Western Mail

Earlier this month Lewis ended the unpopular reign of Ninth Floor plc at the Vetch Field when he acquired the Third Division club for £1.

Now his task is to attract financial backers to the Vetch to enable the club not only to survive but to move forward.

Lewis, who hardly has the financial muscle to keep a football club going, is currently racing against time to bring new investors to the Vetch. "Spreading the word," he smiled, "is the story of my life right now."

A condition for whoever buys a stake in the Swans is that Lewis stays as managing director or possibly vice-chairman. "I still want to be driving the thing. All the people I'm speaking to appreciate that because they have their own businesses to run."

He continued, "We don't want a boardroom of 20 people and by the same token we don't one Mein Fuhrer. The happy medium is five or six including a supporters' representative.

"It's very important we have a link with the public. The fans are very perceptive and it would be completely wrong to ignore that. Some chairmen see it as a gimmick but I don't.

"A supporters' voice is a vital element. A voice has to be heard even if it is unpalatable at times. I'm not against supporters running a club, as is the case at Lincoln.

"Swansea City doesn't belong to me or John Hollins. It belongs to the people of Swansea and they should have a far greater say in how the club is run.

"An amalgam of Swansea people, including the local authority, should have a say in how it's run, but I don't think that will ever happen."

"I want to shift my 46 million shares as soon as possible. I don't particularly want to go into the season wondering whether we've got the money to keep the club going or not.

"I've been talking to a number of people for months and I'm confident something will be sorted out."

The Swans were hoping to bank around £250,000 from selling Wales Under-21 winger Stuart Roberts to Rotherham, but Lewis's hopes of adding to the fast-depleting Vetch coffers were dashed when the Yorkshire club said they could not afford Swansea's asking price.

"I'm talking to a number of individuals at the moment - not consortiums - and one of them, who I won't name, is pretty well ahead of the rest."

Lewis admitted that local businessmen David Bradshaw and Martin Morgan, both recently linked to buying the Swans, are not interested in coming on board.

"For their own reasons they said no. David has been very supportive and he's finding potential investors for me to meet. He's been acting as a sort of conduit for me.

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