Jason and Dorus glad to take a Liberty
by Blair Wood, Western Mail
Apr 14 2008
AFTER a great season at opposite ends of the pitch ended in promotion, Jason Scotland and Dorus de Vries were both delighted they took a gamble on Swansea City .
Having turned down moves to the Championship in favour of the Liberty Stadium last summer, the pair have been pivotal figures in the Swans promotion push. No one can deny the club has benefited hugely from their arrival.
The impressive duo certainly feel they made the right choice as well.
And, with Swansea’s promotion party in full swing, their delight was clear for all to see.
“I don’t think I could have made a better choice than joining Swansea,” said striker Scotland. “It has definitely paid off for me because we have been promoted in my first season.
“I didn’t know what to expect from my first season in English football. But I’ve got 29 goals so far and we’ve been promoted. I can’t ask for anything more.”
Goalkeeper de Vries concurred: “Promotion in my first season definitely justifies the decision to join this club.
“We have some Championship quality and promotion was really the only option for us. It’s been a great move for me and this is an upward step in my career.
“Everything will be better for us next season. So, when you put everything together, this is a great club to be at.”
Singling out players in such a successful team is always a dangerous game.
And, in their own way, each member of the Swansea squad deserves credit for the contribution they have made this season.
But in de Vries and Scotland manager Roberto Martinez has two of League One’s most valuable assets. One consistently pulls off match-winning saves; the other has scored a load of goals.
So, there’s no denying that, in their own respective ways, the pair have played crucial roles in the Swans promotion success.
And who knows just what would have been achieved had they never joined Martinez’s Spanish revolution.
With Championship football safely secured, the duo’s arrival must be seen as ridiculously good business for the club. The Swans management certainly deserves huge amounts of credit for pulling off two equally impressive transfer coups.
Convincing de Vries to turn down teams from both the Scottish Premiership and the Championship was a massive achievement for Martinez. Signing the impressive keeper on a free-transfer was just a huge bonus for the Swans.
The fact Scotland’s arrival actually represents an even better deal says it all really. His fee of £25,000 has to be considered the best bargain in British football last summer.
And, with 29 goals to his name already, the Trinidad and Tobago international has more than repaid that money. The skilful striker is comfortably winning League One’s Golden Boot at the moment and, whenever needed, he seems to have delivered for Martinez’s men.
But, while they were happy to receive any praise coming their way, both de Vries and Scotland made it clear the season was far from over. Much like their manager, they are determined to win the league.
The pair were happy to reflect on finally clinching promotion. But they insisted the celebrations would be over the minute they returned to training this morning.
“I know promotion is a big achievement for this club,” said de Vries. “But now I think we could become only the fourth team in the club’s history to become league champions.
“We want to go in the history books. I think this team deserves that.
“It’s a great bunch of guys and we have given up so much in the last 10 months just to focus on promotion and winning the league. Now it has finally paid off.
“It is unbelievable and I can’t tell you how happy I am. We’ve been working so hard for this over the last 10 months. It is a brilliant experience and a major highlight of my career.
“There have been some ups and downs but mostly ups. So it has been a great season but we have to finish it off as champions.”
Scotland added: “Getting promoted is a great day for me, the club and the fans. We are just glad to finally get it done. It had been haunting us for a couple of weeks so now we can just relax and focus on getting the championship.
“When you see the ‘P’ by your name it’s a great achievement. But we have to kick on from there.
“Winning the title would be one of the biggest days of my career. But we haven’t done that yet.
“We’re not going to ease up; we want to win the league. We can be happy after that because it’s a great achievement to get a medal. You don’t get anything for second place.
“We don’t have a game until Saturday so there was a small celebration for going up.
“But we could clinch the title on Saturday and, if we do that, we will be partying again.”
As happy as he was with promotion, Scotland admitted there was still a personal landmark he was desperate to achieve.
His goal target has gradually increased throughout the season but now, with the end in sight, he has finally revealed that he always had a total of 30 in mind.
It would be a fitting end to a superb campaign if he can reach that milestone.
And, while de Vries will be looking to keep the goals out at one end, the Swans star striker wants at least one more at his.
“My target is to reach the 30-goal mark for the season,” he said. “I’m on 29 now so it’s close.
“I would never have said it at the start of the season, but 30 goals was always my target.
“There are a few more games to go, so, hopefully I can push on and get a couple of goals.”
