Danny Williams didn’t take much persuading to join Pure Swansea. The players he already knew did most of the work.
The Swansea-born attacker signed in June alongside Bradley Gibbings, and he said: “I knew a few of them, not all the team, but I knew two or three before I signed.”
He added: “They were quite complimentary of what Pure were about, and they kind of twisted my arm a bit. I thought, yeah, why not, let’s go for it.”
‘Swansea boys, same banter’
Williams says a squad that’s almost all local made it easy to settle in.
He said: “It’s a good group. Obviously, Swansea boys, we all have a similar kind of background, same banter and stuff, so it’s been quite easy to gel and find your place in the team.”
He added: “It’s just nice playing with boys who are from a similar area or the same area as you.”
Manager Jack Midwinter puts it the same way. He said this week: “We’re a group of Swansea boys who love representing the city.”
That was how Midwinter built the squad in the summer, recruiting players from the city who already knew each other.
He said in August: “Being a team based in Swansea and being able to recruit lads who live in the city, they already know each other. So that relationship building happened quite quickly through the pre-season.”
Brownie, Morgan and the youngsters
Asked who the characters are, Williams went straight to defender Zac Brown: “Brownie. I do like Zac, Zac’s quite funny.”
He also named Morgan Wright, and said: “We’ve got a good mix in there. We’ve got experience and we’ve got some youngsters as well who are pushing.”
‘Just mates that play footy together’
Midwinter has made enjoyment the point of the whole thing. Before the original Treowen fixture, he said: “We play football with a smile, we have a beer together, we go out together, we’re mates from the people at the top to the people at the bottom.”
He added: “They’re just mates that play footy together and that’s their passion.”
It’s a young squad, with an average age Midwinter put at around 23 in the summer. He signed Williams and Gibbings to add experience to it.
He said: “When you’ve got young players like Mason and Casey who are talented and are raw to this level, it is good that you have people like Kyle, Danny and Brad who have got good experience.”
‘We’ve actually got a style of play’
Williams says the way Pure play was a big part of the appeal.
He said: “Up here where we are, we’ve actually got a style of play and an identity and what we like to do with the ball. We’re quite fluid, which I like.”
He added: “We’ve got great options of attack and we’re all very different. We can all offer something and all good enough to be on the pitch at the same time.”
He also likes “how comfortable and confident we are on the ball”, and says that suits a player who likes to play as a number ten, off the left or through the middle.
Old partnerships and new ones
He has played with Gibbings for several seasons. He was at Cardiff City with Kyle Copp after the Bluebirds signed him from Haverfordwest County as an 18-year-old in 2019.
Of the players who are new to him, he picked out Mason Kelly as “a very good little player”. He also likes playing alongside striker Casey Coughlin, who “brings you into the game”.
Back fit and enjoying it
Williams scored the second goal in last Saturday’s 2-0 win over Cardiff Draconians, his second for the club. Midwinter called it his “best game for us to date”.
He said: “I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying it a lot more now that I’m back on the pitch, back fit and available.”
Treowen tonight
A win over Treowen Stars tonight would take Pure back to the top of the Novira Cymru South. Williams has played with some of their squad and expects a test.
He said: “I think if we’re on our top game and our A game, like we’ve shown throughout the start of the season, I think it’s our game.”
Pure Swansea host Treowen Stars at Swansea Bay Sports Park tonight (7.30pm kick-off).
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