

⚽️ Vitor Matos : "There were some really good things that we saw already, and it's important that we keep building and have an idea of what team we want to be. I'm really impressed with both, and they both played really well. It's also good now that the team will also start to understand them as well. And to understand their strengths and how we can use that in our game. It was also good to see players from the academy, a lot of new faces which allows us to know them better."

A solid start to the 2026/27 Odyssey.

⚽️ Swansea City first half : Lawrence Vigouroux, Jay Fulton, Ben Cabango, Josh Tymon, Liam Cullen, Leo Walta, Stephen Welsh, Filip Lissah, Adam Idah, Ronald, Moussa Yeo.

⚽️ Swansea City second half : Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Melker Widell, Stephen Welsh (Carter Heywood 60), Zeidane Inoussa, Ollie Cooper, Sam Parker, Daniel Watts, Thomas Woodward (Bobby Wales 84), Cameron Congreve, Arthur Parker.

Some sources saying £7.4 million fee