It's not often we do it but this article from the Daily Mail deserves reproduction

Across the River Tawe from Swansea City's sleek and modern Liberty Stadium stand the remains of the industrial hub they called Copperopolis. 

For more than a century, it thrived as one of the largest industrial complexes in Europe before, one by one, the smelting works closed and the industry that had employed thousands withered away.

The wasteland that was once the Hafod Copperworks has been seen as a metaphor for the city's football club but Swansea City never really enjoyed a golden era from which to decline. 

Now the club are about to set foot among English football's elite as newly-promoted members of the richest league in the world.

And when they take on Manchester City in their first game in the Premier League, on Monday August 15, they will do so as a club boasting one of the game's brightest managerial stars in 38-year-old Brendan Rodgers and a clutch of exciting young players headed by Scott Sinclair, scorer of a hattrick in the 4-2 win over Reading in last season's Championship play-off final at Wembley.

Having been on the verge of bankruptcy and extinction twice in the past 26 years, there could be no greater contrast than the resources of the opposing clubs.

Last year, Manchester City, backed by the oil-soaked billions of Abu Dhabi's Sheik Mansour, turned over £125million and could afford to record losses of £121.3m. 

Swansea's turnover was £10m and the club who are owned, in part, by their own fans, made a profit a £602,953 - less than the pay packet Yaya Toure takes home from their opening game opponents in a single month.

'They have trillions to spend, not millions,' said Swansea manager Rodgers, surveying the challenge. 'We're a million miles away from them.

'I read somewhere that there's a greater chance of seeing Elvis alive than seeing us staying in the Premier League and that was before the sweat had even dried on the shirts at Wembley. It made me chuckle but now we have a cause to fight for and I think people will be surprised.'

Swansea, it seems, have been fighting their cause for much of their 99 years. No-one agrees exactly when the club reached their nadir. 

Some would cite the High Court decision in 1985 to liquidate the club, eventually revoked; for others it is the calamitous ownership of Mike Lewis, later convicted of fraud in relation to activities at Exeter City, at the turn of this century.

The truth is Swansea, like many lowerleague clubs, have been a basket case for longer than most people can remember.

Even a fleeting success, such as the blast through the divisions to the old First Division in the 1980s under former Liverpool star John Toshack, was followed by an equally swift demise back to Division Four and bankruptcy.

And even when, in 2002, the club were reborn under a consortium of local businessmen and supporters raised £50,000 to buy a 10 per cent stake with not much more than jumble sales and a collection tin, the euphoria of salvation was short-lived. 

Within a season, Swansea had sunk to their lowest ebb, with a victory against Hull in May 2003 required to avoid going out of the League altogether.

A hat-trick from Swansea-born born James Thomas ensured survival and represented something of a turning point.

'Looking back, they were ridiculous decisions we made [to invest] really,' said chairman Huw Jenkins, part of that initial consortium. 

'We could have gone out of the Football League and loads of things could have gone the opposite direction. We left ourselves wide open for criticism. There were one or two investors who stood back for a couple of years and they were probably the wise ones.'

Yet through the efforts of managers, starting with Brian Flynn and followed by Kenny Jackett, Roberto Martinez, Paulo Sousa and now Rodgers, Swansea have climbed to the pinnacle of the football pyramid without the aid of a Russian oligarch, a Formula One mogul or a sheik.

'I'd much prefer to be where we are than where Manchester City are,' said Nigel Hamer, a founding member of the Supporters Trust that raised an initial £50,000 to save the club. The Trust later raised another £50,000 to take a 20 per cent stake.

'This means far more and a lot of us have great pride that the fans helped to save our football club. The one thing I'll go to my grave thinking is that we've done something here.'

There are limitations on the club's growth, however, namely the 20,500 capacity which cannot be extended without returning the bulk of the funding provided to build a stadium deemed to be for community use.

To be honest, when we were getting 5,000 at the Vetch Field and planning to move we didn't really envisage this problem,' said Hamer.

Nevertheless, season tickets price rises on promotion were capped at 15 per cent and some were merely in line with inflation. 

'That's because of the involvement of the supporters director Huw Cooze on the board,' said Will Morris, also of the Supporters Trust.

Indeed, there is a strange convergence of opinion among chairman, manager and fans. Supporter Alan James, 57, exemplifies the mood. 'The Trust is very important in that having a seat on the board gives us a say in the club,' he said.

'And the fans think the same way as the board. We're not going to spend money and get into debt the way we did before. The majority wouldn't want it because of what has happened in the past.' His son, Nathan, 28, agrees.

'The Trust means it's not just run from a business point of view but for the community and it also relates to how we play the game,' he said.

'The fans here are definitely more patient. Obviously we want big signings, names and success but we want to do it playing good football. 

'There have been frustrations in the past, when it seemed as though there was a lack of ambition, but the board's decision has been proven time and time again to have been correct.'

To manage Swansea is to be entrusted with such hopes, as Rodgers well appreciates, having been given a second chance here after being sacked less than six months into only his second managerial job at Reading.

'I have a special connection with the supporters,' said the man from Northern Ireland.

'I'm sure there were doubts when I first came in and rightly so because I failed in my last job. But the club and supporters gave me a chance. I moved to the area straight away and though I haven't even been here one season yet, I feel that I've been here a lifetime.

'We share similarities and there is a working-class connection. What I've tried to do is advertise not just the football but the area. This is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. It's absolutely incredible but if you weren't coming for the football you might not come here.

'That's why I was more pleased for the people of Swansea that we got promoted because it will magnify the beautiful city that they have and let the rest of the world see what a great place it is. To be able to give them that as a reward for what they gave me, made me very happy.'

From the sweep of the spectacular beach adjacent to the city centre in Swansea Bay, to the Gower Peninsula beyond, they can lay claim to be most beautifully-located club in Premier League history. Yet that can hide the region's difficulties and mask the genuine sense of alienation.

'We always felt that where we live is more or less forgotten in the rest of Britain,' said chairman Jenkins.

'The lack of investment and the perception that we are out on a limb has probably been with us all our lives. So the fact that we've achieved this and become the first Welsh club in the Premier League, and achieved it against all odds, gives you a huge sense of pride in our area and city.

'With the way our club is run, with fans on the board, I would say 80 to 90 per cent of fans of every team we play this season would like their club to be run like us. Manchester United have a large percentage of their following that would like their club to be run by the supporters.

'It can be done. You do have to have strong leadership and everyone has to be behind that. But luckily enough, we've managed to find a way.

'The next challenge is to compete in the top of the Premier League. And that would defy all odds, wouldn't it?'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2015513/Swansea-boss-Brendan-Rodgers-Premier-League-survival.html#ixzz1SLZ7Pkd0

Photo: Action Images

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