The debate surrounding the likely future of Colin Addison and Peter Nicholas in the make up of Swansea City Football Club in the 2002/2003 season continues to roller coaster, and will, no doubt, until the issue is settled, whenever that may be.

Let's just reflect a moment and step back a couple of months. Addison and Nicholas came to the club, in what were already difficult circumstances, and before they knew it were faced with a situation that I would imagine few managers are blessed with in their careers.

'Now I don't know why I came here tonight,
Got a feelin' that something ain't right'

How many times did that thought go through either or both of their minds, do you think, in their early times at Vetch Field? Who knows, but I would guess that it was more than once, and who could blame them? Football management is never easy, no one would pretend it is, but some things are just exceptional, and they had to face it all head on. At that time, playing golf in a semi retired state, and managing Barry must have seemed quite attractive, but there was a job to do, and they were determined to do it.

Several times throughout the P, L & S nightmare, Colin Addison was asked if it was proving difficult to motivate the players and keep their focus on the matches ahead. Without hesitation, the answer each time was a straight 'Yes'. But he and Peter Nicholas got on with it. Very few fans had anything but good words to say for both of them, and very few fans had anything but praise for the performances of the players. The highs and lows on the field somehow managed to mirror the highs and lows off the field with amazing regularity. Was this coincidental, or were the match performances a true reflection of the off field occurrences – we'll never know.

So, lets move forward a little, new owners are in place. On the face of it, the situation had eased, but the reality for the management on the field was that it hadn't. In the final weeks before the consortium took over, the transfer embargo put in place due to non-payment of players' pension contributions, and the PFA loan taken to cover players' wages had ensured that the management's ability to draw in even the minimum of additional talent was extinguished. 'Will things ever improve' they must have thought, 'well at least the fans know what we are doing, they are behind the players and us, they know how difficult these times are. We'll get through with their support'.

Mmmmmm, didn't quite work out like that did it? Fan frustration soon replaced the support that had been heaped on Addison, Nicholas and the players through the heady times. 'We've got new owners, everything is OK now, get this embargo lifted, get some REAL talent in here, we're on our way, and the only way is up'. It was the players who took the first hit, with the almost forgotten heckling from the North Bank and the stands returning at reasonable volume. Suddenly everyone realised that Coates only had a left foot; that Howard liked crossing the ball into the away terrace; that Casey never ever looked as if he wanted to be on the field in the first place. This realisation was only an awakening from the dream and the haze that had landed on the performances during the dark months, the realisation that things were really exactly the same as they had been for a few months, and the death of the ideal that all would be OK now that Petty and co. had gone.

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wonderin' how I'll get down the stairs'

What would have triggered these emotions? A home goal? A right foot volley from 30 yards by one of our left footed boys? A 30 yard left foot volley by one of our right footed players (before I get accused of leftism)? These emotions could be attributed to the fans or the management very often I'd guess.

We should all accept that Colin Addison and Peter Nicholas kept the players together, and kept the team together, whilst at the same time having to keep themselves together. This was no easy task but they achieved it. They have had a straightjacketed existence at this club, and just when the warder is coming to undo the buckles, suddenly the fans are asking for them to be replaced. Do they not deserve the chance to at least see out the season with the opportunity, we hope, of being able to bring in a couple of players, either on loan or on free transfers, to bolster the squad of players that we have. Do they not deserve to have the opportunity to show their skills in a more relaxed and forward-looking environment? Who is to say that they don't have the right mix of skills to see us through next season? They have had to work with a finite number of players with a finite amount of talent, and they have had to manipulate those ingredients every which way you can to cover for injuries and suspensions, and also loss of form, but the combinations available have been extremely limited. They have had to manage the team since the takeover with no more players than they had before, but why does this fact seem to be lost on many of us.

Surely we could forgive each of them if, at times during their stay so far at the club, when looking at every aspect of the club set up, the players and the fans, they thought………

'Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you'