Swansea City A.F.C.

A not so potted history of the Premier League’s newest member

Tom — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:24:09 +0000

Firstly I’d like to adress our status as a Welsh club playing in the English League system. There have been many xenophobic comments made towards us even at board of director level from other clubs regarding us as a Welsh club and stating that we shouldn’t be allowed to play in the Premiership, so hopefully this briew

Swansea Town was founded in 1912 and after 9 years playing in local and Welsh leagues, we were invited by the Football Association to be FOUNDING members of Division 3 South along with clubs such as QPR, Plymouth Argyle, Palace, Southampton, Watford and Nowrich. So since 1921 Swansea has been an intrinsic part of English Football.

Swansea have won the Divison 3 South title on two occassions in 1924 and in 1948 and won the Divison three title during the 1999/2000 season. Swansea made it to the FA cup Semis in 1964 and have won the Football league trophy on two occassions. As well as wining the league one title in 2008.

John Toshack years-Fom Division 4 to Divison 1 in 4 seasons
Swansea became the first club in English football to be promoted contiunally from the 4th division to the 1st divison without experiencing relegation along the way during the period between 1978 and 1981. In Swanseas first season of top flight football, they led the league for vast swathes of the seaon and were a handful of games away from wining the first divison title. However injuries and lack of depth robbed them of their form and they finished the season in 6th having done the double over Arsenal and United in a dream season in which they had led the league for the majority.

Swansea’s remarkable rise with John Toshack at the helm (the football leagues yougest manager at 28 years old) became the most meteoric of falls and the club found herself back in the 4th divison just 8years after the first promotion.

Swansea then languished in the bottom echalongs of the football league only experiencing limited succsess. A football league trophy final victory at Wembley in 1994 brought some joy, and the 1999/2000 season however was particularly noteable for a third round FA Cup victory over Premiership opponents West Ham United, whose team included Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and John Hartson. Swansea thus became the first bottom division team to defeat a Premiership club in the FA Cup since the re-organisation of the league structure in 1992. The club was also promoted this season as Division Three champions, following a nail-biting championship decider on the final day of the season against second-placed Rotherham United. Hollins’ side certainly proved to be effective and functional, rather than pretty, seemingly winning 1–0 every week on their way to the title.

Near destruction

In July 2001, following relegation back to Third Division, the club was sold to managing director Mike Lewis for £1. Lewis subsequently sold on his stake to a consortium of Australian businessmen behind the Brisbane Lions (Australian rules football) football team, fronted by Tony Petty. Seven players were sacked and eight others saw their contracts terminated. Supporters were angered, sanctions were threatened by the Football League, and a rival consortium headed by ex-player Mel Nurse sought to buy out the new owners. During this period Hollins was sacked after a poor start to the season, and Colin Addison took over as manager. The turmoil led to the creation of the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust, which sought to save the club and ultimately guarantee supporter representation on the club’s board.The Petty group sold its stake in January 2002 after a bitter stand-off with the Nurse consortium, which was supported by the majority of the club’s fans.

in 2002 season Swansea were one game away from relegation from the football league and probably complete oblivion. The club were in the hands of supporters but the finacies were a mess, players were paid late and the electricity bill was often hard to pay off. Should they fail to beat Hull City in their final game they would be leap froged by Exeter and their fate would be sealed. That game is described as the most important in the history of the club and despite going 2-1 down the club won 4-2 with a hatrick from local boy James Thomas having signed for his hometown club from Blackburn Rovers in the Premiership. That team also conatined Alan Tate who was on loan from Man United and Leon Britton who was loaned from fellow Premier league side West Ham, along with Roberto Martinez. All Three would sign for the club and Tate and Britton would be in the Championship play off final victory that put us in the Premier League. Legends is an understatement.

What followed was a steady rise up the leagues with promotion coming three times in 5 seasons. The Swans’ last season at the Vetch Field saw the club win promotion on the last day of the season, clinching a 3rd-placed finish with a 1–0 win away to Bury in 2005. Their last league game at their old ground was a 1–0 win over Shrewsbury Town, with the last game of any sort being a 2–1 win against Wrexham in the final of the 2005 FAW Premier Cup.

Liberty Stadium era and promotion to Premier League

The club moved to the new Liberty Stadium during the summer of 2005. The first competitive game was a 1–0 victory against Tranmere Rovers in August 2005. In their first season back in League One Swansea finished in sixth place in the league, qualifying for the play-offs. After beating Brentford in the semi-finals, they lost on penalties to Barnsley in the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, becoming the first Welsh club to lose at the stadium. The Swans won the Football League Trophy for the first time since 1994 and the FAW Premier Cup for a second successive year. The following season saw manager Jackett resign mid-season to be replaced by Roberto Martinez. Martinez’s arrival saw an improvement in form, but Swansea missed out on the play-offs again.

After an indifferent start to 2007–08 the Swans spent much of the middle of the season near the top of League One with an 18 game unbeaten run from November to March. Swansea were promoted on April 12 following a 2–1 success at Gillingham, and crowned Champions the following week despite a home defeat by Yeovil Town. The club amassed a total of 92 points over the course of the season, the highest ever by a Welsh club in the Football League. Five Swansea players were in the PFA Team of the Year, including the division’s 29-goal top scorer Jason Scotland. That same season Swansea lost on penalties to Milton Keynes Dons in the area final of the Football League Trophy.

On returning to the second tier of English football, Swansea finished the 2008–09 season in eighth place. Roberto Martinez left for Wigan in the Premiership, and in Came two time Chmpions league winner Paulo Sousa as manager. Sousa was criticsed by some for the italian inspired style of defensive possesion football yet despite this the team finished 7th and missed out on the play-offs by a single point. Brendan Rodgers then joined the club as manager and turned the team into a much more pleasing side to watch. With an average posession percentage of 60% and over 540 passes a game, A third place finish in 2010–11 qualified the club for the play-offs. After beating Nottingham Forest 3–1 on aggregate in the semi-final they defeated Reading 4–2 in the final at Wembley Stadium, with Scott Sinclair scoring a hat-trick. Swansea will compete in the 2011–12 Premier League, becoming the first Welsh team to play in the division since its formation in 1992.
http://youtu.be/hziIsLDbppM

Scott Sinclair Scores a Sensational Individual Goal

Tom — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:22:28 +0000

0-0 in a tight game, sometimes you need a little bit of brilliance from a player to break the deadlock. Que Scott Sinclair and his Messi-esq wondergoal.

Fab Borini Brings Italian Flair to the Championship

Tom — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:09:46 +0000

Chelsea’s on loan Fabio Borini came to Swansea admitting he didn’t know anything about the club other than he’d score an avalanche of goals here. The 19 year old Italian under 21 international has made 8 appearances for Chelsea but struggled to hold down a place with the likes of Drogba and Torres forcing him into the reserves. The Italian number 9 models himself on Pipo Inzaghi and claims he sets himself a target of a goal a game, further more he claims Inzaghi’s habit of celebrating each goal as if its a champions league winner regardless of whether his side are 1-0 or 6-0 up is an inspiration. Such claims and borderline arrogance are refreshing to hear from a striker especially one so young! Borini started up front as a loan striker with just two training sessions with the squad under his belt and his performance on Saturday left all watching thinking he’d played with that team for years, such was his seamless link up play and sensational movement. Two different but equally impressive goals gave him a dream start in the all white swans shirt, but he could so easily had 6 goals on a sparkling debut. When Borini struck the post shortly after scoring a net busting shot the crowd realised a star was born. Borini now claims that he’d targeted 5 in 9 games for us, but he feels that after 2 in 1 he’d overestimated how hard this league is. He’s now looking, probably for 9 in 9. Fabio take a bow son!

Swans Slump at Scunny

Tom — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 14:54:36 +0000

Swans slip up at Scunthorpe to give QPR a commanding lead in the title race. On a difficult pitch the swans still created many chances but looked lackluster in front of goal. A hard tackling Scunthorpe team weathered the storm and won a penalty as Tate fouls in the box amid poor defending. The Swans threw on Dobbie and Moore and went 3 at the back in a bid to break through for a priceless equalizer but the goal wouldn’t come. The defeat was disappointing but was made easier to take with the news that Cardiff and Forest both slumped to defeats. The race for second is wide open and it really looks like squeaky bum time.

Swansea 3-0 Leeds in a word, EASY

Tom — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:55:49 +0000

Before I start I have a lot of respect for Leeds as a club, fantastic fans who sung from start to finish. But today we absolutely destroyed United. In my opinion that wasn’t even our best performance yet we made it look so, so easy. I haven’t seen the penalty shout from Leeds yet but from where I was sat in the stadium it looked like it came off his chest, though apparently it was a handball? aside from that I felt Leeds offered nothing going forward and we were content to pass it round the Leeds midfield: When Dyer, Sinclair and Dobbie had the ball they teared the Leeds defence to minuscule pieces. I felt Leeds were rattled and the persistent fouling could have cost them a red or two. I’m not one to gloat, but it was quite simply a dry bumming! I think we are not only auto contenders but are TITLE contenders!10 goals in 4 games and 4 wins on the bounce for a hard working, beautiful passing side who can tear up defences and score goals!
The Jacks are going up!

Swansea Till I Die

Swansea V Leeds a fans view

Tom — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 11:02:54 +0000

This week Tom Hill from the leedsoffside kindly answers our questions on all things football, Leeds United and the Swans. Check out the Leedsoffside to see my answers to his questions and a full match report.

How do Leeds fans view Swansea as a club?

We have met each other in the league often in recent seasons due to us both been in League One. We know you can play football, we have seen it ourselves and the league table doesn’t lie. You have some good players at the club who are dangerous, we were linked with Pratley and I am sure we would love to sign him. Brendan Rodgers is a good up and coming manager, so you have the right basis to do well. In terms of rivalry there isn’t really one, although the teams and the fans have to travel far to come and watch today so they will be wanting nothing less than a point.

Is solidifying a playoff spot the target or is an auto spot still achievable?

To be honest it is very uncertain at the moment. We have done fantastic to come straight up from League One and challenge with the big boys of this division. We have a good chance of automatic , obviously some results need to go our way but one or two wins could see us right back in contention. A play-off spot would be just as good, it brings in more money to the club, unfortunately for us we seem to lose in the play-offs so we would obviously rather go up automatically.

Are Leeds fans surprised by their first season back in the championship?

Yes very. Some of us were positive after the first few games we could make the top ten, but nobody could have predicted where we would be today. It is credit to the club, gaffer, and the fans for getting us here. I think we have the best fans in the Championship by far, we break record attendances where ever we go. It feels like we are slowly coming back into the spotlight, nobody likes Leeds and we don’t care, we are close to the Premiership once again after our fall from grace. If we could secure back-to-back promotion then it would be unbelievable but we have to remember our situation, how we have only just been promoted and the club is now slowly on the up.

Who has been the best performer this season?

There has been many this season, Howson has come on leaps and bounds, and gained himself a call up the England squad in the process. Schmeichel has made some important saves to keep us in games also. Luciano Becchio has been scoring plenty this campaign and he has been rewarded with a new contract. For me though it has to be a joint award for Max Gradel and Rob Snodgrass both have been instrumental in our victories this season. They are both a constant threat going forward, and help out defensively too.

which player could Leeds not replace if he were to be sold?

At the moment it would be Snodgrass, the fans love him and he would be hard to replace. Some fans still find Gradel frustrating and he can be, but Snoddy is the man at the moment. He has adapted to the division well, I don’t see him going anywhere any time soon though.

Who is the best team in the championship?

I think most dangerous would be Forest at present, they are right in the mix and have every chance of still winning the league. QPR were terrible when we played them at ER and we played them off the park. We haven’t seen you since September, so today we will see if you have improved or not.

which player do you most want to sign from another championship team?

At the moment we need a strong midfielder who can win the ball back for us. We seem to concede too many goals and need it stop. In terms of specific players I am not too sure there is so many out there, we will just have to wait till the end of the season. Darren Pratley seems a decent player, although I am not sure you would want rid.

is Grayson the new Revie?

He is nowhere near the status of Revie, or the trophies. But Grayson is loved by the fans and he has every chance of emulating the success we have had in the past. Of course it will be a few years till we are back in Europe but Grayson has got us this far, so there is no reason why he can’t take us even further.

Leeds have a bitter-sweet place in our hearts

Tom — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:49:43 +0000

Leeds United are a massive club, a trophy cabinet buckling with the weight of silverware, but also with a reputation of being a little bit dirty and fighting back from a fall from near financial oblivion. Fans up and down the country might chant ‘You’re not famous anymore’ but they are still the biggest club in the league if not the best. Leeds games are always a big occasion they bring numbers and they bring noise, but they also bring memories. Leeds evoke two very different memories for Swans fans when the fixture comes around one sweet and one very bitter.
The memory that my father and older Jacks talk about is the first game of our first season in the old first division, where after just completing the first consecutive promotions from the old 4th Div to the 1st division, ‘plucky Swansea’ beat the mighty Leeds united 5-1; with a mazey run and shot from Swans legend Alan Curtis the pick of the goals. That game set the swans up for a legendary season where after topping the division for months beating the big boys of United Leeds Ipswich Arsenal Liverpool and Leeds, the swans slipped to 6th at the end of the season.
The second memory however is a rather bitter one. The season is 2008 the year we won the league one title but as a result of a Leeds challenge to a points deduction we were denied the chance to parade the title at the liberty stadium as the football league refused to hand it over despite us winning it. Whilst Leeds fans aren’t to blame the event and some of the comments made from Ken Bates have left Swans fans with a bitter view of Leeds united. The game itself is as big as they get in the Championship a real 6 pointer and one that could be the turning point for both clubs. A win for the Swans could solidify our place in second, whilst a defeat for united could see them drop out of the top six. Whatever the result Leeds Swansea is a special game.

The Jacks are going up?

Tom — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:13:22 +0000

First win at Boro for donkeys years and a comeback from 3-1 down to boot has definitely galvanised the swans. Then it was off too troubled Coventry where we haven’t lost since the cold war and a very hard fought win sees us go second. I think now is the time people in this league start to take us seriously and stop using phrases such as ‘Swansea start to make promotion look credible’ we haven’t been out of the top 6 for months yet still people seem surprised we are 2nd? I’ll agree that we are a small club in terms of past history, but on merit we are up there because we play the best football in the league. We have the top 6 all at home in the run-in and we look like we are coming to the boil at just the right time. ignore us at your peril, because we aren’t here for the playoffs, we want an auto spot.

I’m back!!! Not that anybody noticed I was gone!

Tom — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:16:13 +0000

Well I’ve returned much like Leon Britton to try kick start this project. Graduation and then entering the real world had put a bit of a dent in my free time what with having to get up before midday and going to work! But now my body has adjusted, my life has settled down a bit and I have time to write on here again. The silence from Swansea fans on here has been deafening, probably because I am the only Swansea fan on this site (apart from the guy who writes for the Real Madrid blog who for some reason loves us?) so my mission is to try get some more jacks on here and with luck get some banter with the rest of the Championship Offside crew. I’d like to say hello to you all and please please please feel free to comment on my posts. Special hello goes to Joel the C@***ff blogger as I see my old adversary has given up and a new neighbour has moved in next door. Would love some well thought out South Walian banter and maybe some really interesting joint projects on Welsh footy/ Derby fixtures? Anyway nice to be back!

The Resurrection of Leon Britton

Tom — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:02:36 +0000

Just like the biblical return of the Messiah, Leon Britton resurrects his career by walking through the liberty stadium doors once more to take up his true place as the returning king. Leon as any football league fan worth his salt will know, is one of the best midfielders in the championship and in Swansea’s system no money in the world could buy a better deep lying midfielder. Leon’s return is a financial, footballing and moral boosting act of genius and I for one am beaming from ear to ear since the pocket rocket signed on the dotted line. Leon has hero status amongst the jack army and his effortless control, pick-pocket tackles and a speed of thought far quicker than Scott Sinclair can run (that’s fast) will provide us with a fantastic platform to break up play and restart our passing game. Defeat to the Scum aside Leon could have a big say in our top of the table fixtures and his cool head on his rather small shoulders could be the key. STID