Swansea City Football Club - The Swans

Swansea City History

2006-07 Season

7th in League One
League Cup: 1st round; Wycombe Wanderers h. 2-3 aet.
FA Cup: 4th round; Ipswich Town a. 0-1
JP Trophy: 2nd round; Peterborough United a. 0-1

Highlight:
3-0 win at Sheffield United in the FA Cup 3rd round, 6/1/07

Low Spot:
1-2 home defeat by Cheltenham Town, 5/8/06

Good:
Leon Britton
Brought real consistency as well as quality to his play on the right hand side of midfield. Tricky on the ball and an excellent crosser he provided excellent service to the front players all season.
Lee Trundle
Seemed to fall out of favour a little bit but he still managed 19 goals in his 34 games including his usual array of stunners. Always in danger of being deemed a luxury by todays' army of robot coaches but his talent and flamboyant style are a blessing to football at this level.
Fans everywhere should lap up this fella while they have the chance. There might not be many more like him to follow.

In Brief:
Expectations were high for a concerted promotion push but a dodgy start was indicative of what was to follow. Despite being capable of beating anyone on their day the Swans managed no real consistency and a play off place was quickly their highest ambition.
The 3rd round of the FA Cup brought a magnificent victory at Premier League Sheffield United but after losing narrowly at Ipswich in the next round they then took only 1 point from their next 5 league games.
The clubs' best form of the season came at the end with 6 wins in 9 games but with victory vital on the final day they lost an amazing game at home to Blackpool 6-3 and missed out on the play offs.
They remain a side likely to be in contention next season, however.

Swansea City Football Club was formed in 1912 after a public meeting in the town. Originally the club was known as Swansea Town.

The club became original members of the third division in 1920 and won promotion to Division Two in 1925 as champions of Division Three South.

Swansea then enjoyed two fine FA Cup runs, reaching the semi finals in 1926 and the quarter finals the following year. In 1926 the club enjoyed a superb 2-1 victory over Arsenal before losing 3-0 in the semi finals to Bolton Wanderers.

Life in the second division proved difficult for the Swans although they managed to retain their status up to the Second World War.

The club did suffer relegation in 1947 but again won the Division Three South championship in 1949. Swansea then maintained a position in the second division until 1965.

In what was something of a golden period for Welsh football Swansea were well served during this period by Len and Ivor Allchurch, Mel Charles and Cliff Jones. The club could only manage a highest placed league finish of 7th in 1961, however.

In 1964 Swansea made it through to the FA Cup semi finals. They knocked out Barrow, Sheffield United, Stoke City and Liverpool, 2-1 at Anfield, before losing to Preston North End, 2-1 at Villa Park.

The following season the club made it through to the 5th round but were relegated after finishing bottom of the second division. Two years later, in 1967, Swansea dropped into the fourth division of the Football League.

The club changed their name to Swansea City during the course of the 1969-70 season and celebrated at the end of it by winning promotion back to the third division.

The Swans were relegated back to the fourth division in 1973 but the emergence of youngsters Robbie James and Alan Curtis helped inspire a dramatic improvement at the Vetch Field. Swansea missed out on promotion by just one point in 1977 but made no mistake the following season by which time John Toshack had taken over as player manager.

Toshack was able to attract several quality players to the club and they helped gain another promotion from Division Three the very next season.

After just two seasons in the second division Swansea were celebrating promotion to Division One for the first and only time in their history in 1981, edging out Blackburn Rovers on goal difference.

In their first season in the top flight Swansea were actually challenging for the league title well into the new year before falling away late on to finish 6th.

The fairytale could not last, however, and the Swans were relegated the following season. Worse was to follow. Toshack resigned early in the next season and although he returned shortly afterwards the club lurched towards eventual relegation in 1984 when Toshack left for good.

Two years later, amid financial crisis, the club dropped back into the fourth division, a remarkable change in fortunes.

Swansea won promotion back to Division Three in 1988 after beating Rotherham United and then Torquay United in the play offs. The club then spent eight seasons in the third tier of English football. They reached the play offs in 1993 only to lose in the semi finals to West Bromwich Albion but suffered relegation back to the basement in 1996.

The Swans missed out in the play offs in both 1997 and 1999 before winning promotion as Division Three champions in 2000. In 1997 Swansea lost out to a last minute goal to Northampton Town at Wembley and suffered a semi final defeat against Scunthorpe in 1999.

Swansea returned to the fourth tier immediately after their title success and then had to wait until 2005 before again rising into the next level, inspired by the current cult hero Lee Trundle.

Swansea have only managed to reach the 4th round of the League Cup on two occasions, in 1965 and 1977. They have reached the final of the Welsh Cup on eighteen occasions and captured the trophy ten times.

This has allowed the club several ventures into European competition in the old Cup Winners Cup. This has led to the club setting its record victory when they defeated Sliema Wanderers of Malta 12-0 in 1982. It also saw them equal their worst ever defeat when they went down 8-0 to Monaco in 1991.

Swansea also captured the Autoglass Trophy in 1994 after beating Huddersfield Town on penalties.

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