Swansea City Considers US investment Proposals to Further Club Ambition

Swansea City Chairman Huw Jenkins has spoken for the first time with regards to speculation that Swansea City Football Club were inviting US investment proposals in order to further the club’s ambition and remain competitive financially with other Premier League clubs.

Jenkins revealed in his programme notes for yesterday’s visit of Arsenal that the club were indeed considering going ahead with the idea of foreign investment into the club,

“There has been a lot of talk recently about potential new investment coming into the club. This needs to be considered in more detail before any of our supporters can decide if the thought of a new person or people sitting on our current board of directors to offer help and opinions on the future running of our football club is a good move or not.”

Chris Wathan detailed in a Wales Online story the percentages which could be purchased by foreign investors. The scenario could see a foreign investor purchase up to 30% of the club’s total shares with the Swansea City Supporters Trust continuing to retain 21% themselves.

Whilst it may not be an idea move for members of the Swansea City Supporters Trust, given the monumental success the current ownership structure of the club has enjoyed it is important to look to the future, something which Jenkins again mentioned further on in his programme notes, “Will standing still and protecting what we already have be enough for us to compete in the future?”

With the latest television deals ensuring each Premier League club is given a minimum payment of £52.2million, the level of competition within the English top division has skyrocketed. Of course teams are still affected by their own sponsorship deals and worldwide support base, but there is an equal playing field in terms of revenue from TV deals, something which the vast majority of teams in La Liga, for example, can only dream of.

This is the difficultly for Swansea City as a football club. The money brought in by global TV deals is significant but with every club around them receiving that money, is it enough to propel the club forward into the upper echelons of the Premier League on a regular basis?

That is the question being pondered by Swansea City’s hierarchy. The introduction of US businessmen to the club would vastly improve finances and thus the club’s ability to maneuver in the transfer-market, particularly in a time when the market is so saturated with a large number of similarly positioned Premier League clubs often targeting the same group of players.

Plus the funding would help Swansea City expand their Liberty Stadium from a capacity of 20,532 to 30,000, as well as revamping the club’s commercial department in order to sign lucrative sponsorship deals with businesses worldwide.

With Arsenal fully in the knowledge that the expenditure on the Emirates Stadium would damage activity in the transfer market, David Dein, the club’s then Vice-Chairman could see the need for further investment to secure the fortunes of the club on the pitch.

Dein looked to bring both Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov to the club in order for Arsenal to remain competitive with Chelsea.  To a degree this is what Huw Jenkins is trying to achieve with US Businessmen John Jay Moores and Charles Noell and their potential introduction to Swansea City.

If we look at how Southampton fully utilized their injection of cash earned through player sales into their squad this summer, it would be fair to say that the club is reaping the rewards. However for other clubs a vast sale simply to finance a team rejuvenation is not possible, nor is it a sustainable way of building a successful football club in the long-term.

This is the plan for foreign investment into Swansea City. The injection of finance into the club will in theory give Swansea a financial advantage over their rivals in the transfer market as well as making it possible to improve training facilities and secure the long-term development of the club, but in a sustainable manner.

There is still a long road ahead in the process with Huw Jenkins vowing to work closely with the Swansea City Supporters Trust before making any decisions but the signs are pointing towards foreign investment in Swansea City occurring sooner rather than later.