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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Mathew Davies

Swansea City fans make transfer window feelings abundantly clear and reveal Russell Martin concern

Swansea City's transfer window was nothing short of a shambles.

You could almost see it coming. Six players left, no-one was brought in, with the squad being boosted only by the return of Morgan Whittaker from his loan stint with Plymouth Argyle.

Swansea were, at the close of January, still within spitting distance of the play-off spots.

Two defeats and seven goals conceded since has pushed them further down the Championship table - 15th to be exact - with the hopes of a promotion push fading.

READ MORE: Russell Martin demands Swansea City cut out 'silly moments' and look at Sheffield United's 'brilliant' attitude

When the window closed we asked supporters for their views on four pertinent topics/questions.

  • Rate Swansea City's transfer window out of 10
  • Where will Swansea City now finish?

  • Will Russell Martin be the manager next season?

  • Which squad position concerns you most after the failure to make any signings in January?

It's no surprise to see fans give a low score out of 10 for Swansea's January transfer window work. A total of 1,400 of you gave a score of one out of 10, with a handful rating it two out of 10 or above.

Swansea saw Michael Obafemi leave for Burnley, Nathanael Ogbeta head to Peterborough United on loan, Brandon Cooper off to Forest Green Rovers, Armstrong Oko-Flex and Finn Stevens recalled by parent clubs West Ham United and Brentford respectively and Jordon Garrick sold to Forest Green Rovers after his recall from Lincoln City.

They also missed out on a deadline-day swoop for Karlan Grant after the Baggies pulled the plug on a deal with the clock past 11pm. Other targets came and went, too, leaving Martin and his staff short heading into the final stretch of the season.

Swansea can't be blamed for the Grant move falling down but the fact everything was left so last minute is what's particularly damning. You can read the full breakdown of Swansea's window here from Swans correspondent Ian Mitchelmore. The aftermath led to apologetic words from Jason Levien and Jake Silverstein in an interview with the supporters' trust in which they said they need to learn from their mistakes.

That deadline-day score is likely to have had an influence on where supporters see Swansea finishing; 50 of you said top six, 902 of you said bottom half and 475 said top half. One thing is for sure, the nature of the Championship this season will give you chances. String three wins together and you are knocking on the play-offs once again but Swansea can't find that level of consistency at present.

As for the future of Martin, fans are unconvinced he'll be here next season; 531 said yes, he will remain in situ but 892 believe he won't be in the dugout for the 2023/24 campaign For what it's worth, the head coach said last week that he hasn't thought about walking away from the job, despite frustrations around what has happened in recent weeks.

"It's never been a thought. Why would it be?" he said before the Sheffield United game. "Of course everyone's frustrated about what happened last week, but that's gone, you can't affect it. There is no point stewing over it. You have a choice of what to focus on and our choice is to focus on building a team and working with young players. The league is starting to take shape, the teams in and around the play-offs are the ones with financial power, as is usually what happens.

"If you haven't got that you need time to build, and the one thing I have been given here is patience and support in that sense, in terms of the understanding of what we are trying to build."

As for the final question - what positions concern you the most - there is a pretty much even spread of worry across three of the four areas highlighted. A total of 448 highlighted Swansea's keeper issues, 521 focused on defence as a headache and 419 believe the attack has been left understrength. Conversely, only 34 of you said midfield was an area to be concerned about.

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