Gibbs on hand for last act of a dying Swansea

Financial meltdown has resulted in a Welsh club revamp, with the glory days gone

If it is safe to predict anything in Wales, it is that Scott Gibbs, Swansea's mighty three-time Lion, past club captain and hero of the 1992 win over the world champion Wallabies, will see out the end of an era by playing in Tuesday's match against Newport. "There's only 19 of us available," said Gibbs.

Last night, Swansea's penultimate league game as a professional concern was what used to be a balls-out, teeth-bared set-to with local rivals Llanelli. Instead the Whites fielded a predominantly youthful XV, barely recognisable from the one that started the campaign, let alone the one which thrashed the Scarlets 37-10 in the 1999 cup final, after which Gibbs memorably derided the opponents as "boys" against men. Now, it is Swansea putting out a team of boys ahead of next week's announcement of the five new regional squads. "It's going to be different," Gibbs said. "The club will be a feeder to the Neath-Swansea region. It's not just shoved to one side. But when you have a change like this, there are casualties."

Casualties, indeed. Swansea, champions as recently as 2001, are floating into full-time history on a sea of debt. A few hours before the last rites are read against Newport, the club will offer 255 creditors 5p in the pound on liabilities of more than £2.5m. Yet though a stiff enough easterly wind would permit the gnashing of teeth at Bath and Bristol to be heard in Swansea, the prevailing sound at St Helen's is more of a whimper. The All Whites have got it all wrong for so long, that there has been little opposition to their professional lot being thrown in with Neath.

Gibbs, along with the 10 or so other Swansea players who have won contracts with the region, will draw a line under past agreements. Others, such as team manager, Dick Moriarty, and the former Wales fly-half Arwel Thomas, will get what they can from substantial five-figure sums in unpaid wages. "I'm not bitter," said Moriarty, although he will be at the creditors' meeting. "They have had their problems in England, too, and it's very unfortunate but almost inevitable that Swansea got into the position it did." Thomas discovered on Friday that, after seven years and 150 appearances for the Whites, he did not figure in the region's plans. It is thought that Swansea's Gavin Henson and Shaun Connor, from Neath, will be the chosen No 10s.

Ah well, Arwel; at the age of 28, he may reflect that he has not fared badly from professionalism. But Rob Davies and Mike James, Swansea's big-hitting benefactors, have kissed goodbye to their previous investments, although as shareholders they will have a stake in the region.

The new team, coached by Lyn Jones of Neath, will split their matches in a revamped, season-long Celtic League between St Helen's and the Gnoll. Somewhere down the line, a redeveloped Morfa Stadium could be used. In the coming together of Whites and Welsh All Blacks, Neath players will predominate. But what will they be called? "One thing it won't be is the Blackjacks," said Roger Blyth, Swansea's chairman, and one of three men from each club on the management board of the new company.

Central funding for Neath-Swansea and the two other combination regions – Bridgend-Pontypridd and Ebbw Vale-Newport – will be £1.76m each, with Cardiff and Llanelli allotted £1.34m apiece. Removing the onus from a small number of benefactors is a step forward. Sadly, a bidding war for a select few players has continued. "It's absolutely pathetic," said Blyth. "It will soon come to light that players we thought we had agreements with will not be with us after all."

So much for Neath's link-up with Bridgend, trumpeted earlier. But a Neath-Swansea merger, playing at Morfa under the Blackjacks name, was first mooted in April 2000. Then, Neath's secretary, Mike Price, said: "The idea is flawed. What makes people think that all Neath and Swansea supporters would fall into line and trot along to watch such a conglomerate?" Whatever will Catherine Zeta Jones, fresh from wailing her tributes to "Swansea, South Wales!" at the Oscars, say about it? But Swansea intend to live on, without their stars, as a semi-professional team in a 16-strong Premier Division including the top seven sides from the First Division. Blyth insists that a great club has a great future as "a development team". Funding from the Welsh Rugby Union will be around £50,000 each – a drop in Swansea Bay compared with the excesses of the open era. "This is where the Under-21s will play," said David Moffett, the WRU group chief executive.

Blyth points out that the region is not a merger, rather the creation of a separate playing entity aimed at reviving the national team. "Welsh rugby had got to such a parlous state that something had to happen," he said, "or we wouldn't have had a professional game. And we couldn't wait another year. The Welsh league this season has been a farce." Gibbs, though no longer available to play for his country, will be the first captain of Neath-Swansea. "The demographics are huge," he said, "and I sincerely believe we'll be pulling very vocal crowds next year." His long-time confrère at centre, Mark Taylor, has gone to Llanelli.

Meanwhile, the official Neath website carries a banner announcement: "Massive stock sale". Or to put it another way: everything must go.