Swansea ( /ˈswɒnzi/ SWONZ-ee; Welsh: Abertawe [abɛrˈtauɛ], "mouth of the Tawe") is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands. Swansea had a population of 169,880 in 2001 and is the second most populous city in Wales after Cardiff and the third most populous county in Wales after Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf. During its 19th century industrial heyday, Swansea was one of the key centres of the world copper industry, earning the nickname 'Copperopolis'.
Archaeological finds are mostly confined to the Gower Peninsula, and include items from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. The Romans reached the area, as did the Vikings.
Swansea is thought to have originally developed as a Viking trading post. Some think that its name is derived from Sveinn's island (Old Norse: Sveinsey) – the reference to an island may refer to a bank at the mouth of the river Tawe, or perhaps an area of raised ground in marshes. An alternative explanation is that the name derives from the Norse name 'Sweyn' and 'ey', which can mean inlet. The name is pronounced Swans-y /ˈswɒnzi/), not Swan-sea. The Welsh name first appears in Welsh poems at the beginning of the 13th century, as "Aber Tawy".
Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal OON (Dutch pronunciation: [luˈwi vɑn ˈɣaːɫ]; born 8 August 1951 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager formerly in charge of Ajax, Netherlands, Barcelona, AZ and Bayern Munich. Before his career as coach van Gaal played as a midfielder for Royal Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ. Van Gaal is also a fully qualified gymnastics teacher, and has worked as such at high-schools during various stages of his career as a semi-professional football-player.
After a brief spell as coach at AZ, Van Gaal served as assistant coach under Leo Beenhakker at Ajax, and eventually took over as head coach in 1991. Under his lead, the club won three league titles, the UEFA Cup, and the Champions League. Van Gaal moved to Barcelona in 1997 and won two Spanish league titles and one Spanish Cup. After some disagreements at Barcelona, he was appointed coach of the Dutch national team, but then failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. Another brief spell at Barcelona followed, before he became manager of AZ. After having won the Dutch championship with AZ in 2008–09, he was hired by Bayern Munich on 1 July 2009. In his first season at Munich, he secured the German league title and won the German Cup, and made it to the final of the Champions League.
If you want to come on down
Down with your bones so white
And watch while the freight trains pound
Into the wild, wild night
How I would love to gnaw
To gnaw on your bones so white
And watch while the freight trains paw
Into the wild, wild night
How I D-Twain
How I D-Twain
If you want to come on down
Down with your bones so white
And watch while the freight trains pound
If you want to come on down,
Down with your bones so white,
And watch the freight trains pound
Into the wild, wild night
How I would love to gnaw,
Gnaw on your bones so white,
And watch as the freight trains paw,
Paw at the wild, wild night.
All these ghost towns, wreathed in old loam
(Assateague knee-deep in seafoam)-
Ho Swansea! Buttonwillow!
Lagunitas! Ho Calico!
And all these beastly bungalows
Stare, distend, like endless toads -
Endlessly hop down the road.
Borne by wind, we southward blow.
While yonder, wild and blue,
The wild blue yonder looms.
'Till we are wracked with rheum,
By roads, by songs entombed.
And all we want to do
Is chew, and chew, and chew!
Dear one, drive on,
When all we want to do
Is chew, and chew, and chew.