Alan Sheehan says Swansea plan to build on buzz of Snoop Dogg becoming co-owner
By Phil Blanche, PA
Alan Sheehan has described the “buzz” since Snoop Dogg became a Swansea co-owner and explained how the Championship club plan to build on the feel-good factor.
The 53-year-old American rapper joined a growing list of celebrity investors in British football last month by becoming part of a Swansea ownership group that already included Croatia midfield great Luka Modric.
Multi award-winning Snoop said Swansea’s “underdog” story “really struck a chord with me” and his vast following on social media – 89 million on Instagram and 20.5 million on X – quickly learned about the Welsh club and his love for Joe’s ice cream in the city.
“To have Snoop and Luka on board is a massive benefit,” Swansea boss Sheehan said ahead of Saturday’s league opener at Middlesbrough.
“There is a buzz, obviously. As a football club you have to become more appealing commercially, to be more competitive, and appeal to the wider nation.
“It’s different to how it was maybe when I was a player, but I understand why, and I totally welcome it.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but there are big plans for the football club.
“It’s about building strong foundations and building that character and resilience within the football club.”
Comparisons with Wrexham, who are owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, are unavoidable and already being made.
The two Welsh clubs are Championship rivals this season after Wrexham became the first team in the top five tiers of English football to win three successive promotions.
A docu-series tracking life at Swansea, on similar lines to the award-winning FX show ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, is understood to be already in the pipeline.
Asked if Swansea – who were relegated in 2018 after seven seasons in the Premier League – were the ‘new’ Wrexham, Sheehan said: “No, we’re Swansea. We’re not new anything.
“Now they’re in our division, I suppose, it becomes more there now (rivalry), but we don’t play them until December. So I won’t really be speaking about them until December.”
Modric – who joined the board in April following a takeover led by American businessmen Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen six months earlier – was unveiled as an AC Milan player on Monday after his trophy-littered 13-year spell at Real Madrid ended this summer.
The 39-year-old has played his part in Sheehan’s summer recruitment strategy, actively persuading players to join the Welsh club.
“Obviously, his transfer situation… he was unavailable to come here,” smiled Sheehan. “We’ve had a few text messages and he’s involved.
“Luka has spoke to some players, passed on his knowledge, what he knows about the football club, and the plans that we have for it.
“Snoop and Luka are very invested in the club. They care, they speak through the ownership and the ownership are very good to us.”
So will Grammy-nominated Snoop soon be swapping California for Swansea to watch a game?
“I believe so,” said Sheehan. “But I’m not sure which game yet. It would be very naive and narrow-minded to think two very successful people in what they do could not help us.
“Successful people have a lot in common – a work ethic, a grit, a determination to get where they want to get to. So with Snoop, Luka and the ownership there is a lot of positivity around the football club.”