Swansea City’s players have been warned that relegation from the Barclays Premier League would breach not only their responsibilities towards the club but to the entire city.
The club’s presence in the top flight is estimated to be worth more than £60 million a year to the region, with hundreds of jobs in the leisure and entertainment industries having been created as a result of promotion from the Championship five years ago.
Swansea, who face Norwich City, their fellow strugglers, at the Liberty Stadium today, are six points clear of their opponents, who occupy the final relegation place after a wretched period since the turn of the year.
Both clubs are an integral part of their city’s economic infrastructure and relegation would have a far-reaching impact without even considering the effect of missing out on the new television contract, which begins at the start of next season.
“It’s a massive deal for the entire area,” Alan Curtis, the Swansea first-team coach, told The Times. “There is a huge responsibility on us in terms of the people who are employed in the leisure industries and it is crucial that we stay up.
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“I’m not sure how much money we bring in for the local economy, maybe £60 million a year, which is a huge amount. We’re responsible for generating that revenue. I’m aware of it and so are the players. It’s a big deal.
“I wouldn’t say that south Wales is a depressed area [economically] but Swansea does rely a bit on the tourism industry and people coming down to watch the games. We’ve had a couple of setbacks of late too, in Port Talbot with the steelworkers losing jobs.
“From a prestige point of view, the name of Swansea is being carried all over the world as a Premier League club. When I was taking holidays up to five years ago, I’d be talking to people and they’d ask me where I was from and I’d say, ‘Swansea’, and they didn’t have a clue where it was. Now when I meet people they can list all our players.”
While Swansea have remained a constant in the Premier League since their arrival five years ago, Norwich have bounced between divisions on more occasions than their supporters would care to remember.
Norwich’s promotion through the play-offs last season under the guidance of Alex Neil, one of the league’s youngest managers, was expected to herald a new era.
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The aim was to establish themselves in the division and end their reputation as a “yo-yo” club. Yet, this season has been a huge learning curve not only for a group of players who appear to be not good enough for this level but also for a manager who had only enjoyed success since he began coaching.
“Premier League football is an integral part of the town. It brings much needed finances into the city, pubs and restaurants,” Iwan Roberts, who made 306 appearances during a seven-year spell at Norwich, said.
“When you have the big hitters coming to Carrow Road, they bring 3,000-4,000 with them. That generates money which is invaluable to a small city like Norwich.”
Roberts, who lives in Norwich but commutes to Swansea every other weekend to work for BBC Radio Wales, sees similarities between the two clubs.
Norwich’s ups and downs
“Norwich is a one-county club and has a massive catchment area,” Roberts said. “You go back to when they were in League One, they were selling 26,000 for every home game at Carrow Road. It really is a massive part not just of Norwich City but Norfolk in general.
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“The majority of Norwich fans live in and around the city and I would say the same about Swansea fans. They’re both owned by local owners and both try to run their clubs the right way.”
While the performances in the recent defeats by Leicester City and Chelsea have been encouraging, there is a feeling of inevitability surrounding Norwich’s plight. They have lost seven of their past eight league games, have conceded 21 goals in that time and have failed to keep a clean sheet away from home this season.
While Swansea’s survival is far from assured, their victory away to Arsenal on Wednesday means that they will approach the contest with renewed hope. While Norwich’s future remains uncertain, Swansea’s season will be defined by their next three fixtures, with today’s game followed by meetings with Bournemouth and Aston Villa.
For Curtis, who has been standing in for Francesco Guidolin, the club’s head coach who has been in hospital with a lung infection, there is a sense of duty.
“Everybody talks about the money side of things and the TV deal from next season is huge and everyone understands the importance of that,” he said. “I don’t want to think about it [relegation]. It is a huge responsibility for us.”