Swans hand Sancho a World Cup lifeline

Last updated : 06 March 2006 By Simon Head

Sancho: Set to be given a fair chance at Swansea

It concludes a sorry episode that has seen Sancho frozen out of first team affairs at Priestfield, despite many fans believing he should be in the starting lineup ahead of some of the current incumbents.

Sancho was left out of Leo Beenhakker's Trinidad & Tobago squad for the recent friendly match with Iceland at Loftus Road, and after talking to Beenhakker, Sancho expressed his wish for a loan move to help give him the best chance of playing in the World Cup in Germany.

Interestingly, for a player who struggled to make the substitutes bench for a relegation-threatened side, he was snapped up by Swansea City, a team challenging for automatic promotion from League One.

Sancho, a proud 'Soca Warrior', fell out with club officials after opting to travel with the Trinidad & Tobago squad, refuting the club's claims that he was unfit. He was frozen out of the squad upon his return, and it was only after a meeting was called between Sancho, chairman Paul Scally and manager Ronnie Jepson that the former Dundee defender was brought back into the fold.

Sancho remains a Gillingham player, as he is only part-way through a two-year contract at Priestfield. If he breaks back into the T&T squad and impresses at the World Cup, a big money move could be on the cards - with both Brent Sancho and Gillingham benefiting from the move.

Brent Sancho has many fans within the Gills fanbase, and many of them feel he has been harshly dealt with by the club, and that his continued exclusion is harmful to the club's results. I'm sure those fans will wish Brent all the success at Swansea, and hope that he earns his place in the T&T squad for the World Cup in the summer.