Pratley Fires Parting Shot At Swansea City

Darren Pratley was prepared to sign a new deal at the Liberty Stadium last summer, but claims that a tabloid headline unsettled him stating that Swansea City chaiman Huw Jenkins wouldn't be offering the 26 year old a new contract.

Speaking at the Bolton Wanderers press conference yesterday: "I was asked after one game by the press if I wanted to stay at Swansea and said 'yes` because I loved living there, liked my teammates and we were doing well on the pitch," he said.

"For whatever reason the chairman then came out over the summer and said he was in no rush to give me a contract.

"When you`re on holiday and read that in the paper, it`s not a nice thing to see when you were ready to commit.

"I`m a professional and knew I had a contract with Swansea and had a good relationship with the people there, so I was never going to throw my toys out. I got on with it and my mind was never elsewhere. You can`t sign a pre-contract now, so nothing could be done.

"As the season went on, my contract wore down and then after the play-off final at Wembley a few clubs were interested and I decided to leave."

Darren Pratley went on to say that Swansea City will 'surprise' some people when the Premier League campaign kicks-off:

"I think they`ll do very well," he added. "Blackpool went down playing the same attacking football but I think they (Swansea) are a bit more solid at the back.

"The football they play will surprise a few. Not too many people going to the Liberty Stadium will take points.

"They`ve just got £90-odd million for going up and I think they`ll attract a lot of players because of the way they play football, the club and the area."

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