Swansea City had seven of the nine seasons in the Premier League, 2011/12 to 2017/18, and spent the first two outside it. In those seven seasons Manchester City paid them £36.0m in reported fees, for two players: Scott Sinclair in the summer of 2012 and Wilfried Bony in January 2015. That is 11.4% of the £315.5m City paid Premier League clubs across the nine seasons.
On the pitch, taking City out barely moves them. In six of the seven seasons Swansea finished below City and climb one place: City’s place, and nothing more. In the seventh, 2011/12, the points they took off City cancel even that. No title, no top four, no European place by league position, and the one relegation happens either way.
They took five points off City in 14 league games: one win, two draws, eleven defeats. All five come off. The best rebuilt finish is seventh of 19, in 2014/15. The worst is 17th of 19, in 2017/18, and it is still a relegation place.
2011/12
The one win goes
Swansea’s first Premier League match was at City, on 15 August 2011, and they lost 4–0. On 11 March 2012 they won the return 1–0, and City gave up the top of the table for the first time in five months.
It is Swansea’s only league win over City in the nine seasons, and it is the one that goes. 47 points become 44. The free place lifts them one; the three lost points drop them one. They are still 11th, now of 19, level on points with Stoke and ahead on goal difference, eight points above the drop.
2012/13
Europe from Wembley
In their centenary season Swansea beat fourth-tier Bradford City 5–0 at Wembley and became the first club from outside England to win the League Cup. That final, not the table, gave them their European place: England’s other two Europa League places that season went to the cup winners, Wigan and Swansea.
The table moves a little. The point from the 0–0 at home in May goes, 46 becomes 45, and ninth becomes eighth of 19, level on points with West Ham. That is City’s place again. Sinclair had gone to City at the start of that season, in the summer of 2012.
2014/15
Seventh, with Bony sold
Swansea’s best season, with City or without. Beaten 2–1 away in November and 4–2 at home in May, they lose no points. 56 points, eighth for real and seventh of 19 without City.
Fourth sits eight points away in the rebuilt table, the closest Swansea come in the nine seasons; the drop is 22 behind. In the middle of that season, in January, Bony went to City for a reported £28.0m.
2017/18
Three short, either way
Beaten 4–0 at home in December and 5–0 away in April, Swansea keep all 33 of their points. For real they were 18th. Without City they are 17th of 19, level on points with Stoke, who finish below them on goal difference.
In a 19-club table three clubs still go down, and 17th is one of them. The gap to safety is three points in the real table and three in the rebuilt one. Swansea, Stoke and West Brom go down either way. Bony was back by then, bought from City in the summer of 2017 for a fee that was never disclosed.