SWANSEA.COM STADIUM: Swans close in on owning their ground, and want the training ground too

Swansea City are a step closer to owning the Swansea.com Stadium. The club says it has agreed the main terms of the sale with Swansea Council, and the deal is now with the lawyers.

Chief executive Tom Gorringe told supporters: “We are now in agreement over a heads of terms, with ourselves and the Council aligned on the desired outcomes.”

“We hope to have further news on this and the timeline for an eventual purchase in the coming weeks,” he added.

The deal has moved on since July, when the council’s cabinet agreed unanimously to sell the club the stadium’s freehold, with the price kept in a closed session.

Gorringe has said owning the ground outright “makes sense operationally and financially” now that the Swans are the only team playing there.

And the stadium is not the only thing the club wants to buy.

Swans want to buy Fairwood from Swansea University

In August, Gorringe told fans the club also wanted to own Fairwood, the training ground it leases from Swansea University.

“In terms of putting us in a stronger position for the future, we want to own the site in our own right,” he said.

He said discussions were “progressing well”, but that there was “still some work to do before we are able to update you further”.

Two months on, the club has given no further update on Fairwood. The Swans have trained there under a lease from the university since 2012.

Auditors in as the Swans chase Category One academy status

The club is also pushing to return its academy to the top grade, known as Category One, which it gave up in 2020 to cut costs.

Gorringe said what was at stake for young players in Wales: “Currently, there are no Category One academies in Wales, meaning Welsh talent does not have regular access to compete against the leading academy teams in England.”

The top grade would also let the club “recruit the best young talent from an earlier age”, he said.

Independent auditors from the Professional Game Academy Audit Company have now been through the academy’s operations and facilities. Gorringe said he wanted to “commend academy manager Ryan Davies and his team for their efforts so far”.

If the bid succeeds, he said in August, the academy would return to Category One for the start of the 2027-28 season.

EFL figures quoted by the club show an academy player in every one of its matchday squads last season, against an EFL average of 71 per cent.

New big screens at the Swansea.com Stadium in November

Both big screens will be replaced during the November international break, with extra LED advertising boards added inside the ground.

The chief executive promised screens that are “larger in size” with “clearer and crisper visuals”. In August the club said “administrative complications via the current lease with the Council” meant the work could not be finished for the start of the season.

Season ticket sales up nearly 10 per cent

Season ticket sales are up nearly 10 per cent on last year, according to the club, and crowds for the Sheffield United and Watford games were 36 per cent up on the same fixtures last season.

Gorringe singled out the 3,000 or so fans who went to Stoke on the opening day, calling it “one of our very highest away attendances since our time in the Premier League”.

“Vitor and the players talk regularly of the importance of the connection between the team and you, our supporters,” he said.

Fans will also get a vote on who sits on the club’s first Supporter Advisory Board, with interviews for the roles under way. Gorringe said it would let the club “incorporate fan guidance and insight more effectively into our decision-making processes”.

As for Swans Women, he said the investment was in its “final stages”, with the names of Jenine Cravatt’s fellow investors and the team’s new board still to come, 11 weeks after the club announced it had sold a stake.

Chief executive joins the Big Sleep Out

Gorringe will spend the night of Friday 13 November at the Swansea.com Stadium for the Big Sleep Out, which raised £46,000 for Matthew’s House and the club’s Foundation last year.

“I am delighted to be joining those sleeping out this year and hope that together we can beat last year’s total to further support those in need in our city,” he said.