It was the night of Snoop Dogg, twirled branded towels, a late equaliser from Liam Cullen, and - according to Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom - “an unusual smell of weed in the tunnel.”
If this is the future of Swansea City with their part-owner, part one-man viral marketing machine in town, then it promises to be lively.
Or, at least it would be if the Dogg days were to be regular events. The reality, though, is that his Snoopship is unlikely to pass among his people this way again for a while.
READ MORE: Big Dogg is in Town . . . And He’ll Be Sniffing for a Swansea City win Over Preston
He’s heading home to the warmth of a Californian spring, having stopped off in Swansea in transit from his TV work at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
So, Swans fans will have to make do with occasional messages online, while the club’s commercial department figure out how to turn YouTube gold into real gold, or, at least real money.
After the strangeness of the vibrant, celebratory pre-match lap of honour, came the match itself.
The Swans had begun the evening only six points adrift of the Championship play-off places, but they ended it eight behind, a gap that now looks very difficult to bridge with only 12 matches remaining.
READ MORE: Spirit Will Take us Onwards and Upwards, Says Swansea City Boss Vitor Matos
Preston’s players must have been exceptionally motivated to trample all over the Snoop love-in and they certainly played as if they were in the first-half.
Having outplayed their distracted hosts, they took a deserved lead through Daniel Jebbison’s well-taken strike and would have made off with all three points had Cullen not rescued things for the Swans in the fifth minute of stoppage time with an instinctive, resourceful header.
Heckingbottom is a no-nonsense Yorkshireman from Barnsley, the kind of manager who doesn’t fall easily for the charms of a hip-hop smooth-talker, at least not after a hard-fought midweek away draw in late February.
"What did you make of the unusual pre-match atmosphere, Paul?” he was asked.
"Unusual? The only difference was the smell of weed in the tunnel!"
READ MORE: Swansea City Given Huge Adam Idah Boost
Weed or no weed it was a night of surreal scenes at the Swansea.com Stadium as the Dogg showed up for his long-awaited first appearance as Swansea co-owner.
Part of the club’s ownership group alongside Martha Stewart and Luka Modric, he was welcomed by a record 21,000 crowd.
Supporters had been urged via the club’s social media to arrive early and twirl complimentary towels – an American sporting tradition – and they duly obliged.
As players warmed up, Snoop strolled around the pitch with his music booming over the speakers, swinging a Swans-branded towel himself while fans chanted “Snoop Dogg’s barmy army”.
Dressed head-to-toe in white with a club crest on his jacket, sunglasses and beanie hat, he walked through a guard of honour formed by 20 youngsters representing Wales at the 2026 Street Child World Cup.
He waved, posed for photos, hugged mascot Cyril the Swan and completed a lap of appreciation before disappearing down the tunnel ahead of kick-off.
Swans head coach Vitor Matos looked like a man who can see the financial benefits of global profile, but would maybe have preferred something that wasn’t so predictably going to shift the focus of his previously well-drilled players.
But Matos did reveal, “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.”
Swansea’s late point took them up one place to 14th and eight points from Wrexham, who are occupying the final play-off spot.
Matos said: “When you are losing you usually start having frustration, things not going the right way. But I think we didn’t have that and that was good to see.
“We always kept the momentum, even when we would miss a pass or there was a situation where things didn’t go in our way.
“But then we came back again with a good spell and we got a really good goal from Liam. So we got one point and let’s move on.”
Preston’s manager remained non-plussed.
“It’s only different for people who are here every week, isn’t it?” Heckingbottom said.
“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.”
He said: “I’m pleased with lots of things, pleased with the performance. I’m just upset with not taking three points.”
Preston are now five points off the final play-off place in 10th.
Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg is off back home to LA.
