A football app that rewards its users

Football is often praised for its ability to unite, enrich, and diversify communities, but what happens when it does the opposite—when it reinforces the patriarchal structures present in broader society?

Mainstream media, schools, and football culture often create the impression that football is more important for boys, offering a space where strong masculine identities can be expressed.

Even when parents encourage girls to take an interest in football—by buying them football shirts, taking them to matches, and encouraging them to play—it doesn’t take long for the game’s rhetoric of “man up” and its pervasively masculine atmosphere to affect how girls perceive the sport and their place in it.

What Discourages Girls and Women from Participating in Football?

Over the last 30 to 40 years, football has been forced to reevaluate how it treats marginalized groups. In the United Kingdom, there have been infamous incidents, such as bananas thrown at John Barnes, racist abuse directed at Raheem Sterling from the stands, and derogatory language aimed at Chris Hughton by fellow professionals.

As a result, the football community has had to change. While racism is still an issue, campaigns like “Kick It Out” and “Black Lives Matter” have led to improvements in how ethnic minorities are treated in the sport. Today, racist abuse at a football match is widely regarded as unacceptable.

But can the same be said for sexism? Have there been similar improvements in how girls and women are treated in football? While men’s football is ethnically diverse, women are still largely absent from the men’s game, which means it hasn’t had to confront how it treats women. As a result, they aren’t held to the same standard of equality as other marginalized groups.

If sexist remarks are heard at a men’s football match, they’re often brushed off as “banter.” This creates an unwelcoming environment for women interested in the sport.

Progression of the Women’s Game

Despite the prevalence of sexism in men’s football, women’s football is thriving. Remarkably, the FA banned women’s football from 1921 to 1970, but the sport has since made a strong comeback in the United Kingdom.

The England Lionesses won the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and finished as runners-up in the FIFA World Cup 2023. These successes have inspired girls and women in the UK, offering them footballing heroes and much-needed representation.

Women’s football matches at Wembley Stadium, The Emirates, and Old Trafford are now regularly sold out, breaking attendance records. The continued growth of the sport feels both natural and inevitable.

Are Schools Doing Enough to Respond to the Growing Representation of Women in Football?

Despite the increased interest and participation in women’s football, girls still have fewer opportunities to play football than boys. FA studies show that only 41% of secondary schools offer equal access to football for girls during PE lessons. Additionally, a surprising 51% of secondary schools don’t have girls’ teams or extracurricular football clubs for them.

However, some progress is being made. The next generation of girls may grow up in a culture where football is a more widely accepted and accessible hobby for them. For example, 71% of primary schools now have a girls’ or mixed football team, up 10% from 2022.

The “Raising the Bar” campaign, backed by a £600 million investment in women’s football at all levels in the UK, aims to further improve match attendance, equality, and broader engagement with the women’s game.

Ivan Toney has become one of England’s highest-paid athletes of all time after completing his £40M transfer to Saudi Arabia side Al-Ahli, where the forward will reportedly earn over £400,000 a week – a wage only currently bettered by Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane.

The once hopeful Northampton Town academy striker’s rise to footballing prominence is incredible. Only four years have passed since Toney, the scorer of England’s third penalty during their EURO 2024 quarter-final shoot-out trump against Switzerland, was playing his trade for Peterborough United in League One, where he was considered little more than an exciting talent prospering in the lower depths of English football.

Yet the 6ft1’ forward made the transition from League One to the Premier League (with a brief goal-filled season in the Championship in between) look seamless in a way that few others do. After signing for Brentford in 2020, Toney has found the back of the net 36 times in just 85 Premier League appearances.

Toney attracted interest from Europe’s biggest clubs

By his admission, Toney was ready for the world stage. The forward regularly discussed on podcasts and interviews ambitions of leading the line for Europe’s biggest clubs and eventually replacing the ageing Harry Kane as England’s most dependable striker.

There was the sense that Toney had outgrown Brentford; no player has scored more Premier League goals for the West London club and speculation surrounding moves to Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, or Liverpool had been consistent throughout his time with the Bees.

Eventually, and perhaps partially due to a move to one of England or wider Europe’s top clubs failing to come to fruition, Toney opted to switch the Premier League for Saudi Arabia, a type of transfer unprecedented for elite-level English players still at the height of their powers.

It represents the first time an English Premier League sensation, still only 28 years old and in the process of defining the legacy they’ll have within the game, has chosen to turn their back on dreams of elite-level silverware and success, opting for an obscenely financially lucrative move to the Middle East instead.

Why Toney made the move to Al-Ahli

Toney, as an individual who’ll have his motivations, can’t be blamed for making the switch to Al-Ahli. After all, the forward, who endured mixed spells at Peterborough United, Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, and Scunthorpe United during his early career, will know more than most how unpredictable football can be.

An injury, fall from grace, or, in Toney’s case, the exposition of another betting scandal, could make the type of money currently on offer entirely unattainable at any other point in his future career, making the eyewatering £400,000-per-week contract hard to refuse.

However, from the perspective of any football purist, Toney’s move to Al-Ahli represents one of many issues within the modern game. The threat of losing talent to largely uncompetitive leagues is abundant. It makes one wonder, had these types of opportunities been available to players at earlier stages of the Premier League era, which fondly remembered stars might have become forgotten, or which memories may not have been made, had players been tempted by lucrative Saudi Arabia contracts instead.

Toney’s current wage is higher than that of Ballon d’Or candidate Jude Bellingham, a player who, one would imagine, will have to refuse mouth-watering amounts of money throughout his career, if he is to become the titan-like figure of European football he dreams of being. 

Swansea City’s 22-year-old left-back, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, is a player many within the game are excited by.

The Rotterdam-born Indonesian international arrived in South Wales in the summer transfer window of 2023 for a fee of £300,000, having already made 33 Eredivisie appearances for Excelsior.

But Tjoe-A-On, a superstar in Indonesia with over two million Instagram followers, has found game time limited since making the switch to the Swans. Josh Tymon, a skilful left-back regarded among the best in his position in the Championship, blocked Tjoe-A-On’s pathway into manager Luke Williams’ team.

The four-time capped Indonesia was forced to settle for a loan move at SC Heerenveen, another Eredivisie club, where he made a handful of substitute appearances.

What can we expect from Tjoe-A-On during the 24/25 campaign?

The 2024/2025 season looks to represent something different for the 22-year-old. Despite a season spent away from the starting line-up of any club-level side, several clubs, including newly promoted Championship side Oxford United, inquired about the availability of Tjoe-A-On during the off-season.

Despite the ongoing interest, Williams, who got the opportunity to closely observe the fullback for the first time during the recently completed pre-season, appears to view Tjoe-A-On as part of his first-team plans this campaign.

Tjoe-A-On finally made his Swansea debut during a 3-1 EFL Cup victory over League Two side Gillingham before receiving his first Championship minutes in the closing stages of a 3-0 win against Preston North End four days later.

Reflecting on Tjoe-A-On’s amplified involvement in the Swansea first team, Williams claimed:

“I don’t have any complaints about his performance. He’s been training really well with the first team.  He’s a really good guy. A really hard-working guy. He has a huge following on social media. So, I’m sure there will be a lot of people really happy to see him play.”

The 22-year-old has shown enough promise to potentially challenge Tymon for a starting spot this season,

What will Tjoe-A-On bring to Williams’ Swansea team?

Swansea have started the season in, on paper, a 4-2-3-1 formation, but during build-up and while in possession in the opponent’s half, players rotate into more of a 3-2-5 formation.

First-choice full-backs Josh Key and Josh Tymon have operated in inverted roles while in possession, with emphasis on the pair’s passing range along with their defensive abilities.

This is something that could suit Tjoe-A-On perfectly. The 22-year-old’s footballing education at Excelsior’s youth academy, a club renowned in the Netherlands for developing technical footballers, equipped Tjoe-A-On with technical skills suitable for the role of an inverted full-back.

During the Indonesian superstar’s full debut against Gillingham, as well as footage observed from spells at Excelsior and SC Heerenveen, Tjoe-A-On regularly demonstrates the ability to play progressive, line-breaking passes to forwards from his own half.

The 5ft11’ defender has impressive ball-carrying skills, too; like Tymon, who has received the freedom to take risks in the attacking half under Williams’ management, Tjoe-A-On is comfortable in offensive one-on-one situations and can cause opposition defences problems with his wicked deliveries into the box.

Tjoe-A-On is one to keep an eye on this season.

‘Mr Swansea’, the man who saved his boyhood club from the brink of liquidation on two separate occasions is among the most influential figures in the Swans’ history.

But without the generosity of Mel Nurse, who willingly lost over £300,000 of his own money to keep Swansea City alive in 2002 and whose business know-how helped launch a consortium that radically altered the club’s trajectory forever, would there be a professional football club in Swansea today?

There is every chance Swansea, a 246,000-person sport-loving community, would be left stranded without a professional football club representing it. Something almost impossible to comprehend today, as the 21,000-capacity Swansea.com Stadium stands proudly on the edge of the city, with 19 years of history already representing it.

So, in an alternate reality where Nurse decides to retire quietly, leaving Swansea to drift into oblivion, who would young supporters, left without their local team to cheer on, turn to support?

The rise of Cardiff City without Swansea

Despite reluctant parents and grandparents, with 20^th-century battles against archenemies Cardiff still fresh in their minds, the lure of nearby professional football might’ve been too hard to resist for new, football-obsessed children born in Swansea beyond the earliest part of the new Millennium.

In 2003, one year after Nurse saved the Swans from extinction, Cardiff won the League One play-off final in their home city, an achievement that, without a professional football club in Swansea, could have grimily been celebrated by national media as an ‘all-Welsh footballing success.’

These kinds of messages could’ve enticed impressionable young, otherwise Swansea supporters, desperate to belong to a football club that represents their local community and, if not, country.

Cardiff, despite hundreds of miles worth of hatred, is only a 34-mile, 50-minute train journey from Swansea. With the eventual opening of the 33,000 all-seater, family-friendly Cardiff City stadium in 2009, which would also house the national team, it is probable that the Bluebirds would have become an emblem of Welsh football, something challenging for new families of supporters to turn down.

Cardiff, like Swansea, reached the Premier League in the mid-2010s and, despite regularly threatening to, hasn’t dropped out of the top two divisions since. With the club occupying an even larger catchment area without the existence of Swansea, their matchday attendances would swell, filling the otherwise unoccupied, red-seated top tier of their stadium, helping to finance a Welsh super club that could sustain regular Premier League football.

Swansea railway station would be filled with blue and white shirts on Saturday lunchtimes, as thousands of young supporters pass the empty site where the Swansea.com Stadium stands today on their way to the Welsh capital to get their weekly football fix.

Cardiff would win trophies year-on-year, bypassing the real-world achievements of the Swans, and accomplish footballing supremacy as a mainstay in the upper reaches of the Premier League. Sky Sports refer to Cardiff as ‘The Welsh Club’ as the years of success made by Swansea Town & then later, Swansea City would slowly become a piece of forgotten 20^th-century history.

Time for a statue?

Thankfully Nurse saved the club, and the rest is history. Swansea has since been able to enjoy promotion from each of the three English Football Leagues, spend seven glorious seasons in the Premier League, win a historic League Cup, and spend a season in the Europa League that created life-lasting memories for supporters.

Nurse prevented Swansea from extinction and, indirectly, thwarted the development of a mega club in the capital. For that, he deserves his legacy to be made immortal with the recognition of a statue outside the club’s stadium, standing as a reminder of his genericity for generations to come.

Player. Supporter. Saviour. Mel Nurse, 86, affectionately nicknamed ‘Mr Swansea’ by locals, is one of the most influential figures in the Swans’ sometimes turbulent 112-year history. He’s a man whose legacy far transcends cult hero status on the terraces, with his impact touching the entire community of Swansea: something recognised by the local council, who credited the former Welsh international centre-back with ‘freedom of the city’ and Swansea University, who awarded Nurse with an honorary degree in 2016.

Nurse, born in Fforestfach, Swansea in 1937 before making the short move to Alice Street, a row of terraced houses in Cwmbwrla which incredibly birthed five future Wales internationals, helped save his boyhood club, whom he represented on over 300 occasions between 1955 and 1971, from the brink of liquidation on two separate occasions.

It is by no means hyperbole to suggest that without the lifelong commitment of Nurse, modern-day Swansea City, a club that has since gone on to build a multi-million-pound stadium, spend seven seasons in the Premier League, and, in 2013, win a League Cup, may not exist.

There is an unthinkable alternate reality of Swansea without the interventions of Nurse: unless there was the successful inception of a Phoenix club that could come close to replicating the on-and-off-field successes of Swansea, the city’s young football fans could be tempted into travelling east along the M4 to the capital to watch their local professional team, Cardiff City.

Thankfully, for the sanity of the city, Nurse’s contributions, both in 1985, when the 12-time capped Wales centre-back helped the club fight for its very existence in High Court, and 2001, when Nurse saved the Swans from Tom Petty’s financial mismanagements, despite losing thousands of pounds of his own money.

This is the life story of Mel Nurse, the man who saved Swansea (twice).

Humble beginnings

Despite living on a serial Wales international star-producing street, a sensational story that has since been documented by Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre in the film Wonderland, Nurse’s formative years were defined by hardship, poverty, and struggle.

In 2009, the 86-year-old told Wales Online:

“There was no central heating, no electric, just a gas lamp. We had overcoats for bedclothes as we couldn’t afford blankets. I can remember waking up many mornings with my leg down the sleeve of the coat.”

But Nurse, a determined, entrepreneurial youngster with two childhood ambitions: to become chairman of Swansea and own a Rolls Royce (both of which he’d eventually fulfil), would develop his first craft while living on Alice Street—football.

Nurse predominantly learned to play football, a skill which would later see him subject to an unsuccessful £35,000 bid from Manchester United, with a tennis ball. For many working-class communities in the 1930s and 1940s, a football was too costly to purchase and thus the local schools and football clubs were forced to make do with whatever they’d got.

Player career

Even during his adolescent years, Nurse was a tall, commanding defender. At age 14, Nurse was spotted by Swansea scouts while playing for the Wales schoolboys’ team, whom he represented several times, including a 3-3 draw at Wembley against an England team containing Bobby Charlton and Wilf McGuiness.

After rejecting various potentially more lucrative moves, including a switch to giants Arsenal, out of the familiarity and loyalty to his boyhood club, Nurse would make his senior debut for Swansea in 1955 at age 18.

Nurse would make 156 appearances for the Swans between 1955 and 1962, helping the club to multiple top-half finishes in the old Division 2, before leaving the club for a then-club record transfer of £25,000. After subsequent spells at Middlesbrough and Swindon Town, Nurse would return to South Wales in 1968 and see out the remainder of his professional career with Swansea.

The Saviour of the Swans

As earlier alluded to, Nurse was an entrepreneurial thinker. During his playing days at Middlesbrough, where he made 118 appearances, Nurse first conceptualised a business idea that would eventually, in some way, contribute to raising the money to save Swansea City Football Club.

After years of sensible investment plans, Nurse would purchase several B&B properties along Swansea’s seafront, building a remarkable portfolio enabling him to fulfil his lifelong dream of owning a Rolls Royce.

Nurse’s business expertise would ultimately steer his boyhood club away from the near prospect of oblivion. In 1985, now a Swansea director, Nurse, alongside fan fundraising groups, agreed a deal that would ensure the football club avoided liquidation.

16 years later, in 2001, Swansea was again in financial disarray—the board attempted to resolve ongoing off-field difficulties by sacking seven first-team players, a move that prompted Nurse to resign from his role at the club.

But “Mr Swansea” would return. In 2002, the former Alice Street resident used his acute business understanding and personal finance to form a consortium to prevent Swansea’s looming liquidation. He then bought the club’s debts to save it from administration.

Would Swansea be occupied by Cardiff supporters without Nurse?

It’s a bleak thought, but, without Nurse, it’s probable there’d be no professional football team representing Swansea and its young supporters, despite the pleas of their parents who’d watched their home club battle through the turbulence of the 20^th century, may have turned to the nearest club, Cardiff.

The saviour-like role Nurse played in 1985 and 2002, among his various activities in the local Swansea community, where, despite his personal wealth, he still humbly resides, is why he’s been given the freedom of the city.

Supporter’s fanzine, ‘A Touch Far Vetched’, hopes to see the city’s hero recognised further, as they call for a statue of Nurse to be erected at the Swansea.com Stadium.

A statue or no statue, Nurse will always be a much-loved Swansea player, supporter, and saviour.

Swansea City Vs. Cardiff City: the ‘South Wales derby’ is among the fiercest fixtures in the British football calendar. Almost annually, the two biggest clubs in Wales, separated by 34 miles along the M4, fight for local bragging rights, as they play each other home and away in the Championship, where the two clubs have remained stagnant since their respective mid-2010s relegations from the Premier League.

The South Wales derby, voted by One Football as the 6^th biggest grudge match in the United Kingdom, is often controversial. Aside from the drama on the pitch, where Swansea have come out victorious on 34 occasions to Cardiff’s 24, the game is defined by the passion, hatred, and post-match euphoria (for the winning team, anyway) on display on the terraces.

As so often with derby games, it is a fixture that supporters must endure rather than enjoy. In the days leading up to South Wales’ biggest fixture, supporter nerves run high as they negotiate the prospect of their team getting beaten by their most bitter rivals at the weekend.

The emotion can turn ugly. It is almost inevitable that when two clubs with cultural differences, close geographical proximity, and a long history of hatred meet, there will be at least some degree of supporter trouble: that is just the reality of football in Britain.

The bubble fixture: Is it fair to Welsh football fans?

But are supporters of Swansea and Cardiff treated differently to many of their British counterparts on derby day? During the 1990s, away fans were, for a brief period, banned from attending the South Wales derby, a measure placed on no other fixture in the English Football pyramid.

On the one hand, this epitomises the level of hatred and animosity shared between the two clubs but simultaneously highlights a discriminatory attitude held by policing and football authorities towards Welsh football supporters that still stands today.

Today, Swansea Vs Cardiff is the only Football League or Premier League “bubble” fixture: a measure ensuring that all away supporters going to the derby will be required to travel, usually by coach, with official transport provided by the club from their home stadium directly to the opposing team’s stadium.

It is reasonable to suggest that while the ‘South Wales derby’ is synonymous with passion, hatred, and the occasional bit of violence, and precautions do need to be taken to ensure the safety of all supporters, it is arguably no more susceptible to fan trouble than Burnley Vs Blackburn, Preston Vs Blackpool, or Southampton Vs Portsmouth, all of which pass without the need to “bubble” travelling supporters.

Cardiff supporters may boycott the upcoming derby

Supporters are frustrated about the difficulties associated with attending one of the biggest games in their football calendar. Cardiff supporters, who have seen their team lose on each of their last three visits to the Liberty Stadium, are discussing boycotting the upcoming 25^th August fixture in Swansea.

Sloper Road Blues, an online forum for Cardiff supporters, tweeted:

“Swansea (A)

Looks like there’s plans to boycott Swansea (A) due to the ongoing bubble that’s in place.

We are the only teams currently still under a bubble in the uk.

Enough is enough imo.”

Should the bubble remain in place? It’s difficult to foresee the trouble that may or may not be implicated without restrictions around the biggest game in Welsh football.

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The third tier of English football is unpredictable. It’s often a league of fallen giants navigating the consequences of years of financial mismanagement, competing against shrewdly run traditional lower-league clubs, new money, and the odd minnow.

Given the disparity in club size, resources, and transfer budgets, it might seem like an easy ride for clubs that have dropped from the Premier League and Championship. But this is rarely the case. Birmingham City, this year’s clear favourite, has already broken the League One transfer record twice this summer. Like Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, and Sunderland before them, they are expected to storm their way to the title.

Yet, all these clubs, despite their relative size, endured lengthy spells in the third tier. Nottingham Forest, for instance, faced a humiliating 2007 semi-final play-off defeat to Yeovil Town during their three-year stint. Sunderland, as documented on the hit Netflix show Sunderland ‘Til I Die, lingered in the third tier for four seasons. Leeds, who had played in the Champions League only a few years prior, needed three seasons to get promoted out of League One.

In League One, it is often the dark horses who sneak into the play-offs or get their recruitment spot-on over several windows, upsetting the frustrated fallen giants. This unpredictability makes the third tier as intriguing as it often is.

So, who are the dark horses that could go under the radar and sneak into the play-off spots next spring?

Lincoln City

The Imps are one of the best-run clubs in the lower leagues. This is perhaps best exemplified by the sacking of just one manager in the past ten seasons while continuing to make gradual, sustained progress.

It feels inevitable that, at some point, Lincoln will get their recruitment spot on and sneak into the Championship for the first time in their history—and there’s reason to believe this could be their year.

Michael Skubala, a highly regarded former Leeds United coach, guided his Lincoln side on a staggering 16-game unbeaten run at the end of last season, narrowly missing out on the playoffs on the final day.

With the summer arrivals of Dom Jefferies, an industrious box-to-box midfielder, Tom Bayliss, a creator who impressed at Shrewsbury Town last season, and JJ McKiernan, who’ll add dynamism to Lincoln’s attack, supporters will surely be quietly confident of sneaking into the play-offs in April next year.

Prediction: 6th

Leyton Orient

The East London club’s success hinges on one man: Richie Wellens. While the club has developed a reputation for being efficient in their dealings over the years, their success has been drastically amplified by their 44-year-old manager.

During Wellens’ three full seasons in charge of English Football League sides, he’s won the League Two title twice and achieved an impressive 11th-place finish in League One last season, as the O’s briefly flirted with the play-offs.

Wellens is looking to continue evolving his Leyton Orient side. He allowed his loyal, dependable right-back Rob Hunt to depart to strengthen with the arrival of the impressive Sean Clare from Wigan Athletic. The additions of Diallang Jaiyesimi and youngster Sonny Perkins will add flair to Orient’s attack.

Leyton Orient, as typical of a Wellens team, lacks depth. The manager prefers to pack quality into a small squad and gamble on getting lucky with injuries, then carrying players he does not believe will perform his tactical messages.

Prediction: 8th

Swansea City confirmed the signing of Goncalo Franco for an undisclosed fee, thought to be well in excess of £1,000,000, earlier this transfer window. The 23-year-old box-to-box midfielder joins from Portuguese top-flight outfit Moreirense on a four-year deal and represents the type of signing Swansea supporters have been crying out for in recent seasons.

The Porto youth academy graduate has already made 82 appearances in Portugal’s top division, and his stellar performances at the base of Moreirense’s midfield last season attracted the interest of Galatasaray and Benfica, who both eventually pulled out of a move, enabling Swansea to swoop in.

Ball-winning skills, energy, and protection

Franco, who completed more successful tackles than any other player in the Portuguese Primeira Liga last season, will add energy, defensive stability, and steel to a Swansea midfield that was, at times, critiqued for being too lightweight during the 23/24 campaign.

Given the expansive, forward-thinking style of football Luke Williams displayed during the early stages of his start to life in Swansea last season and throughout his whole managerial career, Franco’s skillset will be a needed addition to protect a defensive structure that may sometimes be left vulnerable.

Technical quality, goals, and charisma

However, Franco is far more than a technically limited ball-winner. A quick skim through the midfielder’s YouTube highlights, which, admittedly, can flatter at times, demonstrates a player capable of carrying the ball, playing intricate passes through defensive lines, and even scoring a range of different types of goals.

There is one goal in particular—a 25-yard screamer during a 2-1 win over Estoril where the midfielder receives the ball under pressure but only needs one touch before unleashing an explosive shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

If Franco repeats the energy, tenacity, and charismatic style of play he demonstrated during his performances in Portugal’s topflight, the midfielder is likely to endear himself to the Liberty Stadium faithful in no time at all.

Does the signing of Franco represent a different approach to recruitment?

It is no secret that Swansea’s recruitment hasn’t been imaginative or good enough to take the club forward in recent years. But there are signs this is something the club is looking to change.

In January 2024, Swansea completed the signing of Ronald, a 22-year-old Brazilian winger who, similarly to Franco, had most recently been playing his trade in Portugal’s top division—a player the club hopes will continue to develop over the coming seasons. Meanwhile, the Swans have added South Korean international Eom Ji-sung, a 22-year-old midfielder who is hoped to carry the creative burden of Luke Williams’ midfield, on a four-year deal.

The signings of talented, young players from undervalued foreign markets signify a change in transfer strategy for the Swans. Over the past decade, Brentford, Norwich, and Brighton have demonstrated the effectiveness of signing players from undervalued foreign markets to bring in top talent capable of helping their teams to promotion out of the Championship and recouping significant transfer funds when eventually sold—something Swansea will surely be eager to replicate.

With the right blend of English Football League experience, and if Luke Williams’ team can address ongoing concerns regarding squad depth, this transfer strategy can pay dividends both in terms of on-field success and recouping significant profits on transfer fees paid.

Conclusion

Goncalo Franco’s signing marks an exciting move for Swansea City. His defensive prowess and versatile skill set align well with the club’s needs, style of play, and strategic direction. If Swansea continues to refine its recruitment strategy and add further depth and balance to the squad, the club may well see significant benefits both on and off the pitch.

Wrexham’s promotion to League One at the end of the 2023/2024 season felt inevitable. Few clubs within the lower reaches of English football could replicate the sense of certainty surrounding Wrexham’s recent success under the ownership of Hollywood’s Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny.

The North Wales club’s recent promotion is comparable to what we often witness in modern elite-level football. A casual supporter with little in-depth knowledge of the sport could make a pretty good guess in August that Manchester City and Real Madrid will win the Premier League and Champions League, respectively, the following May. The same could easily be said for Wrexham’s recent rise to League One.

There is something unfamiliar, almost fantasy-like, about attending a game at Wrexham. The Racecourse Ground, which despite American interest is largely filled by passionate local supporters, has a ferocious, unrelenting atmosphere that feels a little out of place in League Two. This is a fanbase that, even when two or three goals down, genuinely believes their team is good enough to win a game and produces noise and intensity capable of turning a game on its head in an instant.

Why are Wrexham likely to rise through the leagues?

Rival supporters are eager to point out that Wrexham’s unusual spending power is the primary cause of this inevitable feeling and confidence booming through the stands. These claims are, to a large extent, valid. Wrexham’s annual wage bill for the 2023/2024 season was an estimated £5,576,400, significantly higher than any other League Two club and competitive with some of the biggest clubs in the league above, too.

Wrexham’s spending power is unique. Unlike many previously lower-league clubs that experienced rapid progression through the leagues due to disproportionate financial power, such as AFC Bournemouth, Hull City, and Blackpool, Wrexham has a significant revenue stream to fund their eye-watering spending.

Through the public profile of their Hollywood owners and the strategic planning of key boardroom figures, Wrexham is the first lower-league British club to tap into an untapped U.S. market, resulting in revenue streams, interest, and media attention inconceivable to almost all their competitors.

The successful inception of a brand and identity that both local and international supporters could buy into, driving vast revenue streams in the process, makes Wrexham an attractive proposition for top-quality players capable of winning the club success.

So, with this being said, can Wrexham become the most successful team in Wales?  What do Wrexham have to achieve to be considered the most successful Welsh club?

While Wrexham supporters, who’ve never previously seen their team finish beyond 15th in the old Second Division, are likely to witness their team achieve its highest all-time finish in the coming years, that alone will still be a long way short of the success of the traditional ‘big two’ in Wales, Cardiff City and Swansea City. Even if Wrexham rapidly rises from League Two to the Premier League, this isn’t unprecedented for a Welsh club.

Swansea won three promotions between 2004 and 2011 to see the club rapidly rise from League Two to the Premier League in just seven seasons, something that will be hard to replicate, even for Hollywood-backed Wrexham. Neighbours Cardiff completed a similar journey in 2013, as the club transitioned from the old Third Division to the Premier League in 14 seasons. Both Swansea and Cardiff have a major trophy to their names, too. The Swans won the League Cup in 2013, while Cardiff lifted the FA Cup way back in 1927.

The difficulty and rarity, particularly within modern football, of a club outside the top three or four clubs in England winning a major trophy cannot be understated. Giants Newcastle United, for example, haven’t tasted major silverware since 1955, while Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Leeds United have hardly experienced meaningful success in a generation. Wrexham joining their Welsh rivals in lifting a major trophy anytime soon seems unlikely.

Can Wrexham grow to compete with and eventually surpass their Welsh rivals in the near future? Probably. But eclipsing the historic triumphs and legacies established by the two biggest clubs in South Wales is, for now, something that is more likely to be depicted in a film than experienced in reality.

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The Football Association of Wales’ June 9th announcement that 78-time capped Craig Bellamy would become the nation’s new head coach prompted lengthy discussion about what the future of international football in Wales may look like over the coming years and months.

Everybody knew Bellamy as a player; the all-action former Premier League forward had an infamously fiery reputation during successful playing spells at Liverpool, Newcastle United, and West Ham United. The Cardiff-born man was best known for his deployment of aggression (occasionally spilling over the edge), tenacity, and physical prowess as he battled his way to an impressive accumulation of 81 Premier League goals.

Those who haven’t religiously followed the early stages of Bellamy’s coaching career—where he learned his trade at his home club Cardiff City before assisting current Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht and Burnley—would be forgiven for believing the new-look Wales team may share similar values and principles to the relentlessness Bellamy so often displayed during his illustrious playing career.

Changing Perceptions

But Bellamy, a young manager who cites his biggest tactical inspiration as former Ajax and Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff, has consistently been part of progressive coaching setups centred around possession-heavy football and revolutionary methods in training, player recovery, and man-management.

The man once nicknamed “the nutter with the putter” (a reference to a golf club-related incident during his playing days at Liverpool) has gone to great lengths to reinvent himself. Bellamy has finally broken free from the hot-headed stereotype that comes to mind when retrospectively thinking of the Welshman’s younger self and instead created the perception of a tactically obsessed, strategic, deep thinker.

Spells at Anderlecht and Burnley saw Bellamy tasked with not only changing connotations around his personality and perceived temperament, but the way traditionally industrious, hard-working teams should play.

Bellamy’s pivotal tactical role as assistant manager in Burnley’s league title-winning 2022/2023 season, saw the Welshman change the idea around how Burnley should play and what it means to be part of the overachieving club. His team adopted an expansive 4-3-3 and built out from the back, a stark contrast to the long ball, hard-to-beat mentality installed by previous manager Sean Dyche.

So, what can we expect from Bellamy’s new Wales team, as the nation navigates the post-Gareth Bale era, with no glaringly obvious predecessor to carry the weight of expectation previously held by the former Real Madrid superstar?

Redefining the Wales national team

The recently announced Wales coach will have to continue redefining cultural and tactical systems as he embarks on a new journey in charge of the national team. Wales, who despite the superstar status of Gareth Bale maintained a strong team ethos during his playing career, will still have to evolve beyond reliance on a singular individual during Bellamy’s forthcoming tenure.

While Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey did a stellar job of controlling games, particularly during the nation’s historic run to the 2016 European Championships semifinals, the presence and sublime of Bale enabled a level of leeway in performances, a get-out-of-jail free card hidden up the nations sleeve, that simply won’t be available to Wales in the coming years.

Bellamy’s team will need to be more tactically acute and advantageous of the array of technical talents at their disposal, something former manager Rob Page faced criticism for failing to properly utilise. Most notably, Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rondon, and Chris Mepham are all capable of intricately building possession out of the back towards attacking talents Brennan Johnson, David Brookes, and Dan James.

There is every sign this is something Bellamy will try to implement in his new team. Speaking to The Guardian after being appointed as Wales manager he claimed:

“I think you need to move away from formations, we need to start looking at football differently, we don’t play formations, we play shapes. The idea is: ‘Can I create an extra player in a part of the field where you [the opposition] don’t have it?”

This flexible approach to formations is something that’s prevalent in all the world’s best modern managers’ thinking and represents an early sign that Bellamy will want his team to play in a similar fashion to the elite footballing nations and attempt to go toe-to-toe with them, rather than sitting in a defensive block and hoping to snatch the points.

Irrespective of style, Bellamy will ultimately be judged on results and whether he can lead Wales to back-to-back World Cup finals, as qualification for USA’s 2026 tournament gets underway in early 2025.