Swansea’s Liberty Stadium is no stranger to the glitterati of sport and music but the Swans’ next home game could be more star-spangled than ever when Chelsea pay their first-ever Premier League visit.
Swans fans could be forgiven for doing a touch of star-spotting in the stands because the Londoners have one of the biggest followings in football from the world of screen, stage and TV.
For it’s quite possible that the likes of TV football pundit Tim Lovejoy, Madness musician Suggs and EastEnders’ Phil Daniels could be among the away fans enjoying the Croeso stand on January 31.
Certainly if they or any of the long list of celebrity Chelsea fans that also includes Jeremy Clarkson and Olympics supremo Lord Coe do turn up, they’ll find the city has a lot to offer on top of the soccer.
In the home stands the Coronation Street contingent is also set to grow as well with Brooke Vincent, the screen sister of Scott Sinclair’s girlfriend Helen Flanagan, set to join her.
The girls play Rosie and Sophie Webster respectively in Corrie and it’s likely that Brooke will take a place in the stands to support her boyfriend and new Swansea loan signing Josh McEachran – from Chelsea.
Both girls are becoming avid ambassadors for the city, tweeting news about their favourite Swansea things, like shopping in the city centre, seashore hotels, beauty clinics and the friendliness of local people to hundreds of thousands of followers every day.
Frances Jenkins, Swansea Council’s Strategic Manager for Tourism, Marketing and Events, said: “It’s great that Brooke and Helen are flying the flag for Swansea.
“The Swans’ arrival in the Premier League is definitely raising our city’s profile in London. There were plenty of Arsenal supporters in and around the city when they visited earlier this month.
“There’s been a surge of interest in our online site for visiting fans www.visitswanseabay.com and our advertising campaign on the London Underground highlighting Gower and the surfing opportunities available on Gower has even attracted visiting tourists from Australia to put us on their itinerary.
“Helen Flanagan’s tweeting about how much she enjoys Swansea and Brooke Vincent tweeting about the friendliness of the people and the welcome that she has also received has been brilliant.
“And TV presenter Tim Lovejoy has tweeted about his enthusiasm for the way Swansea play their football and if he or any of Chelsea’s celeb fans come next Tuesday I’m convinced they’ll have plenty of positive things to say about Swansea’s other attractions like our hotels, the restaurants and the shopping and the coast.”
As yet it’s not known if Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is making the journey down from London for the game. Abramovich is also the owner of the world’s biggest private yacht, the Eclipse.
At 557ft it’s six times too long to fit in Swansea Marina, but if he chose to arrive in style, the Eclipse could squeeze into Swansea Docks.
