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 is a minority owner of the Championship club alongside the television host Martha Stewart and Croatia international Luka Modric, made his first appearance at the Swansea.com Stadium for Tuesday’s clash with Preston.
Snoop joined the Swansea ownership group last July and made his way to south-west Wales after attending the Winter Olympics, where he served as Team USA’s honorary coach as well as a special correspondent for broadcaster NBC.
The celebrity visit had created so much excitement that a sell-out crowd of 20,233 turned up. Snoop Dogg, who had arrived at the stadium nearly three hours before the 7.45pm kick-off, had requested the crowd to be in their seats ahead of the action to twirl the complimentary towels.
Snoop took to the field through a guard of honour for Snoop made up of 20 youngsters representing Wales at the 2026 Street Child World Cup in North America.
Dressed in the club’s all-white colours, 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 in 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 light show started prior to kick-off.
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Swansea boss Vitor Matos revealed Snoop Dogg was ‘really happy’ after watching his side salvage a 1-1 draw.
Liam Cullen cancelled out Daniel Jebbison’s first-half strike in the fifth minute of stoppage time with a fine header.
Cullen’s goal extended Swansea’s unbeaten home run to nine games and provided some satisfaction for the watching Snoop.
Matos said: ‘After the game he came 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 the city, and wants to be here.
‘I think that’s all positive and he was really happy because he felt that the team had the right 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 only 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 only thing I noticed different was the smell of weed in the tunnel before the game,’ Heckingbottom quipped.
‘It’s only different for people who are 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 other 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 end.’
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