We gave him the money and he tossed it on floor · were there /myself, Steve, Mel and Tim Jones...

SOUTH WALES EVENING POST T U E S D AY, J A N U A RY 24, 2012 visit our website www.thisissouthwales.co.uk40 visit our website www.thisissouthwales.co.uk SOUTH WALES EVENING POST T U E S D AY, J A N U A RY 24, 2012 41S WA - E01-S2 S WA - E01-S2

Reservesrun-outfor FerrieFERRIE Bodde returns toaction for Swansea City’sreserves at West Brom todayas he continues his recoveryfrom more than three yearsof knee injury problems.

Bodde kicked off his latestcomeback attempt atHereford a fortnight ago butthen sat out last weekend’spractice match with Neath.

The Dutch midfield acewill play in this afternoon’sbehind-closed-doors gamealongside Alan Tate, anotherwho is on the way back aftera long-term injury.

A number of other seniormen will be involved,including Stephen Dobbie,while new boys RoryDonnelly and Darnel Situwill also feature.

Swansea Reserves: fromMoreira, Alfei, Situ, Tate,Bodde, March, Dobbie,Bessone, Smith, Edwards,Donnelly, Thomas, Davies,Walsh, Elsey, Loveridge.

Clubs eyeDobbieSWANSEA City havereceived inquiries forStephen Dobbie — but areyet to receive bid for theout-of-favour striker.

Blackpool are thought tobe keen on re-signing onDobbie, who had a stint onloan at Bloomfield Road twoyears ago, while Bristol Cityhave also been linked

“We have had a fewtentative inquiries about theavailability of Stephen,” saida Swans spokesman.

“Clubs have obviouslyseen that he has not playedfor a few weeks, but we havehad no official bids fromanyone and Stephen is stillregarded as a vital memberof Brendan Rodgers’ssquad.”

Dobbie has struggled forgame-time at the Libertythis season, and hisfirst-team chances have notbeen helped by the arrivalsof Josh McEachran and GylfiSigurdsson.

Former Swansea bossKenny Jackett, meanwhile,has played down reportsthat he is poised to takeCraig Beattie to Millwallafter the striker left theLiberty last week.

Spurs tieswitchedSWANSEA City’s PremierLeague trip to TottenhamHotspur has been put back aday after the game wasselected for live TV coverage.Brendan Rodgers’s men willnow go to White Hart Laneon Sunday, April 1 (4pm).

Meanwhile, TonyPennock’s Swansea youthside could host Tottenhamin the quarter-final if theycan get past ManchesterUnited in round five of theFA Youth Cup. The winnersof the Swansea-United tiewill host either CharltonAthletic or Spurs.

Local hopeJones setfor actionJUDO LLANELLI’S FionaJones will be one of theleading hopes for Wales atthe Fighting FilmsCommonwealth Champion-ships at the Wales Millen-nium Centre this week.

The 21-year-old competesin the senior section, withJade Lewis of Swanseaanother with high hopes inthe junior event.

Competition gets underway today with the GrandMasters, with the juniors inaction tomorrow.

“Judo has always beenstrong in Wales, but not verygood at selling itself,” saidevent director PaulWilliams. “When we bid forthe event in Singapore in2010 we had a vision for anevent that would make a realimpact.

“We hope we can make adent in the awareness of oursport. Welsh judo has nowgot an excellent reputationin other countries.”

Ferry’s clashset for FridayBRITON Ferry Llansawelhave brought forward theirhome MacWhirter WelshLeague division three leaguematch with Pontyclun toFriday (7.30pm).

‘We gave him the money and he tossed it on floor’

A DECADE on,Tony Pettywould probablyargue — as he

did when he left — thathe was good forSwansea City.

It was ten years ago today that adramatic, late-night meeting atCardiff’s Copthorne Hotel endedwith Petty throwing a pound’sworth of loose change on the floorand relinquishing control of theclub.

The Londoner who lived inAustralia did not leaveempty-handed — he walked awaywith a supermarket carrier bagstuffed with around £20,000 incash.

“I had held meetings with himat the Vetch where he’d said hewasn’t interested in selling,”remembers Steve Penny, a localsolicitor and now a Swanseadirector who was there the nightPetty finally walked.

“Things suddenly changed.Eventually he said he’d hadenough, that he would be leavingthe country the following morningand that he would like to passcontrol of the club over.

“Mel Nurse’s consortium gaveme a figure and we negotiated aprice, but he said he was not goingto do the deal in Swansea.

“David Morgan and I droppedeverything, we got the financesarranged and drove to Cardiff tobuy the club.”

Penny, of John Collins andPartners, describes the method ofpayment as “slightly unusual”.

Saying something similar aboutthe whole Petty reign would beunfair.

It was much more extreme thanthat.

Petty had insisted when he tookover at Vetch Field in October2001 that he was no white knightwho would pump big money intothe club.

He was not lying.Instead he took the cost-cutting

approach, attempting to sackseven players and slash the wagesof eight others only seven daysafter arriving in Wales.

Within a few more days, the firstmeeting of the consortium whichwould eventually oust Petty hadtaken place.

At one stage Petty was offered£50,001 to leave but declined,opting instead to sell star manStuart Roberts for just £100,000and then getting another £100,000bonus when Sky Sports decided toscreen Swansea’s FA Cup tie withQueens Park Rangers.

Petty was by now a hate figurefor the fans, but Nurse’s attempt

to force him out by acquiring an£801,000 debt against the club andthen calling it in failed in court.

Petty won that battle byclaiming he had £1 million ofinvestment lined up, but there wasno sign of the cash as the players’wages were not paid overChristmas.

Captain Nick Cusack brandedSwansea’s owner a disgrace, yetPetty was adamant the club werebetter off thanks to the drasticmeasures he had taken as heprepared to sell up.

“He was a business person whotook advantage of somethingwhich he could see could be athriving situation for him,”reckons Nurse, the former

Swansea player who became thefigurehead for those trying tobring Petty down.

“But we came together as a cityto make sure our football clubsurvived.

“I suppose I played a big part inthat, and I am proud of what Idid.

“I put my business aside andthe outlay was tremendous, but Inever thought about that.

“I let my heart rule my head atthat time, and I look back now andthink about what a risk I took.Thankfully, of course, it wasworth it.”

Morgan, now one ofSwansea’s associatedirectors, reckons Petty

did not fancy a final trip toSouth West Wales this timeten years ago because heno longer felt safe in theseparts.

“The taxman was dueto come into the Vetchthe next day to seizeassets, so Petty’shands were tied,” he

explains. “He either gotsomething for the club by sellingto us, or he ended up withnothing. A phone call camethrough to me and all he said wassomething like ‘Do you want tobuy a football club?’

“It was a worrying time,because I really don’t think hewould have cared if he’d walkedaway and left no football clubbehind.

“The meeting that night startedaround 7pm. I thought we wouldsign here and sign there and saygoodbye, but he was very difficultto deal with and it dragged onuntil something like 11pm.

“At the end, those of us whowere there — myself, Steve, Meland Tim Jones (Nurse’s solicitor)— had a whip-round to give himthe pound he had paid for the clubin the first place back.

“We gave him it in loose change

many others doing the same. Itwas a team effort, and thankfullywe were able to keepprofessional football alive inSwansea.

“It’s incredible to think thatwe are now a Premier Leagueclub.”

A debt of around £1.7 million— minimal now, but massivethen — had to be cleared bySwansea’s new owners, hencethe company voluntaryarrangement which came thatspring.

“Everybody feared for thelong-term future of the club atthat stage,” recalls Huw Jenkins,a background figure as Petty wastoppled but one who would soonbecome Swansea’s nextchairman.

“I think support for the clubwas at an all-time low around thecity, and the first objective was tomake sure we survived.

“All we were hoping for was tosecure some kind of future. Wewere not looking any furtherthan that.”

It was a rough ride for a while— the CVA was no fun foranyone, and Swansea came

perilously close to non-leaguefootball a little over a year later.

The club were forced to dothings on the cheap for a timeand they almost paid the price.

“We were going from day today,” Jenkins adds.

“Nobody was ploughing inmillions of pounds to start usmoving forward. All we had washard work, commitment andbelief in our club.

“We brought a bit of commonsense into the way the club wasrun. We realised that everythinghad to pay for itself, and thatstarted us on the path to wherewe are now.

“I think we can all take a bit ofpride from the progress we havemade.

“It’s not for ourselves, but forour football club and our city.People all over the world arenow hearing aboutSwansea City.”

Whatever he claimedabout the good he wasdoing, Petty would haveput paid to any hopes of

reaching the Premier League hadhe stuck around much longer.

Yet perhaps the lows hedragged Swansea to played apart in inspiring the highs theyare experiencing today.

“I don’t know where he isnow,” Morgan says.

“But in a sense, he was thereason why an ugly ducklingbecame a high-flying Swan.”

Davies gets player award Turnout ‘delights’ officialsWALES Rugby League were leftdelighted with the turn-out atSaturday’s open trial at Nantyglowhere more than 100 youngstersattended.

A squad will be selected torepresent Wales Schoolboysagainst England Youth, one atEaster and one in August.

The trial was attended byseveral members of staff fromWigan Warriors and they were

extremely enthused by amountof talent on show.

Dan Clements, head ofperformance for Wales RugbyLeague, said: “It was anotherstrong attendance. This showsthe desire of young players torepresent their country in rugbyleague and to have theopportunity to test themselvesagainst some of the UK’s finestjunior players.

“All the staff have been reallyenthused by the effort andcommitment from all the playersand are keen to start their workwith the squads in preparationfor the coming season.

“The representatives fromWigan were also delighted at thequality levels that they witnessed.This bodes well for the future ofour partnership with the SuperLeague club.”

CLEAR MESSAGE ‘You are the weakest link’. Swans fans let their feelings be known with amessage for Tony Petty.

D011016/0071/JC

WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Swans captain Nick Cusack questioning Tony Petty.D011010/4960/JC

and he just tossed it on the floor.That was his parting shot.”

The following morning, as Pettyflew home, Morgan, Penny and Cofaced the media at the Vetch.

“We were like rabbits in theheadlights,” Morgan remembers.

And Penny concedes: “Thepress conference was aninteresting experience for us.

“We knew the club had severefinancial difficulties, but it

was only when we tookover that we found

out the extent ofthem.

“I spent thenext threemonthsbasically work-ing full-timefor the club,and there were

HELL How the Post reportedon the 2001-02 campaign.

CHARMING To n yP e t t y.

‘S AV I O U R ’Swansealegend MelNurse.

ABERAVON fly-half Jamie Davies hasbeen named December’s PrincipalityPremiership Player of the Month.

The 33-year-old was nominated byPremiership coaches, members of theWelsh media and WRU eliteperformance staff.

Davies earned the recognition after abig input into recent wins. In 16appearances this season, he has scoredtwo tries and notched up 162 points,making him the highest points scorer in

Welsh league history.Davies said: “I have had a good run of

games and the points have been addingup, which is obviously pleasing.

“It’s nice being one of the seniorplayers and getting this kind ofrecognition.”

The Neath-born player added:“We’re fourth in the table at themoment but looking to make up somepoints in the next few games to creep upthe table further.”

Team manager Steve Jones added:“Jamie is a huge asset to the Aberavonteam. He is consistent and that isreflected in his points record.

“I’m delighted that Jamie has beenhanded the award.”

Lisa Perrie, Principality branchmanager at Port Talbot, said: “Aberavonare holding their own in the top half ofthe league table and we wish them allthe best for the remainder of theseason.”RECOGNITION Fly-half Jamie Davies.

TEN years ago tonight, a group of local businessmenwrestled control of Swansea City away from controversialchairman Tony Petty, beginning the revival which has ledall the way to the Premier League. Here we look back onan incredible period with some of the key men involved.

GARETHVINCENTR E P O RT S

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QSwansea City go in search of a vitalPremier League victory when theytake on the mighty Chelsea at theLiberty Stadium on Tuesday the 31stJanuary 2012.

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