The Swansea City co-owner Snoop Dogg was greeted with twirling towels and a guard of honour on his first visit to the Welsh club.
The American rapper, who’s a minority owner of the Championship club alongside the tv host Martha Stewart and Croatia international Luka Modric, made his first appearance on the Swansea.com Stadium for Tuesday’s clash with Preston.
Snoop joined the Swansea ownership group last July and made his technique to south-west Wales after attending the Winter Olympics, where he served as Team USA’s honorary coach in addition to a special correspondent for broadcaster NBC.
The celebrity visit had created a lot excitement that a sell-out crowd of 20,233 turned up. Snoop Dogg, who had arrived on the stadium nearly three hours before the 7.45pm kick-off, had requested the gang to be of their seats ahead of the motion to twirl the complimentary towels.
Snoop took to the sector through a guard of honour for Snoop made up of 20 children representing Wales on the 2026 Street Child World Cup in North America.
Wearing the club’s all-white colors, with a Swansea crest on his jacket, dark glasses and a beanie hat, Snoop made a pre-match lap of honour as fans twirled their towels with rock music booming within the background.
The star saluted the fans, shook hands with some, and had photographs taken with others. The club mascot, Cyril the Swan, even got a hug. He eventually disappeared down the tunnel seven minutes later just before a lightweight show began prior to kick-off.
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Swansea boss Vitor Matos revealed Snoop Dogg was ‘really pleased’ after watching his side salvage a 1-1 draw.
Liam Cullen cancelled out Daniel Jebbison’s first-half strike within the fifth minute of stoppage time with a nice header.
Cullen’s goal prolonged Swansea’s unbeaten home run to nine games and provided some satisfaction for the watching Snoop.
Matos said: ‘After the sport he got here to the dressing room and spoke with the players.
‘He’s someone that likes to be involved, not only with us but with the (United States) Olympic team as well.
‘He loves sports, loves sports people. He loves the club, loves town, and desires to be here.
‘I believe that’s all positive and he was really pleased because he felt that the team had the suitable mentality. He felt that the team could push.’
Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom, meanwhile, downplayed the occasion and atmosphere created by Snoop Dogg’s walkabout before kick-off.
Heckingbottom joked that the one difference to other Championship games was the smell of illicit drugs, with Snoop Dogg having built a public persona around his copious marijuana intake.
‘The one thing I noticed different was the smell of weed within the tunnel before the sport,’ Heckingbottom quipped.
‘It’s only different for people who find themselves here every week, isn’t it?’ We don’t play at Swansea every week, so it’s no different for us.
‘We go away to Ipswich the opposite week, they were at it, their fans were at it, and that was noise all game. I felt we kept everyone quiet here until the tip.’
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