You’re
all out!
10/10/01
- evening post
By Phil Dillon and Gareth
Vincent
Swansea City was a club in
total disarray this afternoon as new
chairman Tony Petty wielded the axe on
the first-team squad.
Fifteen players — including Roger
Freestone, Matthew Bound, Jason Smith and
Nick Cusack — were either sacked or
offered massive pay cuts.
Kristian O'Leary, Jonathan Coates,
Ritchie Appleby, Damian Lacey, Steve
Watkin, Michael Keegan, Michael Howard
and David Romo were the other players
facing the chop today.
There were tears shed as goalkeeping
coach Glan Letheren and youth boss Ron
Walton — who has been at the club
for 18 years — were also shown the
door.
Letheren and Walton were the first to go
this morning when Petty handed them their
letters confirming their termination of
employment.
Petty revealed the shocking news to the
players one by one — just hours
before he was due to jet back to
Australia.
The fate of the rest of the squad is as
yet unclear.
Petty also announced that no further cuts
would be made in the club's
administration — but the future of
manager Colin Addison and assistant Peter
Nicholas must now come into doubt.
Appleby said: "The chairman can do
and say whatever he wants, but our
contracts are binding and none of us are
going to sign reduced deals.
"Nick Cusack is talking to the
PFA(Profesional Footballers Association)
and we are going to stick together."
Club captain Cusack, Swansea's PFA
representative, added: "The whole
future of the football club is at stake
here. It's a huge shock as far as we are
concerned.
"Quite a number of players have had
their contracts breached and they have
been told they are no longer players at
the club because the club is not in a
position to pay them.
"A number of other players have been
offered substantially lower wages to
continue playing.
"The players signed contracts in
good faith and obviously this is an
unexceptional situation.
"I am in close in consultation with
the PFA and that will continue long into
the day. We are trying to find a solution
but whether this will be possible only
time will tell.
In a statement Petty said: "I have
spoken to all of the players this morning
and they have been notified of the club's
financial situation.
"A number of players have been
offered contracts at levels the club
believes it can afford.
"Today's events should come as no
surprise to anybody. If the club is to
survive its overheads must be reduced to
match levels of income."
Sacked today: Glan Letheren, Ron Walton,
Matthew Bound, David Romo, Jason Smith,
Steve Watkin, Michael Keegan, Nicolas
Mazzina, John Williams.
Offered reduced deals: Damian Lacey,
Ritchie Appleby, Jonathan Coates,
Kristian O'Leary, Michael Howard, Lee
Jenkins, Roger Freestone, Nick Cusack.
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