These are your Swansea City headlines on Sunday, February 5
No late bids for Ogbene, says boss
Rotherham United boss Matt Taylor has revealed there were no late bids for Chiedozie Ogbene and says he hopes the striker will see out his contract in style with the Millers.
Ogbene was Swansea's number one target in January but it became increasingly unlikely that they would be able to get a deal over the line. Taylor has revealed there was lots of interest in the attacker in the middle of the month but late doors there was nothing in terms of offers or bids. He will be a free agent come the summer after deciding not to extend his contract with the Yorkshire outfit
Taylor explained exactly what happened in the final stages of the window.
“There were no late bids, a lot of interest in the middle of the window, which we spoke to Cheo about,” Taylor said.
READ MORE: The contract status of every Swansea City player and the six deals up this summer
“I cannot compliment Cheo enough about how open and honest he’s been with us in terms of his expectations, where he wants his ultimate destination to be, whether that’s this window or the end of the season.
“We were really comfortable with how the window panned out for Cheo, probably less dramatic than it might seem on the outside.
“We were comfortable in the last couple of weeks that if something dramatic changed in terms of the figures that were being put to us for someone of his ilk, then we were comfortable with him staying at this football club.”
Swansea failed to add a single signing to their squad last month despite six players departing.
Fulton: Dressing room gutted
Jay Fulton has revealed the scene inside Swansea's dressing room following their disappointing 4-3 defeat to Birmingham City on Saturday.
Swansea were leading heading into the final throes of the game but an injury to Joel Latibeaudiere in the 84th minute meant they had to see out the match with just 10 men, having already made three changes in personnel.
Lukas Jutkiewicz and Auston Trusty then struck late on to snatch all three points in heartbreaking fashion.
Fulton says the dressing room was devastated in the aftermath.
“It’s tough to take. A lot of people are flat in the changing room,” Fulton admitted.
“Obviously, when Joel went off and we go down to 10 men, that makes things difficult. Up until that point, I thought we were playing well and doing the right stuff.
“We got three goals, and when you score three – especially at home – you shouldn’t lose a game.
“We’re flat. It’s another bump in the road. But as the gaffer has said previously, we’ll all in this together, he’s got the full support of us and we’ve got the full support of him, so it’s up to us to bounce back from it.
“The next game can’t come quick enough after that. Our full focus is on that now, and we’re just looking to put things right.”
Swans an exceptional footballing team - Eustace
Birmingham boss John Eustace says he got his team selection all wrong in the first half on Saturday and was happy just to be in the game against an "exceptional footballing team" in Swansea.
The Blues were behind at the break and Swansea's 2-1 advantage should have been more if truth be told, but the opposition manager's changes at half-time turned the game in their favour.
"I said ‘tactically I got that wrong boys, I was asking you to do too much’," Eustace said post-match. "From my positive as well we got Gary Gardner another 45 minutes, George Friend another 45 minutes, these boys haven’t played this season at all really.
"It’s very important that coming to a place like this, an exceptional footballing team, you are still in the game at half-time because that second half there are always going to be opportunities. For me to leave (Juninho) Bacuna, Hannibal (Mejbri), people like that on the bench, it was always going to be for them to come on in that second half and make the difference. Fortunately we were still in the game.
"You could see when the game opened up they were exceptional and we had a lot of the chances. Tactically we got it spot on in the second half."
READ MORE:
The contract status of every Swansea City player and the six deals up this summer
Swansea City player ratings as strike duo and Fulton immense but Birmingham City strike late on
Crestfallen Russell Martin has 'never felt so low' after Swansea City's loss to Birmingham
Swansea City 3-4 Birmingham City: Blues strike twice late on to clinch dramatic victory
