Logged into fans forum - Julian Winter says he believes category 2 academy is suitable for the Swans. It remains central to our plans going forward

Mark Allen endorses what Winter has said and says his role is to make the academy as excellent and professional as we possibly can and to provide players for first team.

Adds that not many clubs have a player pathway as open and as ours and is very excited to have joined the club

Question on recruitment analytics. Andy Scott says every club uses it in some way, we're fortunate to have Steve Rands who's developed a model to attract right players for the club

He adds you can over rely on it at times and says he also likes to watch players to help him form an opinion. Says we can use DC United's database to aid our knowledge

Question on finding right personalities. Club does a lot of background work on their social media, their family life, speak to coaches who know them to form a view on what their like as a player to ensure they'll fit into the group

Question on us losing big names in last few windows, are we in a stronger position now to stop this happening? Andy Scott says it's his job to ensure anyone who leaves is adequately replaced and it's hard for most clubs to turn down large bids for players

Winter says we're a trading club, football is an eco system where big clubs can identify players they like, was difficult to prevent Rodon leaving for example and we came to the right deal and allowed us to bring other players in

If we remain in this league we will have to continue to trade players, squad is stable at the moment. Says he would never say we're not going to trade players

Adds that we are a development club

Question on catering services change. Is it expected to make a loss in short term?Winter says when he arrived he talked about doing catering in house. In order for big contract caterers to work they need to sell alot of food and drink. In volume terms theirnot significant numbers

With catering being in house the club has more control over quality and price, we will need to be patient in terms of re-engaging fans. Step by step will create a successful in house catering business

Question on fans returning to stadium. Is club speaking to government on the situation? Winter says Andrew Davies the operations manager is in charge of COVID policies, club are in contact with government regularly, says the 2 metre ruling is different to UK goverment EFL etc

Clubs understands governments concerns but are speaking to local sports organisations and are seeking parity with other clubs in terms of rules. Winter think no crowds this season in his opinion, if we get a chance to do pilot event we will

He thinks crowds are possible from start of next season but is sceptical on it and doesn;t think it'll be full capacity in August but at least a significant percentage will hopefully be allowed

Question on preparation for recruitment for scenario of us going up, or remaining in this league. Winter says our concentration is on the Championship, but we would be naive not to do some prep for going up. Over time we will build a picture in the upper division

Bottom line is if you get into the Prem, best to have a framework prepared. By end of season it will be ready. Andy Scott's focus is on the summer window, primary focus is on Championship but will also put together list of potential signings in case we go up

May not be players who are necessarily first team right now,and looking at players who represent good value and cites Morgan Whittaker as a good example

Question to Cooper on what was lightbulb moment for the change to 3-5-2 formation? Cooper says we stumbled on it a bit, Wilmot and Cabango got injured and we only had Guehi fit at centre back

Bidwell could have played centre back, but decided to put Bidwell and Naughton either side of Guehi, it also got Ayew closer to the goal. Said Sheff Wed we didn't start too well with it, stumbled on rhythm and ended up winning

As we grew into it, Roberts and Bidwell were doing well as wing backs, Guehi came into his own, Cabango was flourishing too. Felt extra support around them worked well, developed it from there.

It gives us flexibility, we work on it hard in training

Question on contracts for manager and rest of the staff. Winter agreed this is a question this is more sensitive that normal questions, says everyone is on the same page, hopeful future looks good and that everyone is part of it

Can't go into it in too much detail and recognises how well everyone is doing

Question on academy being reduced in category. Mentioned that if we were cat 2 we wouldnt have got Oli McBurnie or Dan James unles we were cat 1

Cat 1 is around three times more expensive than cat 2, club was successful before it had a cat 1 academy. Post 16 and post 18 cat 2 still allows you to recruit from anywhere

Overall cat 2 will do a job for us in Winter's view. Mark Allen adds that cat 1 which he has experience of working in can get wrapped up in quantity over quality. Says Swans are capable of excellence and it will be all about quality

Cat 2 doesn;t prevent us recruiting, says James and McBurnie came in at 16 and if thats the case we could have still brought them in with a cat 2 academy

Allen is convinced we will attract players because we have a defined pathway to the first team which to youngsters is the most important thing

Question on developing relationship with Welsh Prem clubs in terms on loaning youngsters out. Cooper uses Cabango's spell at TNS as a good example of it aiding his development. There isnt 1 way of a player getting into first team

Adds that in some circumstances it could be a good scenario for players to train with us and play in league of Wales

Cooper makes point on academy that wile he is here that young players will get an opportunity. Says in his previous jobs that he's been part of academy that had no route to first team and he would hate us to be like that

Question on women's football and will there be investment into that side of the club. Winter says community trust puts money onto girls football. Leigh Dineen is chairman of that and the ladies side

Winter says in future that the ladies may become more integral to club but are independently managed.

Question on potential American sponsorships. Jordan Morris shirt sales were very popular, most they've sold of a shirt with a players name on the back for several seasons.

Club are speaking to many global brands including American ones. Commercially it's an instant hit for clubs reach when we sign players from overseas

Question on plans for fan engagements for those who live away from Swansea. There was a surge of memberships after the £20 away matches were introduced, club don't want to make any plans while things are so uncertain

Club have done research and discovered when a child is 7 they usually decide the club they support and want to target young fans.

Question on us doing the derby double. Cooper says he knows fixture is coming, is very aware of it and so are players and what it means for the fans. Any game against them is important and says his dad is now black and white!

Question on VAR, what are Cooper's thoughts on it. He said originally he was for it, but he doesn;t enjoy the impact it's having on football, taking the feeling away of when a goal is scored. It's not going to get cancelled, football has to find the right formula for it

Winter says when he was at Huddersfield they were only club to vote against it and they said it was a slippery slope, said inevitably all decisions would get looked at rather than just major ones.

Winter adds that they should go back to the start and only deal with penalties and red cards, and take away the is he a hair's width offside or is his sleeve offside

Question on foreign recruitment. Andy Scott says we need to look at Europe but work permits make it harder to find players, says we need to be alert to players who will be able to get work permits

Says club can watch any game in the world due to analytics so no one is off limits. Brexit ensures that UK players will be more expensive than before so we have to be open to looking at other leagues. Travel is an issue right now because of COVID

Decisions are made based on video rather than being able to watch players life to help form an opinion

He adds we've looked in South American for players, it's a new region for us to recruit from and it's interesting to build knowledge there. Opened categories for us and we will concentrate more on, we're looking to improve the recruitment department

Question on starting eleven. Cooper says Morris and Arriola are building up match fitness, we've got options from the bench. Good problems to have, we need to make changes to freshen things up with games coming so fast

Question on signing our loan players permanently. Winter says it will depend on what division we're in. Nothing fixed but is open to the dialogue on it. Never say never

Question on LGBT merchandise. Club is looking to expand on it and want all fans to feel safe on matchdays

Final question for Winter on how he's found the club. He visited the Vetch and Liberty previously, played for Huddersfield at the former and got hammered. Vociferous nature to the fanbase which is amazing to experience.

Everyone at the club has been very welcoming, amazing sense of pride at the club and staff are proud to work for it and of what they do

Forum has now closed. Well done to the club for making it work virtually. Some good questions and answers as usual. Apologies I've not responded to any tweets but I'll try and clarify anything if you respond to this tweet