A well deserved point at Huddersfield Town has swiftly become something of a distant memory for the Jack Army following a turbulent 24-hour post-match period.
Swansea City dominated for long spells at The John Smith’s Stadium and ended a run of four consecutive defeats as Flynn Downes cancelled out Danel Sinani’s opener in west Yorkshire.
But then came two significant bombshells that showed all is not well behind the scenes at the Swansea.com Stadium and Fairwood.
Firstly, Russell Martin revealed his frustrations over missing out on a transfer target in the buildup to the contest with the Terriers.
“We thought we were really close and then at the last minute it was off,” he said.
But the 36-year-old’s frustrations are clearly deeper than first thought, and it did not take too much reading between the lines to see the clear message being sent by the head coach to Swansea’s owners.
“I think what we have is a really clear strategy of what we want to do, long-term. We’re not asking for the world in January,” said Martin shortly after the 1-1 draw on Saturday.
“We’re really clear in what we want and how we want to do it.
“It’s just hopefully about getting enough support to be able to do that, like we did with Flynn Downes, like in the summer just before we can with Joel Piroe, who is now a huge asset to the club.
“Joel will be the first to admit that he’d have maybe found the Championship tough to play in in a different team, so he’s so suited to the way we play.
“Hopefully we get the support we need and we can really add to it, because the people who have come into it already, Olivier Ntcham, Jamie Paterson, Flynn, Joel Piroe, Ethan [Laird] before he got called back, have been some of our top performers.”
READ MORE:Russell Martin ‘running out of superlatives’ for Swansea City star as he namechecks owners over signing
Secondly, on Sunday, it emerged that Jamie Paterson has been left frustrated over his new contract.
The 29-year-old – who joined Swansea as a free agent in the summer – was recently given a new 12-month contract after the club triggered the option in his previous deal to do so.
But Paterson – who has eight goals and four assists to his name this term – told those in the corridors of power at Swansea that he was not in the right frame of mind to feature at Huddersfield due to his frustrations over the terms of his new contract.
It was a revelation that suddenly left Swansea fans fearing for the final two weeks of the January transfer window.
In December, sporting director Mark Allen told WalesOnline that adding creativity to the squad was Swansea’s priority this month.
The club are yet to bolster their options in that department and could now even lose their most vital cog in attack – with West Brom among those keen on a swoop for disillusioned Swans star Paterson.
One of three significant calls now needs to be made.
1) The club stand firm and cash in on Paterson.
2) The club stand by their decision but keep Paterson.
3) The club review the situation and hand Paterson improved terms.
Each scenario has its merits and its flaws.
Swansea do not have cash to throw around at will, so backing down to improve Paterson’s financial package could hinder their other transfer plans while also undermining their authority. But it would of course mean satisfying a man who has been a pivotal component under the current regime.
Then there’s the stance of Paterson, who understandably wants to be rewarded for his remarkable efforts since joining the club in August.
But there is also the counter-argument for that viewpoint.
Paterson was deemed surplus to requirements at Bristol City after a torrid run with injuries, but he was thrown a significant lifeline by Swansea who have shown huge amounts of faith in the attacker.
It’s a messy situation that, for the sake of the second half of Swansea’s debut campaign under Martin, desperately needs resolving. And swiftly.
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Swansea are no strangers to treading in the murky waters of transfer window misery.
But with just a fortnight to go until the 11pm deadline on January 31, the Swans still have an alarming amount of possible scenarios to tick off on their to do list, including finding a left wing-back, adding creativity and goals to the squad plus offloading others.
The glowing comments from Wales international Sorba Thomas after Huddersfield’s 1-1 draw with the Swans were at least encouraging.
“I said it to a few of the boys – that’s the best team I have seen play this year,” Thomas told the BBC.
“The composure of a lot of their boys is unbelievable – it’s frightening to see really.”
So it’s not quite all doom and gloom, is it?
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