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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

'For us it's resolved' - Russell Martin says Trust agreement a positive as Swansea City boss hopes for summer backing

Russell Martin believes "no-one at the club is fighting against each other anymore" following the Swansea City Supporters' Trust's agreement with current and former shareholders.

On Tuesday, Swansea announced the Trust had signed a settlement regarding the sale of the club to Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan in 2016.

The Trust stated it was excluded from those negotiations - with members later voting to take legal action against those who sanctioned the deal.

But an agreement was this week reached between all parties concerned, meaning - while the Trust's members have grave concerns over the nature of the deal - the matter will no longer go to court.

And head coach Martin has urged everyone connected to the football club to pull together to aid the Swans' bid to secure promotion into the Premier League during his tenure.

"Everyone is going to have an opinion on it, and there’ll be lots of different opinions," said the Swansea boss.

"From our point of view here, no-one at the club is fighting against each other anymore so for us it can only be a positive in terms of what we’re trying to do and achieve.

"That was going to take everyone at the club from the staff at the stadium to the people here [at Fairwood] to the supporters who are the most important people and then the owners in America.

"We have so much to fight against already. Other teams, the challenge of trying to be sustainable in a very different league.

"There’ll be people who are not entirely happy but for us it's resolved and everyone can move forward together hopefully.

"When you have everyone pulling in the right direction, especially here and how much the club means to so many people, it can be really powerful."

READ MORE: Swansea City fans fume at Supporters' Trust amid calls for resignations and renewed anger at owners

As a result of the latest developments regarding the sale of the club five-and-a-half years ago, a large section of the Swans' fanbase have once again called for majority owners Kaplan and Levien to depart.

Head coach Martin has held regular talks with the American duo regarding on-the-pitch matters since joining the club in August last year.

And he believes he will get the backing required to further improve his squad during the summer transfer window.

"We’ve spoken about it already about the plan and what we want to do. They’re really on board with it," said Martin.

"They’ve said all along it’s a long-term project. We’re never going to be a club that will splash a lot of money because it’s not the business model here.

"We’ll try to do it in a different way in the way we recruit, do things on the pitch and around here [at Fairwood].

"I believe it’ll be successful in the long-term. I’m really confident we’ll get the backing we need to try and be competitive and build on this season and make sure we improve."

The Swans will be without defenders Nathanael Ogbeta and Kyle Naughton for Saturday's clash with Sheffield United.

Naughton is expected to be available for the trip to West Brom later this month while Ogbeta remains sidelined until March.

The visitors will have Ryan Bennett to call upon at Bramall Lane after the defender completed a one-game suspension for the red card he received in the 3-0 loss to Stoke City.

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