0:00:27 > 0:00:29To begin at the beginning.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34It is spring, moonless night in the small town,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37starless and Bible-black.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38The cobblestreets silent
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood
0:00:40 > 0:00:44limping, invisible, down to the sloeblack, slow,
0:00:44 > 0:00:48black, crow-black, fishing boat-bobbing sea.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56'I was nervous.'
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Bless the city.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01'I knew I couldn't get to sleep so I started getting changed
0:01:01 > 0:01:03'and everybody said, "Where are you going?"'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06I said, "I'm going to church." They said, "Church? This time of night?"
0:01:10 > 0:01:14'I remember phoning my friend and she said, "I feel sick."'
0:01:14 > 0:01:17"I've just done my teeth and I feel sick."
0:01:20 > 0:01:24You know I was obviously very nervous. You know, the consequences,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26you know, running through your head and...
0:01:26 > 0:01:29TV COMMENTATOR: Can Swansea take advantage of it?
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Pratley...scores!
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Unbelievable finish!
0:01:36 > 0:01:38INDISTINCT COMMENTARY
0:01:42 > 0:01:45And Swansea City are going to Wembley!
0:01:49 > 0:01:51My television was on.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56I had a bowl of Weetabix, but not with milk, with vodka on top,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59because I thought it would just help to calm the nerves.
0:01:59 > 0:02:00TV: 'So that's it, the stage is set.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03'Will Swansea City be playing against the likes
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'of Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal?
0:02:06 > 0:02:08'We'll soon find out.'
0:02:08 > 0:02:09It was nerve-racking.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13You just felt these people, this lot, we deserve,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16we deserve this now, after what we've been put through.
0:02:24 > 0:02:25Front page that week is,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29"Will the last person out of Swansea please turn off the light?"
0:02:32 > 0:02:33RADIO: 'Good morning, bore da.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36'It's the Breakfast Show here on Swansea Sound with me,
0:02:36 > 0:02:37'Kev Johns, on this Monday morning.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40'Not just any old Monday today - it's play-off final day.'
0:02:40 > 0:02:43The Swans at Wembley for the Championship play-off today
0:02:43 > 0:02:47'against Reading, and the exodus has begun.'
0:02:52 > 0:02:55REPORTER: 'It is the most lucrative club match in world football.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58'It'll be worth more than ?90 million to the club.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00'The Championship play-off final
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'with a place in the Premier League at stake.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08'What a story it could be for Swansea City.'
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Wembley is just, like... ultimate ground.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Well, nobody can sleep, nobody can sleep. The bus drivers can't sleep.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Nobody can sleep.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23'Getting to Wembley was special.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25'I remember pulling up on the bus.'
0:03:25 > 0:03:28There must have been 20,000 Swans fans.
0:03:28 > 0:03:29Black and white everywhere.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32'And it's goose pimples and you just can't wait to get out there
0:03:32 > 0:03:33'and have a great time.'
0:03:38 > 0:03:40'You get to Wembley and you can't believe'
0:03:40 > 0:03:45there's that many Swansea City fans, wearing black and white.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47'I think it was only when we all put our suits on'
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and the carnations on that it started to sink in.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54Sometimes you forget when you're here that it is...
0:03:54 > 0:03:57whatever it is, a billion people watching.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Swansea being Swansea, you know half the people there anyway.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05And, you know...
0:04:05 > 0:04:07'The worst time, I think, is just waiting for the game to start.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09'It just felt as if it was, you know,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11'it was a game that you had to win.'
0:04:27 > 0:04:30'It was kind of like a boyhood dream come true, you know'
0:04:30 > 0:04:33In 90 minutes, you could accomplish what every boy had dreamed about.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34CROWD SINGS
0:04:34 > 0:04:36'And then they start singing, and then you think,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'"We just have to win! We HAVE to win,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43'because it's just not going to be very nice at all if we don't.'
0:04:44 > 0:04:48COMMENTATOR: The accountants call it "the ?90 million match",
0:04:48 > 0:04:51but for these 22 players, it's about the chance to perform
0:04:51 > 0:04:53at the top of their profession,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58about tales of glory for the grandchildren,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00and you cannot put a price on that.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15COMMENTATOR: 'Wearing ten for the Swans this afternoon,
0:05:15 > 0:05:16'Lee Trundle!
0:05:18 > 0:05:20'Wearing seven, Leon Britton.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25'Wearing 16 for the Swans and the captain's armband, Garry Monk.'
0:05:28 > 0:05:30DISTANT SINGING OF CROWD
0:05:40 > 0:05:45'My Vetch was beautiful. It was raggedy, she was an old lady.'
0:05:45 > 0:05:46She needed a lot of attention.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49She never got it, there was no money for it,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52'but it was a wonderful place. It was a cauldron of sound.'
0:05:52 > 0:05:54SINGING CONTINUES
0:05:56 > 0:05:58'Most probably the best ground I've ever seen.'
0:05:58 > 0:06:01You know, there was the old Vetch behind the North Bank,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04the Mel Nurse Bar, the Harry Griffiths Bar on the other end.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07'It was such an ugly place, but such a lovely place.'
0:06:10 > 0:06:13'My first memory was walking up the slope at the back
0:06:13 > 0:06:18'of the North Bank and then catching the sight of the pitch,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22'just looking and seeing the grass and smelling the turf
0:06:22 > 0:06:24'during the winter months,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26'climbing the wooden stairs to the double-decker
0:06:26 > 0:06:28'and banging your feet.'
0:06:28 > 0:06:30And my mother came to a few games
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and convinced that the stand was going to collapse,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36'because everybody was banging their feet, you know?'
0:06:38 > 0:06:40# Swansea! #
0:06:40 > 0:06:42I live back-to-back with the Vetch,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46so you had no option but to follow Swansea City.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'The first time I went was when George Best played there,
0:06:49 > 0:06:50'cos we all loved George Best.'
0:06:50 > 0:06:52And I kind of got hooked from there, then.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53WHISTLE BLOWS
0:06:57 > 0:06:58# Swansea! #
0:06:58 > 0:07:00As soon as I walked into the North Bank,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I just couldn't believe what I was hearing or witnessing.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06You know, the place was heaving
0:07:06 > 0:07:08and the whole atmosphere was just bouncing.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10CROWD GASP AND MOAN
0:07:10 > 0:07:11CHEERING
0:07:11 > 0:07:14'Great days, with the North Bank, in particular, rocking'
0:07:14 > 0:07:18The roof coming off almost, such, such was the atmosphere.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25'I did train with the Swans and play a couple of times.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27'Then I had a chance to sign for 'em.'
0:07:27 > 0:07:29I decided I'm not going to sign.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31I was going to go round to the North Bank and meet my mates
0:07:31 > 0:07:33and have a day out watching the Swans.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40'My grandfather, he was probably one of the last to leave the pub.'
0:07:40 > 0:07:42He was usually the first one back in there as well,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45but I wouldn't tell my grandmother that!
0:07:47 > 0:07:50'When I first started, it was only the Harry Griffiths bar.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52'It was brilliant. Scruffy as hell.'
0:07:52 > 0:07:54And if you stood in a certain part of the bar,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57you could see, like, all the men having a wee in the toilet
0:07:57 > 0:07:58cos there was no door!
0:07:58 > 0:08:00SHE LAUGHS And they just...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02CROWD SINGS
0:08:06 > 0:08:08CHEERING
0:08:11 > 0:08:15The atmosphere was definitely one of the draws or one of the hooks.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I couldn't, you know...
0:08:18 > 0:08:20To see people singing and chanting and shouting
0:08:20 > 0:08:24'and swearing and everything they do when losing their emotions
0:08:24 > 0:08:26'was a fairly amazing experience.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32'You'd spend probably as much time watching the crowd
0:08:32 > 0:08:34'as watching the match.'
0:08:40 > 0:08:42COMMENTATOR: Ivor Allchurch shoots.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44It's a goal! 3-1 is the score
0:08:44 > 0:08:46that sends Swansea on into round five.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48'When you train at the Vetch Field,'
0:08:48 > 0:08:51the Vetch Field's just directly behind the jail,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55so if you do anything wrong, you've not far to go!
0:08:57 > 0:09:02'And I played on the Vetch as centre half and I had legends with me.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03'I was only 17.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'And the smell of beer down there was terrible.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10'Not that the players was drinking,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12'but there was a brewer's behind the North Bank.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14'You know what I mean? And, cor, and it stank.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18'The hops, smell of the hops, but that was a smell of its own.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20'Do you know what I mean?'
0:09:20 > 0:09:22There's always been a good atmosphere, irrespective
0:09:22 > 0:09:24of what league we played in, you know, what the results are,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26'but I remember playing against Leeds,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28'my first-ever game in the old First Division.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30'Knew it was going to be a tough game,'
0:09:30 > 0:09:33but the conditions were perfect, you know, the pitch was fantastic.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35'Full house there, 25-26,000,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39'and it was a beautiful day here. It was an absolutely glorious day.'
0:09:39 > 0:09:42COMMENTATOR: The feed to Alan Curtis, perfect.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44Oh, what a sidestep!
0:09:44 > 0:09:47What a shot and what a goal!
0:09:47 > 0:09:49The fact that we beat them 5-1 was, er...
0:09:49 > 0:09:50People still talk about it
0:09:50 > 0:09:53and they still talk about the goal that I scored, you know.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55'Believe it or not, I've still got the shorts.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57'If you look at it closely, I've actually split the shorts.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01'It's the smallest pair of shorts I've ever owned, I think.'
0:10:01 > 0:10:02You know, if the gates had been open,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05I'd've been down the Mumbles Road... never to be seen again!
0:10:08 > 0:10:11'I'm a football fan myself. I like football. I love football.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13'I can't live without football.'
0:10:13 > 0:10:15And when I became 16 years of age,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Swansea came in my life, and it's still there.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23My teacher at school wasn't very happy with the way we talk English,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and so he asked us to try to find ourselves a pen pal in the UK.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29So all my friends wrote letters
0:10:29 > 0:10:31to Manchester United and Arsenal and Chelsea,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33and I wrote a letter to Swansea City Football Club,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35purely for the fun, and I thought I'd got more chance
0:10:35 > 0:10:40to be in the programme than they've got at Manchester and Chelsea.
0:10:40 > 0:10:41I wrote to him.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43You know, there weren't that many letters at the start,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47because he couldn't write English very well.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48It was very broken,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52and you had to sort of work out very much what he was trying to say.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59I used to send him programmes and he used to send me Den Haag programmes,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02which, to be honest with you, were a complete waste of time
0:11:02 > 0:11:05cos I didn't understand a word of them, obviously, you know?
0:11:05 > 0:11:08I stayed there quite often when I was 18, 19, you know?
0:11:08 > 0:11:10And then you go out in Wind Street
0:11:10 > 0:11:14and you see his mates, will become your mates.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18And, er, now I can tell you that I've got more friends in Swansea
0:11:18 > 0:11:20than I've got over here in Holland.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Those days we were playing in the lowest league,
0:11:25 > 0:11:26and we were doing very, very bad.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33The football was quite dire, obviously.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35But it was your club,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38and you supported your club through thick and thin.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51The slide started, and people fell away.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54I think it was disillusionment, really,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58with possibly the way things were being handled in the background.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Perhaps people could sense that things weren't being run correctly.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08We always knew the club had financial limitations.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11We were never going to be a rich club.
0:12:11 > 0:12:12Things were tight, you know.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14The managers were coming and going,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18and you knew that there must have been problems behind closed doors.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22For a number of pressing reasons,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25nobody wanted to own the club for any length of time.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27It was almost becoming a hot potato.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31The main owners of the club decided that enough was enough,
0:12:31 > 0:12:37and they sold the club for ?1 to a chap called Mike Lewis,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39to babysit it and to look for a new owner.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44There were always stories in the press
0:12:44 > 0:12:48about this person, that person, or group of people.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Not local people, but, er...
0:12:51 > 0:12:54looking to possibly buy Swansea City Football Club.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01I was down in Brisbane, and it was common knowledge at that time
0:13:01 > 0:13:03that Swansea had changed ownership.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06So I rang up Mike Lewis.
0:13:06 > 0:13:07And he was very open.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Told me about the state of the nation.
0:13:10 > 0:13:11It wasn't good.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15And I said, "Well, OK, let me get back to you."
0:13:15 > 0:13:20I then had a chat with one of the wealthiest clubs in Queensland
0:13:20 > 0:13:22with a view to trying to rescue Swansea City.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Mike Lewis had put an advert in a newspaper.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31"For Sale- Football League football club..."
0:13:31 > 0:13:33blah, blah, blah... "..contact me."
0:13:33 > 0:13:36And Brian Katzen saw this advert.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40I was in New York, and one day I was sitting in my office,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42and there was a one-liner that said,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45"Swansea City for sale, call this number," you know?
0:13:45 > 0:13:47And at that time I wasn't really serious.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49I didn't really know what was involved.
0:13:49 > 0:13:50Just kind of picked up the phone.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53PHONE RINGS
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Think I hit voicemail.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57PHONE RINGS
0:13:57 > 0:13:59No-one answered! HE LAUGHS
0:13:59 > 0:14:02But funnily enough, the next day, my receptionist says,
0:14:02 > 0:14:03"There's a phone call for you.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06"It's the chairman of Swansea City on the phone."
0:14:06 > 0:14:07I pretended to be busy,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11and let him wait a few minutes, then picked up the phone.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Mike said, "I've just bought the club for ?1 from a public company.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17"We're losing a lot of money. I've got no money.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21"There's a lot of debts, and I need to get rid of this club fast."
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Mike actually told me on the phone that,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25"Look, if you want to come out, you've got to come out soon,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27"because there's an Australian chap out here
0:14:27 > 0:14:29"who's committed to put some cash up,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31"and I don't have any other options,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34"so if you can't make it, I've got no choice, you know?"
0:14:37 > 0:14:39I flew over to Swansea
0:14:39 > 0:14:43along with the chairman of the Brisbane Lions at the time.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46They were going to put the money in.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Mike knew he couldn't carry on.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50I mean, if we hadn't appeared...
0:14:52 > 0:14:55..he probably had a month, maybe two at best,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57before he would have gone under.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59And that was... That's how bad it was.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01At the time I still wasn't really serious -
0:15:01 > 0:15:03I was just kind of investigating.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05It was kind of cool having a... Talking to a football club.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Maybe something would happen, maybe something wouldn't happen.
0:15:08 > 0:15:09And then 9/11 happened,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12and airports were obviously shut down for a couple of days
0:15:12 > 0:15:14or a couple of weeks, and I just couldn't get out, you know?
0:15:14 > 0:15:17So I called him back and said, "Mike, I can't make it out there.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19"Do what you've got to do, man."
0:15:19 > 0:15:21CAMERA CLICKS
0:15:21 > 0:15:23You always live in hope that somebody's going to come in
0:15:23 > 0:15:27and buy the club and everything's going to be great, and...
0:15:27 > 0:15:29I went to the press conference upstairs,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and, you know, he talked the talk. Do you know what I mean?
0:15:32 > 0:15:34You come out of the conference thinking,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36"Oh, yeah, we've got somebody who's got money,
0:15:36 > 0:15:38"and he's going to look after our club."
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Unfortunately for me, those guys flew back to Australia.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Somewhere down the line, within that next week or two,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49they decided to change their mind,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51which left me pretty much holding the baby,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55because, by that time, Mike had relinquished power.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Um...and basically I was there without the money.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02ANNOUNCER: 'Let's give our new owner and club chairman,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04'Mr Tony Petty, a big welcome.'
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Are you ready, stands?!
0:16:07 > 0:16:09When Petty came in, I remember announcing him,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11and it was quite funny, cos he never wanted a fuss made.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Are you ready, centre stand?
0:16:13 > 0:16:17'I had no idea who he was and he was very reluctant for any recognition.'
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Are you ready, North Bank?
0:16:20 > 0:16:22But nobody reads anything into that - he might be a shy guy.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24FANS SING
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Rochdale was the first game that we played under me.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31I think anyone that was at that match that night,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34if you was a die-hard Swansea fan, you'd have gone,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36"Well, that weren't good." Cos it weren't.
0:16:37 > 0:16:38COMMENTATOR: It's a cross.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Oh, it's in the back of the net!
0:16:40 > 0:16:42And it's an own goal.
0:16:42 > 0:16:43We lost 1-0.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46And I remember thinking...
0:16:46 > 0:16:48"This is going to be really, really tough."
0:16:48 > 0:16:50And... Well, something had to give.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57'He said to me, "Colin, like to see you in the morning."'
0:16:57 > 0:16:59"First thing," I said, "Fine. What time you call first thing?"
0:16:59 > 0:17:02"Eight? Nine?" "Nine o'clock'll do fine." In I went, sat in the office.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05He was there. And it went something like this.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09He said, "Colin, I want you to get your six highest earners in.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11"I'll get the six contracts sent down,
0:17:11 > 0:17:12"and we're going to rip 'em up."
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Colin's rolled up his sleeves and said, "Let's get on with it."
0:17:15 > 0:17:17"Let's get it done so we can go forward."
0:17:17 > 0:17:20And I obviously appreciated that.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22So I said, "Do you think you can do that?"
0:17:22 > 0:17:24So he said, "Well, why not?"
0:17:24 > 0:17:25So he said to me, "It's like a bad dream."
0:17:25 > 0:17:28I said, "It's not too clever for us either, but...
0:17:28 > 0:17:30"if we all pull together, we'll get through it."
0:17:31 > 0:17:33I remember shooting straight down to the Vetch
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and seeing some of the players with tears in their eyes,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38looking bewildered. Completely lost, really.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39They didn't know what had hit them.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Later that day, they all cleared off to the pub, and...
0:17:42 > 0:17:46And we tried to set about finding out what was going on
0:17:46 > 0:17:48and what Tony Petty was trying to do.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53I jumped in the car, drove down to the Vetch Field.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56A lot of players were walking out of the players' entrance at that time,
0:17:56 > 0:17:57and I remember saying,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59"We'll get it all sorted."
0:17:59 > 0:18:01What I expected to do, I had no idea at all.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03We're absolutely devastated, you know?
0:18:03 > 0:18:07I mean, to come in, and in less than a week destroy a football club
0:18:07 > 0:18:11which has been going for over 100 years is absolutely shambolic.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13I just can't believe it.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15It was...a Thatcher moment, if you like.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19By announcing that I was going to let seven players go,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21or basically cancel their contracts...
0:18:21 > 0:18:24They're in the PFA, the Football Association union...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27For those of you who don't know me, my name's Brendan Batson.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30And, of course, the first phone call I got was from Brendan Batson,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32saying, "Well, actually, you can't do that."
0:18:32 > 0:18:35And I remember saying to Brendan, "Well, actually I can.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39"All right, the company might get sued later, but actually, I can."
0:18:39 > 0:18:41There were all sorts of stories coming out.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44You'd almost look forward to coming into work in the morning,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47to get on the phone, and, you know,
0:18:47 > 0:18:52hear what the latest tales were about Tony Petty.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Tony Petty had a right-hand man based in the UK
0:18:55 > 0:18:57called John Shuttleworth.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00And it turned out, with a bit of investigation,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04that John Shuttleworth was actually an agent of a porn star.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08So, of course, when all these stories started coming to light,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10alarm bells started ringing with people.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Allegedly, of course, Tony Petty turned up with a holdall
0:19:14 > 0:19:19after one game to gather up all the takings from the turnstiles.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Straight into his bag with all the ?10 notes and straight out of town.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Tony Petty had my telephone number,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and he would phone me up for a little chat now and again.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31And he would phone me up and say,
0:19:31 > 0:19:36"I'm on my way to Swansea. I'm in the Newport area now."
0:19:36 > 0:19:39And I would then make a phone call to the Vetch Field,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41and say, "He's on his way. Hide everything."
0:19:41 > 0:19:43PHONE RINGS
0:19:43 > 0:19:44We used to take the cash upstairs,
0:19:44 > 0:19:49and then used to hide the money so Tony Petty couldn't get it.
0:19:49 > 0:19:50And then it'd come to payday,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53and maybe about six of us got paid by cheque,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and the rest all had bags of change as their wages.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Quite a lot of people enjoyed the skulduggery
0:20:00 > 0:20:04of telling everybody they've seen him come through Heathrow Airport
0:20:04 > 0:20:06and they're following him down the M4,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08and he's now coming past Bridgend, and...
0:20:08 > 0:20:11You know, how much of it was really true, I don't know.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16'This word "club", and it's used all over the country...
0:20:16 > 0:20:18'You know, Manchester United Football Club
0:20:18 > 0:20:20'or Liverpool Football Club...
0:20:20 > 0:20:22'If you're a businessman, it's actually'
0:20:22 > 0:20:27Liverpool Limited or plc, or Manchester United plc.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31They are corporate limited vehicles,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35and accordingly, you have to run them in a correct manner.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Now, we were projecting to lose over ?700,000 this year.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41We've already cut it in half in three weeks.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43That's not bad.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Even though we had an idea of the problems they had,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52there wasn't much that we could do about it at the time.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55And then I got contacted to say would I like to come and talk
0:20:55 > 0:20:58to like-minded people about setting up a supporters' trust.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03THEY CHANT: Swansea till I die! I'm Swansea till I die!
0:21:03 > 0:21:06I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Swansea till I die.
0:21:06 > 0:21:07'Good evening.'
0:21:07 > 0:21:09CHEERING
0:21:09 > 0:21:12'I was thinking of some songs to play on the radio for Mr Petty.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14'I thought of Hit The Road, Jack,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16'but he's no Jack, so I'm not playing that one.'
0:21:16 > 0:21:19There was a very obvious and easy target.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24It wasn't "the club" - it was Tony Petty who became "the target".
0:21:24 > 0:21:28And unfortunately for him, he was perceived to be an outsider,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31coming in and taking over "our club".
0:21:31 > 0:21:35CHANTING AND SINGING
0:21:35 > 0:21:38That was quite emotional, I think, that march through the city,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40because I think it was almost...
0:21:40 > 0:21:44the supporters taking the club back.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47And it was almost like a popular uprising.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49THEY CHANT: We want Petty out! We want Petty out!
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Petty out!
0:21:51 > 0:21:53'Mr Chairman, welcome to the Patti Pavilion...'
0:21:53 > 0:21:58The Patti Pavilion is probably where it really, really started.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00It was when, up on stage with some of the players
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and Alan Curtis...
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Kev Johns was there, pledging support.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Swansea boys!
0:22:07 > 0:22:09I was asked to go along and support them, so...
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It was a little bit awkward, obviously,
0:22:11 > 0:22:13because, you know, erm...
0:22:13 > 0:22:16It's almost the last place you want to go is, you know...
0:22:16 > 0:22:18You've just been sacked from somewhere,
0:22:18 > 0:22:20then you're having to speak in front of all these people.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23But it just felt as if it was the right thing to do.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25In all my years in professional football,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27I've never experienced such scenes
0:22:27 > 0:22:30as were played out at the Vetch this week.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33With you, the supporters, also backing us,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36together we will prevail and ensure that Swansea City,
0:22:36 > 0:22:38the club you love, will never die.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:22:46 > 0:22:49At the end, then, they gave out bits of paper,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52just to put your name, to prove that you were there, basically,
0:22:52 > 0:22:53so they had a bit of a head count.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56And there was a tiny little box there, and it said,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"Tick if you'd like to get involved."
0:22:58 > 0:22:59And I thought to myself,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03"Yeah, I'll tick this, because I can make cups of tea and coffee,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07"and I can sell raffle tickets. I can do a collection in buckets."
0:23:07 > 0:23:10So I ticked the box and, erm...
0:23:10 > 0:23:15I went from just, erm... someone sitting and listening
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and appreciating what was being said
0:23:17 > 0:23:21to participating, in that one little tick.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27As a trust, we needed money, and we had bucket collections
0:23:27 > 0:23:30so we'd have some sort of fighting fund.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34'This club is on the brink of destruction,'
0:23:34 > 0:23:36and we urge people to come forward, give money.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Not when it's too late, when the gates are locked. We want money now, to the Trust.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Help us save this club before it goes.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Tony Petty thought we were a silly little group of people
0:23:49 > 0:23:51that he didn't really need to bother about.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54You know, "They'll eventually get bored and go away,"
0:23:54 > 0:23:56and we didn't. We got stronger and stronger,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00because we needed to fight this man who was ruining our club.
0:24:00 > 0:24:01'Petty, Petty, Petty...!'
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'You know, I can understand the fans' feelings,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06'but all I've done is told them what the position is,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09and tried to make sure that the company survives,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11you know, and suddenly I'm the most hated man in Wales.'
0:24:11 > 0:24:13THEY CHANT: We want Petty out!
0:24:13 > 0:24:16The reaction to the Tony Petty regime had been in the pipeline
0:24:16 > 0:24:18for a while, and it...
0:24:18 > 0:24:20You could almost feel it tangibly on the North Bank.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Incredible frustration and anger.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29There were all sorts of groups that came together at the time,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31groups of fans. Some bigger than others. Some...
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Some more official than others.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35One of them, the North Bank Alliance,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38the name sticks in the memory particularly for me,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43because somehow or other, my mobile number ended up on this flyer.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Yeah, well, you know, this is...
0:24:45 > 0:24:47This is the beauty of, er... proof-reading, innit?
0:24:47 > 0:24:49You know, er... Yeah.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52You put Gareth Vincent of the Evening Post's phone number down
0:24:52 > 0:24:53next to Shuttleworth's name.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54HE SNORTS
0:24:54 > 0:24:58"Oh, right, er... We've got a problem."
0:24:58 > 0:25:03North Bank Alliance was a group of Swansea City supporters
0:25:03 > 0:25:07who were a bit of an underground organisation.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10So when this man came in
0:25:10 > 0:25:13with the plan that he had, to just make money off it
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and destroy the team, the club and everything
0:25:16 > 0:25:20in the process...in my eyes, that was never going to happen.
0:25:20 > 0:25:21He had to be stopped.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Got together one night then, I think it was
0:25:26 > 0:25:28in The Builders Arms, wasn't it? That's right, yeah.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31About 15, 16 of us, I didn't know half of them.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33I knew Lee by sight, but, er...
0:25:33 > 0:25:35"Lee." Shit...
0:25:35 > 0:25:37John, I mean.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38THEY LAUGH
0:25:40 > 0:25:43We were trying to make it difficult for him to make any money.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47So, financially, we thought, "How can we do this?"
0:25:47 > 0:25:51First of all, we glued the locks of the club shop
0:25:51 > 0:25:53so that they couldn't sell any merchandise,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58and we chained the big SCFC gates, so they couldn't open the gates
0:25:58 > 0:26:00to let people into the turnstiles.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04There was real anger and real venom in the air towards this guy.
0:26:04 > 0:26:05It wasn't your usual banter
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and everything else you get at a football ground,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and the atmosphere, the stick flying back and forth between the fans.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13But there was real menace, you felt.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16We were trying to make it so difficult for him to operate
0:26:16 > 0:26:20in Swansea and to actually fear...
0:26:20 > 0:26:25that something was going to happen to him, which is probably worse
0:26:25 > 0:26:28than something actually happening to him.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34And then, when he got up for the half-time interval,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37he got up, he looked at me like that.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39I stared at him and I went like that, "You're having it, son,"
0:26:39 > 0:26:41like that.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44By all accounts, he didn't come out for the second half. No.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45So you had a bit of a rest.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Right now, no-one's actually coming forward and saying,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53"Well, Tony, we'd like to take over Swansea City Football Club".
0:26:53 > 0:26:54Nothing whatsoever.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58So, um, can't really walk away, cos someone's got to run the ship.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01I always felt at that time,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03"Well, someone'll come in and someone'll do it
0:27:03 > 0:27:05"and someone else do it,"
0:27:05 > 0:27:07and then I think we realised that...
0:27:08 > 0:27:10"We're going to have to do something.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12"We're going to have to do something,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14"because this club could just disappear."
0:27:19 > 0:27:22We eventually ended up having a meeting
0:27:22 > 0:27:24here at Swansea Rugby Club,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27where about eight or ten of us had got together,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30and we decided how we were going to try
0:27:30 > 0:27:32and buy the football club off Petty.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36And the logic was, we got ten people to put ?50,000 in each,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38and that gave us half a million,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40and that give us the kitty.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42So it was then, "Can we find ten people?"
0:27:42 > 0:27:44That was the defining moment.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48Find ten people with 50,000 lots, and the trust was the first.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51"We're here, we think we can get ?50,000 together."
0:27:52 > 0:27:55The next person we approached was Mel Nurse,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and he agreed to join the consortium as well.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Then we spoke to Martin Morgan, as he had just sold his business.
0:28:03 > 0:28:04PLANE SOARS
0:28:04 > 0:28:07We'd sold the Travel House for 40 million,
0:28:07 > 0:28:09so we were financially secure.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14As long as we didn't blow it on a football club, right?!
0:28:14 > 0:28:17Martin said, "I've got someone else, he'll come in,"
0:28:17 > 0:28:20and I think that was probably the first time we met Huw.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23I'd just done things probably without thinking too much,
0:28:23 > 0:28:24cos I wanted to do them.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Probably exactly the same decision was taken then.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31"Yeah, I'm going to go in and do this."
0:28:31 > 0:28:34We had Brian Katzen, who's another story really.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Yeah, I think, if I recall,
0:28:37 > 0:28:39I was the first crazy guy to send money across, you know.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42No documents, no nothing, no promises, just a handshake.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44So we just said, "Let's just do it", you know.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47And David phoned me up that there was, er,
0:28:47 > 0:28:48big shit in Swansea and, er,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51he was trying to save the football club and he needed money.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54All of a sudden, I had a new clan of friends from Swansea, you know.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57So I didn't told my... Didn't told my wife as well,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00because I thought, "If I tell her, I'll be in even more shit."
0:29:00 > 0:29:03But anyway, I decided to put, er, to put money in.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08I then pledged that, even though I support this trust,
0:29:08 > 0:29:10I would find my share as well,
0:29:10 > 0:29:15as long as I was, at the time, not wealthy compared to others.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Um...
0:29:18 > 0:29:21we found our 50, but it meant mortgaging.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26So I mortgaged a little bit of our house, so...
0:29:26 > 0:29:27to make sure we got to the 50.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36One match could've turned everything.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40In actual fact, one match DID turn everything, as far as I'm concerned,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43and that was the next round of the FA Cup.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45That was it, that was the end.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48We were praying we'd lose that game.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51If we'd have beaten Macclesfield, drawn Manchester United away,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55God knows how much money would have been pouring into his lap.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58So I went to that game actually hoping we would lose. Oh, yeah.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00I thought at worst we'd get a draw.
0:30:01 > 0:30:02And we lost bad.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05We lost 4-1, if I remember rightly.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08The FA Cup had gone. We needed money.
0:30:08 > 0:30:09End of story.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12I was constantly onto him.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Didn't watch a minute of the game. Just in his ear.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18He could hear us all along.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Every word I was saying, he heard every word.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25"I'm going to break your legs. I'm coming over now, mate.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28"I'm going to smash you. You're going down, son."
0:30:28 > 0:30:30It was getting a little bit nasty.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32It wasn't just "How can we upset him?"
0:30:32 > 0:30:35There were people who would actually try and hurt him
0:30:35 > 0:30:37if they had the opportunity.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42There was house bricks being thrown, um, at many a car.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Um, mainly looking for my car!
0:30:44 > 0:30:49Some random fan, er, apparently then...
0:30:49 > 0:30:51attacked the car in the car park in Macclesfield,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53thinking it was Petty's, and it wasn't.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56It was their star striker who scored against us.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00The intimidation...it was getting to me, of course it was.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03I remember driving back and I said to John,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06"That's it, that really is it."
0:31:06 > 0:31:09THEY CHANT: We want Petty out! We want Petty out!
0:31:09 > 0:31:11One day, rumours circulated
0:31:11 > 0:31:15that Customs and Excise were about to move into the Vetch Field
0:31:15 > 0:31:17the following day and close us down.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21And then, out of the blue, I had a phone call
0:31:21 > 0:31:24from a cockney gentleman with the words,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27"Do you want to buy a football club?"
0:31:27 > 0:31:30CAMERA CLICKS I thought, "There's only one buyer in town."
0:31:30 > 0:31:35Whether they're offering a pound or whatever, you know,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38if they want to have a go, then so be it.
0:31:38 > 0:31:39I can't do no more.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43By this time, I was very, very frightened
0:31:43 > 0:31:45that if I made the wrong move,
0:31:45 > 0:31:49it could actually mean the end of the football club,
0:31:49 > 0:31:52and he could've turned round and blamed me for something I did.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57So I put him in contact with our solicitor, Steve Penny.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00I had a number of conversations with him.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03He wanted ?250,000.
0:32:03 > 0:32:04After a couple of days,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07he reduced his asking price to...
0:32:07 > 0:32:09I think it was ?100,000.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12We said no. Er, I think he said to me,
0:32:12 > 0:32:14when he rang me on the 18th of January,
0:32:14 > 0:32:15"I didn't sleep last night."
0:32:15 > 0:32:18And that was the first time I thought,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21"We're getting very close now to doing a deal."
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Let's be honest, um, the fans...
0:32:23 > 0:32:27don't particularly want me here a minute longer than this takes.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31As far as I'm concerned, if I can get a deal done
0:32:31 > 0:32:35in the next 24 hours, then so be it.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40I'd offered ?15,000 for his shares. He rejected it.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44But then the following day he came back and said,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48"If we can do a deal quickly, I'm off out of here.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50"If you can give me ?20,000 for my trouble,
0:32:50 > 0:32:52"I will sell the club."
0:32:56 > 0:32:59David and I jumped in the car and drove up to Cardiff.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02We'd been told that they would meet us at the Copthorne Hotel.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06The meeting happened in the Copthorne
0:33:06 > 0:33:10because Tony Petty, by now, was frightened to come to Swansea.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13We had to raid the cashpoint in, um,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16either Portland Street or Oxford Street.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20I had withdrawn ?20,000 in cash,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23the amount that Tony Petty wanted for his pound of flesh.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Put it in a Tesco carrier bag and then drive to buy a football club.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32I was the bagman, he was the driver.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35At the time, being perfectly honest, um,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38I tried to treat it as normally as I would
0:33:38 > 0:33:41if it had been another business transfer.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48If I had stopped to think at the time how significant
0:33:48 > 0:33:52this relatively modest financial transaction was going to be,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55I think I probably would have bottled it in some shape or form.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Obviously, it was a very strange journey,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03because it was just me and Steve in the car.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08You were excited, but you were wary as well about what could lay ahead.
0:34:12 > 0:34:18We met Tony Petty and we sat there for a number of hours trying to
0:34:18 > 0:34:22deal with Tony Petty, cos it wasn't the most easy thing to deal with.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30We also had to deal with his right-hand man John Shuttleworth,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32who was on the telephone.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34Both had to sign the paperwork,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37and therefore there were faxes going back and forth.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39NUMBER DIALLED INTO PHONE
0:34:39 > 0:34:41We were stuck in a situation that we wanted to
0:34:41 > 0:34:44walk out of that room owning a football club,
0:34:44 > 0:34:46and it didn't really matter if it took 60 minutes
0:34:46 > 0:34:48or a couple of days type of thing, you know.
0:34:48 > 0:34:49We needed it sorted.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Personally, I was trying to stay focused on
0:34:53 > 0:34:55dealing with the legal side of it.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59but I think I could still sense that there was a...
0:34:59 > 0:35:01a fairly tense atmosphere in the room.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04In fact, I think you could say you could cut it with a knife.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14We paid Mr Petty the ?20,000 purchase price
0:35:14 > 0:35:17but then, in a fairly sort of flippant way,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19he said, what about my pound then?
0:35:19 > 0:35:21With all the change we had in our pocket,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24we threw up a pound together. We handed it over to him.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28He looked, laughed and threw it all on the floor.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32That was the last dealings that we've ever had with Tony Petty.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40I have some very good news to announce to the supporters
0:35:40 > 0:35:42of Swansea City Football Club.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47We met the press, we sat there like rabbits in the headlights
0:35:47 > 0:35:50of a car because none of us knew what we were doing.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53All we knew was that we now owned a football club
0:35:53 > 0:35:56but what the next step after that was...
0:35:56 > 0:35:59It was frightening, it was frightening.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11The first season that we were in control,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13our crowds virtually doubled
0:36:13 > 0:36:16due to us turning to the public of Swansea and saying,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19get behind us if you want the football club to survive,
0:36:19 > 0:36:20we need you, and in fairness,
0:36:20 > 0:36:24they all came along and supported Swansea City Football Club.
0:36:27 > 0:36:33Unfortunately, it's probably the worst year in many, many, many years
0:36:33 > 0:36:35for footballing.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09When I played for Wales at schoolboy level under 15s,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12we played in a tournament called the Victory Shield
0:37:12 > 0:37:14and I got scouted from there.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17A Blackburn scout scouted me from one of the games
0:37:17 > 0:37:21and asked me to come up and have a trial game up in Blackburn.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26They'd just won the Premier League
0:37:26 > 0:37:29so they were the best team in the country.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31My mum and dad took me up for the trial game.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Parked up in the car park next to someone's Rolls-Royce.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38There were Jaguars and BMWs everywhere.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41The first person I saw as I went to walk into the training ground
0:37:41 > 0:37:44was Alan Shearer. I was like, wow, my God!
0:37:45 > 0:37:51I was in awe of him really. It was like, oh, what do I say?
0:37:56 > 0:37:59I must have obviously done all right because they offered me
0:37:59 > 0:38:02a three-year professional contract.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06The first-team opportunities were limited, so the club approach you
0:38:06 > 0:38:10and say, we need you to have a bit of first-team experience.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Do you fancy going off on loan to West Brom?
0:38:14 > 0:38:17After that, I spent a couple of months at Blackpool,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19I spent six months at Sheffield United,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22I spent a month at Bristol Rovers.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24They farmed me out left, right and centre really.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Ask any footballer, they want to play for local clubs
0:38:29 > 0:38:31and hometown clubs.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35They asked me to come down and I signed a one-year contract.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38I took an 80% pay cut but it was heart ruling head.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42When I was at Blackburn, you had everything done for you.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45You had your food cooked for you, your kit washed,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49all the facilities were there, the gym, the training ground.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Going to Swansea City, you had to take your kit home to wash
0:38:52 > 0:38:56after training every day and the changing rooms were falling apart.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59The showers were leaking. It was such a difference.
0:38:59 > 0:39:00You wouldn't believe.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Right, I need somebody with a little bit of brains.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18The form wasn't good. Things weren't going well.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20We were fighting for most of the season,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22really, in the relegation zone.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Just when you think things can't get any worse,
0:39:30 > 0:39:32we go down about 4-0 to Kidderminster at home.
0:39:40 > 0:39:46The fans were just hurling abuse on the pitch, the worst I've ever had.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50You ran in after the game and the security guard came in and said,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53do not leave the stadium for at least an hour because you've got
0:39:53 > 0:39:56half the North Bank standing outside the players' entrance,
0:39:56 > 0:39:58waiting to kill you!
0:39:58 > 0:40:01So we had to sit in the changing room for an hour or so
0:40:01 > 0:40:05and just wait for the crowds to go back to the pub.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12There was a real fear in 2002 and 2003
0:40:12 > 0:40:17that this was the end of Swansea in the Football League.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19They had built a team on not very much money
0:40:19 > 0:40:22at the start of the season, to say the least,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25and I think they paid the price for that.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Another change of manager was the result and Brian Flynn practically
0:40:29 > 0:40:32built a whole new team in the last six months of the season.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36I'm absolutely delighted that I've come to a club
0:40:36 > 0:40:39that I know can do better and we must do better.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42We must strive to get up the league.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Brian Flynn made some key signings.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Leon Britton being one from West Ham.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50I just knew that Swansea was in Wales.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52That's all I knew. I got a phone call.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Swansea and Brian Flynn want you to come down for a two-week trial,
0:40:56 > 0:40:58see how things go.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Swansea will have a look at me,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03I'll have a look at Swansea and we'll go from there.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06I was just so excited.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09I got in my car and I was like, right, this is an adventure.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11I was driving through a different country, if you like.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13I'd never been out of London,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and here you are, entering a new country over the bridge.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19He'd probably never been to Wales before, let alone Swansea,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23so a bit of a culture shock for him at first.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25You don't know what to make of Port Talbot at first.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30You look on the left-hand side and I'd never seen anything like it.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33If Port Talbot is like this, what's Swansea like?
0:41:34 > 0:41:36Lucky he wasn't playing in the Kidderminster game
0:41:36 > 0:41:39because he probably would have packed his bags and gone back home.
0:41:41 > 0:41:42I'd been told a lot about him,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45I hadn't seen Leon play but I guess the shock
0:41:45 > 0:41:46when anybody sees Leon,
0:41:46 > 0:41:48especially when you're going back all those years ago,
0:41:48 > 0:41:5310 years ago, I thought he was just a schoolboy who'd just got lost.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57We genuinely wondered how he would cope with
0:41:57 > 0:41:59the physicality of the league.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04But from literally the first training session, and certainly
0:42:04 > 0:42:08from the first game, you could see what a fantastic player he was.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12Roberto was exactly the same.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16Roberto came in and straightaway he made a huge impression,
0:42:16 > 0:42:18simply because of his sheer professionalism.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Brian Flynn told me you're coming down to the Welsh Monaco
0:42:22 > 0:42:24so just get ready to enjoy the marina.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Brian told me straightaway that he had clear ambition,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31that he wanted to avoid relegation.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37At that point we were six points adrift and everyone expected
0:42:37 > 0:42:42Swansea to get relegated to the amateur level which is a real shock.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48As soon as he came in, his professionalism
0:42:48 > 0:42:51and the way he approached the game rubbed off on all the players.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56We ended up playing for each other, rather than playing as individuals.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04We went probably 17, 18 weeks, hoping to get into the final game
0:43:04 > 0:43:08of the season with the possibility of staying up in the League.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20The picture is crystal clear for us.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22We still have to win on Saturday
0:43:22 > 0:43:24and it's one of the most important games in the history
0:43:24 > 0:43:28of Swansea City Football Club and that is without a shadow of a doubt.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41Waking up that Saturday morning, I remember the rain,
0:43:41 > 0:43:43just incessant rain.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46I didn't sleep the night before because people don't realise
0:43:46 > 0:43:49how many of us were going to lose our job.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55The whole week leading up to it was like a Cup Final.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58The club shop was never empty, people were buying tickets,
0:43:58 > 0:44:00queuing for tickets, buying merchandise.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03There was a real buzz about the place
0:44:03 > 0:44:06but then everybody realised how important it was.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11You could say it was a typical Swansea day.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14I used to walk over to the bench with my boots in my hand
0:44:14 > 0:44:18and wash bag in the other and you'd walk along and obviously
0:44:18 > 0:44:21bumping into fans, letting you know how much this game meant.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26You wake up early and you're worried
0:44:26 > 0:44:28and you eventually get through to one o'clock,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30or whatever time it is,
0:44:30 > 0:44:36and my eyes filled up and I realised at that moment that I could have put
0:44:36 > 0:44:40more money into the club and I had let my business...
0:44:41 > 0:44:42..outdo my heart.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52We wanted to sing the Welsh national anthem
0:44:52 > 0:44:55and we asked the Football League could we sing the anthem.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58They said, you can sing what you like but not with players lined up.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01Once that 3 o'clock comes, that game starts.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05So what we wanted to do was to sing the anthem as close
0:45:05 > 0:45:09to the players coming out, so the players would get the atmosphere.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16He got us in a huddle and he told us how much the football club
0:45:16 > 0:45:22meant to himself, to the fans, to the staff, to whole city.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Alan was very emotional before the warm-up.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I will always remember on the pitch and he told us
0:45:31 > 0:45:36what that football club meant for him and it touched every player.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45We talked about the club.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49We said about Swansea, there's only 25 years ago we had been
0:45:49 > 0:45:52in the old first division, top of the first division.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55There's a couple of other things, what it means
0:45:55 > 0:45:59to all the youngsters of the club, the future generation.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01I really almost blurted it out
0:46:01 > 0:46:03and it's one of those things that you almost felt
0:46:03 > 0:46:06as if you had to say it because if you hadn't said it,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10and we'd have gone down and you would never have forgiven yourself.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20You're out on the pitch and the game kicks off.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23We were just focused on trying to do your best for the team
0:46:23 > 0:46:25and getting the job done.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38I played right wing that day
0:46:38 > 0:46:40and I remember I ended up by the North bank
0:46:40 > 0:46:43and I just thought, just get the ball and face up the defenders.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47Just have a run and try and get in the box, see what can happen.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52I did a step over, jinxed, next thing you know, there was contact.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54I go down and we get a penalty.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56I think it was quite early in the game.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59I think in the first 10 or 15 minutes.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03COMMENTATOR: Such a tricky little player.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07The tackle was a bad one, a silly one by Melton, the midfield man.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10I was the penalty taker, so there was no doubt in my mind
0:47:10 > 0:47:13that I was going to step up and take the penalty.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16That's what you've got to be really. You've got to be confident
0:47:16 > 0:47:18and just no negative thoughts.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24COMMENTATOR: James Thomas with the penalty.
0:47:24 > 0:47:25Oh, it's in!
0:47:27 > 0:47:30Cool as a cucumber, he stuck the penalty away
0:47:30 > 0:47:33and you're thinking, this isn't a bad start.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35Just with a little flick.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40Jenkins in trouble. Elliott with a chance to equalise.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46The first goal was a mistake from one of our defence,
0:47:46 > 0:47:47it was Lee Jenkins.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53That ball defended by Swansea and it's gone across.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58Another mistake from our other right back, Michael Howard.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01Two mistakes from the fullbacks and you're 2-1 down
0:48:01 > 0:48:03and there's just silence.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09It was a full capacity crowd and everyone was really tense
0:48:09 > 0:48:13and I could see even the players feeling that emotion.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21Jenkins and Howard, at one time, they were both very, very emotional.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27If we lose this game, their mistakes are going to be
0:48:27 > 0:48:31the ones that will cost Swansea their place in the Football League.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36I remember one of them taking a throw-in.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39He's literally in tears.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42You can see he's literally choked up.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45A horrible feeling.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47It's difficult to try and keep focused
0:48:47 > 0:48:50because things start running through your mind.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54What if now, we're 2-1 down and things aren't going well.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59COMMENTATOR: Relegation to the Conference at the moment,
0:48:59 > 0:49:01staring Swansea City in the face.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07If there's anyone you want out on the pitch to try and gee you
0:49:07 > 0:49:12and take the positives out of a bad situation, Roberto Martinez.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16The whole game became everything
0:49:16 > 0:49:18that you can expect in a football game.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22You can have referee's errors, you can have players' errors,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25you can have outstanding pieces of play,
0:49:25 > 0:49:29you can have memorable moments, like a hat-trick.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39It's a penalty for hand ball!
0:49:40 > 0:49:42The ball hit him in the chest.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45I just shoved my hand up, "Penalty, Ref!"
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Somehow the ref gives it, but it was never a penalty.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50The North Bank were all screaming for a penalty.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53The ref decided to take the easy option and just give it
0:49:53 > 0:49:56because he probably didn't want to be lynched after the game.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00I think he bowed under the pressure and gave the penalty, unbelievably.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04That was the first moment in the game really
0:50:04 > 0:50:07that I really did feel pressure, stepping up for that one.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26COMMENTATOR: 'And suddenly, before half-time,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28'Swansea and their fans again have hope.'
0:50:30 > 0:50:32It wasn't a good penalty at all.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35More or less straight down the middle.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38Lucky for me, Alan Fettis, who was in goal for Hull,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40he was a colleague of mine at Blackburn,
0:50:40 > 0:50:42so I don't know whether he just
0:50:42 > 0:50:44dived out of the way on purpose to help me out.
0:50:44 > 0:50:45I don't know to this day, but, er,
0:50:45 > 0:50:48it went in, and I suppose any penalty that goes in
0:50:48 > 0:50:49is a good penalty.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57We came out for the second half then like a different team.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Once we got that goal, 3-2, Lenny Johnrose,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12I think we were always going to go on
0:51:12 > 0:51:14from that point and win the game.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25And then, once the fourth goal went in,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27I think it was game over.
0:51:27 > 0:51:28WHISTLE
0:51:28 > 0:51:31He's chipped it from 25, 30 yards,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34and you're thinking, "What you doing? Take it closer to the goal."
0:51:34 > 0:51:37And then you see it sail over the keeper's head to make it 4-2,
0:51:37 > 0:51:38and it's just like...
0:51:38 > 0:51:40that's when you start believing, I think,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43that this is the day we're going to win.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46ROBERTO MARTINEZ: I think it was his first hat-trick
0:51:46 > 0:51:47that he scored for Swansea City.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50And the third goal, with that chip, is as good a goal
0:51:50 > 0:51:52as you're going to remember from the Vetch Field.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55And he was probably the perfect headline -
0:51:55 > 0:51:57the home-grown player,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59that he went to a Premier League club of Blackburn
0:51:59 > 0:52:02and came back just to save his team
0:52:02 > 0:52:04and to score a hat-trick.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07The relief was there, I think, after that goal went in,
0:52:07 > 0:52:09because Hull had nothing to play for.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Hull were on their holidays, they didn't want to be there any more.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14They just wanted to get back to Hull ASAP
0:52:14 > 0:52:17and, you know, it was party time.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22COMMENTATOR: 'Tremendous drama, then, at the Vetch Field
0:52:22 > 0:52:25'as the hundreds and thousands of Swansea fans here today
0:52:25 > 0:52:29'invade the pitch to celebrate Swansea City's salvation.'
0:52:32 > 0:52:35'At last, manager Brian Flynn can smile.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38'His team have a Football League future next season.'
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Do you know what? If we'd lost that game,
0:52:50 > 0:52:52I wouldn't have met my wife.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56I wouldn't have had my twins now - my twin boys.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58And you don't realise that that game...
0:52:58 > 0:53:00changed and shaped your life so much
0:53:00 > 0:53:02because if you're honest, and Swansea dropped out
0:53:02 > 0:53:05of the Football League, as much as I wanted to
0:53:05 > 0:53:06come back to Swansea, I wanted to still try
0:53:06 > 0:53:08and stay in the Football League.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10You probably wouldn't have come back to Swansea.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12My life path would have been completely different.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14Who knows where it would've gone?
0:53:20 > 0:53:22We went from such a high at the Hull game, really,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24and, erm, just after that
0:53:24 > 0:53:27it just all went downhill for me, really.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31I had a couple of operations on my knee, but my knee
0:53:31 > 0:53:34just was never the same - it was just holding me back.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37I couldn't achieve what I knew I could do before.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40And then eventually called it a day, then.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50I think the fans, throughout the season, expected the worst.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54And they got into a point at that game, it could've been devastating.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58And...that sense of fear became sense of joy
0:53:58 > 0:54:00straight after. And I will always remember
0:54:00 > 0:54:03that feeling of the whole city celebrating.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12We were getting a little bit of criticism
0:54:12 > 0:54:14from...
0:54:14 > 0:54:17the general public that we didn't have a chairman.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19Um, people were saying, "It's being run by
0:54:19 > 0:54:22"a committee, and you know the way committees run things."
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Some members of the media actually called us
0:54:25 > 0:54:28"the Wheel Tappers and Shunters Committee".
0:54:28 > 0:54:30And we got a lot of flack for that
0:54:30 > 0:54:31because we weren't actually a board.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34We were a committee to start with, and that's
0:54:34 > 0:54:36because we were all hiding behind each other, really.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40No-one wanted to be out there to be seen as leading anything, so...
0:54:40 > 0:54:42We sat down, um, in the hotel -
0:54:42 > 0:54:44me, Leigh Dineen, David Morgan and Huw.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49It was agreed that, um, Huw would take up that role
0:54:49 > 0:54:51as being the meanest person.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54The meanest person we had out of the four of us, I think.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Martin Morgan was saying, "You should do it."
0:54:56 > 0:55:00"You need to do it." And that was...
0:55:00 > 0:55:01That was about it.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04And in the end, Huw said, "Look, you know, I'll do it..."
0:55:04 > 0:55:06As long as I came on as his vice chairman.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10And then there was Dave. The three of us probably
0:55:10 > 0:55:12were running the day-to-day.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14We went there with no plan.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17The plan was just to keep the doors open.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Paying the electric bill,
0:55:19 > 0:55:22trying to find the money to do that, and our water bill,
0:55:22 > 0:55:25to water the pitch week after week.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Between us, we had to find...
0:55:27 > 0:55:30a float for the games on Saturdays.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32We used to lend the money -
0:55:32 > 0:55:35put the money in for the Saturday float.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38You can have it back on a Monday, when the takings were in.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50It was mainly down to the players on the pitch,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53which is what it's about. So many clubs focus on things
0:55:53 > 0:55:55that are nothing to do with football.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59You know, we simplified it from day one and never lost sight of that.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02We try to keep it as simple as we can now.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06Um, costs under control, and just keep your focus on that
0:56:06 > 0:56:0911 players that go out on the pitch every week.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11And if you do that, you've got a chance.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13Thank you.
0:56:13 > 0:56:14Thank you.
0:56:17 > 0:56:18Thank you.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24You got it? Thanks, mate.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27INDISTINCT SPEECH
0:56:28 > 0:56:31All right, mate, you all right? Yeah.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Swansea City saved my life.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39I was quite ill when I was younger.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42I suffered with depression and anorexia.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46And I was pretty close to dying.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49One week, my uncle said to me,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51"Come on, let's go and watch Swansea City."
0:56:51 > 0:56:54So it was a Tuesday night, the first game I remember
0:56:54 > 0:56:58when he took me. And instantly I just fell in love with them.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02When I was in hospital, it was always, "This is my focus,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05"my aim is to die." But then, when I went to watch football,
0:57:05 > 0:57:08I felt, "No, this is my purpose."
0:57:08 > 0:57:11And it just...it all felt right.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17When I first saw Lee Trundle at the Vetch Field,
0:57:17 > 0:57:19he caught my eye instantly.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22When I go out, I like to enjoy myself out on the pitch.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24I think, you know, if you can make fans go away
0:57:24 > 0:57:27with a smile on their face, I think I'm doing me job.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31He's my first memory of watching the Swans.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35I'd never seen any skill like that at such a level before.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37Lee was a proper showboater.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40The one I'm most proud of was against, er,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43Huddersfield last season where the ball's come out of the air,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45I took it down on me chest,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47rolled it round me neck,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49and played someone in. I've never seen anyone
0:57:49 > 0:57:51do that on a pitch before, really.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54Trun's come in and he lifted the whole place.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04He was exactly what the club needed.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07We've told them a million times this week, "Do not let
0:58:07 > 0:58:09"this boy get onto his left foot and face goal.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12"Cos if it is, it's going to hit the back of that onion sack."
0:58:12 > 0:58:14We did let him get onto his left foot. And where did it end up?
0:58:14 > 0:58:16It hit the onion sack.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18If we'd had a bad game the week before, or whatever,
0:58:18 > 0:58:20you'd always want to go back,
0:58:20 > 0:58:22even if it was just to watch Lee Trundle.
0:58:30 > 0:58:32Lee Trundle just gave us something different.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35He not only could score goals, but he had the personality
0:58:35 > 0:58:38that was actually going to pull Swansea up a bit,
0:58:38 > 0:58:40and make people start looking at us.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43He brought glamour in. He's glitz...and he's Hollywood.
0:58:43 > 0:58:45He brought Hollywood here.
0:58:46 > 0:58:51He suddenly gave this football club an identity,
0:58:51 > 0:58:54in the fact that the amount of kids and children,
0:58:54 > 0:58:58families who are actually coming down to watch us, then.
0:58:58 > 0:59:00You looked at the children, they all had
0:59:00 > 0:59:02the Lee Trundle haircuts, the blond -
0:59:02 > 0:59:05you know, the blond, spiky hair, and everyone loved him.
0:59:05 > 0:59:06APPLAUSE AND CHANTING
0:59:09 > 0:59:10Come on!
0:59:15 > 0:59:17LEIGH: People really did see us now more as
0:59:17 > 0:59:19a community club, and that there was local people
0:59:19 > 0:59:22battling to try and help the club go forward.
0:59:33 > 0:59:35It's a great irony, in some ways,
0:59:35 > 0:59:38or there's a great connection
0:59:38 > 0:59:41that the Liberty Stadium, erm, of course, is built upon
0:59:41 > 0:59:44the site of the great slag heap
0:59:44 > 0:59:46of the former Morfa Copperworks.
0:59:47 > 0:59:50That site was the real epicentre
0:59:50 > 0:59:52of Swansea's industrialisation.
0:59:52 > 0:59:54And in a sense, the Swans almost literally
0:59:54 > 0:59:56have a copper-bottomed history.
0:59:59 > 1:00:02I was brought up at the top end of Plas Mawr, by the castle -
1:00:02 > 1:00:06so overlooking where the Liberty is now today. And Plas Mawr was,
1:00:06 > 1:00:10I suppose, a very, erm, working-class, down-to-earth area.
1:00:15 > 1:00:18That area was...you know,
1:00:18 > 1:00:20it was like the moon. It was like a volcano had been there.
1:00:20 > 1:00:23You know, it was the largest industrial wasteland in the world.
1:00:29 > 1:00:32You had the aftermath of the copper days,
1:00:32 > 1:00:34so it was a barren, black landscape, really.
1:00:54 > 1:00:57When I was a youngster, there was a huge project
1:00:57 > 1:00:58where all the local schools
1:00:58 > 1:01:00would go down and plant a tree for the future.
1:01:00 > 1:01:03They lasted until the Liberty Stadium - they're gone now.
1:01:05 > 1:01:08LEE TRUNDLE: It's going to be unbelievable when it's done.
1:01:08 > 1:01:11It's going to help players who want to sign here, as well.
1:01:11 > 1:01:13If you come round and see a ground like this,
1:01:13 > 1:01:15it's going to make you want to join the club.
1:01:15 > 1:01:19The facilities they're going to have here is going to be unbelievable.
1:01:19 > 1:01:22I know they've been round to other clubs who've built new grounds,
1:01:22 > 1:01:23asked what would they change, if they could,
1:01:23 > 1:01:25so they can get everything perfect.
1:01:25 > 1:01:28So I'm looking forward to seeing the finished article.
1:01:59 > 1:02:03# It's a heartache
1:02:03 > 1:02:05# Nothing but a heartache
1:02:07 > 1:02:10# Hits you when it's too late
1:02:10 > 1:02:14# Hits you when you're down
1:02:14 > 1:02:17# It's a fool's game... #
1:02:17 > 1:02:21'Could be the last touch of a football at the Vetch Field,
1:02:21 > 1:02:22'and it is, cue pitch invasion!'
1:02:22 > 1:02:26# Standing in the cold and rain
1:02:26 > 1:02:30# Feeling like a clown
1:02:33 > 1:02:36# It's a fool's game
1:02:36 > 1:02:39# Standing in the cold rain... #
1:02:39 > 1:02:43You can always get fans that they were a little bit disappointed
1:02:43 > 1:02:46of having to move, but everyone would accept
1:02:46 > 1:02:49that that move was needed and that was the reason
1:02:49 > 1:02:52why the football club was able to progress and fight.
1:02:52 > 1:02:57But I think the old Vetch feeling is there at the Liberty
1:02:57 > 1:03:00for whoever had experiences in the old stadium.
1:03:03 > 1:03:05After that season we played in League One,
1:03:05 > 1:03:06after the promotion.
1:03:06 > 1:03:10I finished my contract, and then is when my time
1:03:10 > 1:03:14as a footballer, or football player, finished at Swansea.
1:03:42 > 1:03:45My name is Gordon Jenkins.
1:03:45 > 1:03:48My name is Morfydd Jenkins but they call me Molly.
1:04:02 > 1:04:03He'd be at the back.
1:04:03 > 1:04:06He wouldn't be in with the boys just sitting or whatever,
1:04:06 > 1:04:07he'd be at the back.
1:04:07 > 1:04:10Always at the back. Always a "stand back" boy.
1:04:10 > 1:04:12Never pushed himself forward at all.
1:04:26 > 1:04:28That's all he thought of, was football, you see.
1:04:28 > 1:04:31I used to tell him about it. I said, "There'll be no job,
1:04:31 > 1:04:33"you'll have no job playing that all the time."
1:04:36 > 1:04:39My father was my... my inspiration.
1:04:39 > 1:04:43As a young boy, as most of any young kids, your dad is...
1:04:43 > 1:04:45is your hero and he was mine.
1:04:45 > 1:04:49Obviously, he was the manager of the local teams and since the age
1:04:49 > 1:04:53of two, I remember just going in the dressing room and being around.
1:04:53 > 1:04:57And I was part of the furniture in that dressing room.
1:04:57 > 1:04:59And then at home he would tell me
1:04:59 > 1:05:02why he would select certain teams and how he would
1:05:02 > 1:05:06accommodate a certain quality of a player to make it work.
1:05:06 > 1:05:09Something that probably it was a real shock
1:05:09 > 1:05:12when I came to the British game because the approach here's the opposite.
1:05:12 > 1:05:16It's highlighting weaknesses of players and trying to improve them.
1:05:51 > 1:05:53My way of understanding the game
1:05:53 > 1:05:55always was from a technical point of view.
1:05:55 > 1:06:00The influence of Barcelona where... the skill and the manner
1:06:00 > 1:06:05that you won games had a big say and was important.
1:06:16 > 1:06:18Well, it was an answer to prayer
1:06:18 > 1:06:21when we had him, you know, and... Oh, yeah, quite.
1:06:21 > 1:06:24The greatest day of our life. Loved the football and the ball.
1:06:24 > 1:06:29And Lonlas Boys Club, he loved going up there. Yeah, yeah.
1:06:29 > 1:06:33He was a good goalkeeper. That was his best position, I think.
1:06:33 > 1:06:34We had some good fun.
1:06:34 > 1:06:37Going around the country, all over the country with the schools.
1:06:37 > 1:06:40To Scotland he went and, er... Aye, aye, marvellous.
1:06:40 > 1:06:43I could more or less play any position at that age
1:06:43 > 1:06:45and I enjoyed doing it, really, and, um...
1:06:45 > 1:06:49because nobody else would play in goal, I ended up playing there.
1:06:49 > 1:06:51I had my own bread business.
1:06:51 > 1:06:55I had, er, I had six shops to do. And about 400 houses.
1:06:55 > 1:06:59Two o'clock, down tools, wherever I was at two o'clock,
1:06:59 > 1:07:02lock the van, come home, get the car,
1:07:02 > 1:07:05pick the boy up, bag of sandwiches and a flask of tea.
1:07:05 > 1:07:09Straight to the Swans. And a Double Decker. A Double Decker.
1:07:09 > 1:07:11It's always been Swansea City, Swansea City...
1:07:11 > 1:07:12Stopped coming to chapel.
1:07:12 > 1:07:15Didn't really know he was involved to that extent, Mol, did we?
1:07:15 > 1:07:18Oh, he was always down... Always down there, but when he used to...
1:07:18 > 1:07:21All the time. We didn't know what was going on behind the scenes.
1:07:21 > 1:07:24No. We didn't know people were asking who's going to be chairman.
1:07:24 > 1:07:27When I did eventually hear that he was chairman,
1:07:27 > 1:07:30"Huw - chairman? You must be joking!"
1:07:30 > 1:07:34He's never, never in a month of Sundays. Never.
1:07:34 > 1:07:38Never, never, never thought he'd be chairman. But he surprised me.
1:07:38 > 1:07:41I'm proud of him. Fair play.
1:07:41 > 1:07:44Huw Jenkins is a really ambitious man.
1:07:44 > 1:07:46He's got a knack for a good decision.
1:07:46 > 1:07:49And he always makes the right appointment.
1:07:49 > 1:07:51And that's something that he comes across,
1:07:51 > 1:07:55is very confident with all the issues that he has to deal with.
1:07:58 > 1:08:02I knew that, to develop my ideas and...
1:08:02 > 1:08:07and to use my ideas as a manager, Swansea City was a perfect club.
1:08:07 > 1:08:09And I had a phone call from Huw Jenkins,
1:08:09 > 1:08:13and he just asked me if I would be interested in the job.
1:08:13 > 1:08:16Obviously, that came as a shock.
1:08:24 > 1:08:28He was a young manager looking to make a name for himself.
1:08:28 > 1:08:31Roberto didn't play football at the highest level
1:08:31 > 1:08:34but wanted to get to the highest level as a manager
1:08:34 > 1:08:37and this was his chance. I think he had, you know, looking back,
1:08:37 > 1:08:39it was a great opportunity for both of us that,
1:08:39 > 1:08:42one, to take the club forward, and two, for himself,
1:08:42 > 1:08:44to take his career forward.
1:08:44 > 1:08:47You can reach the Premiership here and if you're taking this challenge,
1:08:47 > 1:08:49and it would be very easy for me to say,
1:08:49 > 1:08:51"Well, take one step at a time."
1:08:51 > 1:08:53But, no, I think it's the Premiership
1:08:53 > 1:08:56and I would be just a fool denying that.
1:08:56 > 1:09:00How long it's going to take us, I don't know. The quicker the better.
1:09:02 > 1:09:05I was so thrilled that he was going to be my manager
1:09:05 > 1:09:08because he was my friend, and he'd come in and he was, like,
1:09:08 > 1:09:10"Hi, Suzan," and I went "Hi, Rob."
1:09:10 > 1:09:12You know, I was thinking...nothing.
1:09:12 > 1:09:14I thought, "Oh, no, he's changed."
1:09:14 > 1:09:18So we were upstairs and he said, "Suzan, can you come in my office?"
1:09:18 > 1:09:20I was thinking, "What have I done?"
1:09:20 > 1:09:23So Rob called me in and I said to him, "Hi."
1:09:23 > 1:09:25"Come here!" he said, and he's cuddling.
1:09:25 > 1:09:28He said, "I gotta show I'm a manager now!
1:09:28 > 1:09:31"I can't show 'em this side," you know. And that was great.
1:09:31 > 1:09:34'Let's welcome now for the first time to the Liberty Stadium...'
1:09:34 > 1:09:36It was strange when Rob came back
1:09:36 > 1:09:39but you always knew he was management material.
1:09:39 > 1:09:42Rob came in at the age of, I think it was 33.
1:09:42 > 1:09:45He was such a leader on the pitch.
1:09:45 > 1:09:48You could just feel that that was the natural progression for him,
1:09:48 > 1:09:51was to be a leader off the pitch as a manager.
1:09:51 > 1:09:54Swansea City was a perfect club because I knew the players,
1:09:54 > 1:09:56I knew where they were going for lunch.
1:09:56 > 1:10:00I knew where they were going for partying and I knew what it could do.
1:10:00 > 1:10:04I knew the fans, they will give me the time and will have the patience.
1:10:09 > 1:10:11You've played with him, you've roomed with him
1:10:11 > 1:10:16and all of a sudden instead of calling him Rob, you're calling him boss and gaffer and...
1:10:16 > 1:10:18I remember we used to have a fine system in place.
1:10:18 > 1:10:21It was ?10 every time you called him Rob on the training pitch,
1:10:21 > 1:10:24so we soon, you know, there's a few tight ones in the group
1:10:24 > 1:10:27and it soon stopped anyone calling him Rob.
1:10:30 > 1:10:33I always felt that we had to change a little bit
1:10:33 > 1:10:35the culture and the way of thinking.
1:10:35 > 1:10:38That change of culture and that change of mentality
1:10:38 > 1:10:44and that change of approach quite quickly was shown on the pitch.
1:10:44 > 1:10:46Garry Monk to Gomez.
1:10:52 > 1:10:55The ball would go from the keeper out to a fullback.
1:10:55 > 1:10:57The fullback would make a run at the wing,
1:10:57 > 1:11:00would go to a winger and it would come in and there'd be
1:11:00 > 1:11:03a bit of play outside the box, and, bang, it would go in the net.
1:11:03 > 1:11:07You looked at the other players and they didn't know what was going on.
1:11:07 > 1:11:09They was looking round, "This isn't normal,
1:11:09 > 1:11:11"this isn't the 4-4-2 we play against every week."
1:11:11 > 1:11:14"We've got a player here but I'm going to be marking him. Who's marking him?"
1:11:14 > 1:11:17And it was... You could just see the confusion
1:11:17 > 1:11:21on the opposition players' faces and it was great to watch.
1:11:23 > 1:11:25It became very, very exciting.
1:11:25 > 1:11:29It's very rare that you go home from a game that you've lost
1:11:29 > 1:11:33and you say, "What a great game of football that was."
1:11:33 > 1:11:36We'd had an average of 120 passes per game
1:11:36 > 1:11:43and we ended up having very, very close of 650 passes per game.
1:11:45 > 1:11:47I think from day one Roberto surprised me.
1:11:47 > 1:11:50Everything I thought he may give us...
1:11:50 > 1:11:53he gave us far more than that.
1:11:53 > 1:11:56# Ole, ole, ole, ole... #
1:11:56 > 1:11:58Hey, everything we do, we do it together
1:11:58 > 1:12:01and then you see the characters and the boys making decisions
1:12:01 > 1:12:03and bonding together.
1:12:03 > 1:12:07And it's always a great experience to see how they react from each other.
1:12:07 > 1:12:09# Swansea
1:12:09 > 1:12:11# Oh, Swansea City... #
1:12:11 > 1:12:14Everyone wants to be friends and we all get on off the field
1:12:14 > 1:12:17and on the field and I think that's showing.
1:12:18 > 1:12:21Little things like he introduced, you know, breakfast together
1:12:21 > 1:12:24and, you know, dinner together, which I know it sounds small
1:12:24 > 1:12:26but it makes a big difference, you know?
1:12:26 > 1:12:29He makes it known that every day, we have to play the Spanish way.
1:12:29 > 1:12:31Swansea City, baby!
1:12:31 > 1:12:33I think everyone believed it in the end.
1:12:33 > 1:12:36The players, you know, the supporters, the staff,
1:12:36 > 1:12:40and we was all heading in one direction and that was going up.
1:12:57 > 1:12:59I never left this football club, you know.
1:12:59 > 1:13:01When I was a player I was forced out.
1:13:01 > 1:13:04I always wanted to stay and as a manager it's going to be the same,
1:13:04 > 1:13:06if all the, if everything...
1:13:06 > 1:13:09If Swansea City wants for me to stay, I will.
1:13:12 > 1:13:15He said he'd only leave the Liberty if he was pushed.
1:13:15 > 1:13:18Now it seems Wigan will benefit from the manager
1:13:18 > 1:13:20described as a football genius.
1:13:20 > 1:13:22Swansea won't be the same without him.
1:13:22 > 1:13:24Thank you.
1:13:25 > 1:13:29I felt hurt, I did, cos I really felt that he wouldn't leave us.
1:13:29 > 1:13:31I really did, and I felt "Oh, here we go."
1:13:31 > 1:13:34You know, "Why is he leaving us and he's going to Wigan?"
1:13:34 > 1:13:38If he'd have gone to Everton or if he'd have gone to Man City,
1:13:38 > 1:13:39I'd have said, "OK, fine."
1:13:39 > 1:13:42And it was like, "Well, they're the Premier League, Martin,"
1:13:42 > 1:13:44and I'm like, "Well, we're going to be Premier League.
1:13:44 > 1:13:46"Can't you see it?
1:13:46 > 1:13:48"Can't you see you're going to get us to the Premier League?
1:13:48 > 1:13:51"You've just got to wait. Just wait, please."
1:13:51 > 1:13:55It was, er, a very, very difficult time.
1:13:55 > 1:13:58The relationship with the fans is very close,
1:13:58 > 1:14:00we've got great chemistry.
1:14:00 > 1:14:03And at that time we got too good too quickly.
1:14:03 > 1:14:07And probably the next step had to be...
1:14:07 > 1:14:09with a real need of finances that we didn't have,
1:14:09 > 1:14:12to be able to replace players like Jordi Gomez or the situation
1:14:12 > 1:14:15with Jason Scotland, needed something that we didn't have.
1:14:15 > 1:14:19And I knew as a manager that I had to move to allow Swansea City
1:14:19 > 1:14:22to carry on to the momentum of getting to the Premiership
1:14:22 > 1:14:24in the next two years.
1:14:24 > 1:14:27I personally was never under any illusion that,
1:14:27 > 1:14:31you know, managers or players are here for life.
1:14:31 > 1:14:33It's their job.
1:14:33 > 1:14:37Once the door opens to find a little bit
1:14:37 > 1:14:39of a climb up the ladder to enhance their careers,
1:14:39 > 1:14:41they're going to do it.
1:14:41 > 1:14:44There's very few people are going to say no to that.
1:14:44 > 1:14:47And once you get, you know, you accept that, that's how things are,
1:14:47 > 1:14:51you quickly move on to other things and we look for the next man.
1:14:53 > 1:14:55Now, with the new season just three weeks away,
1:14:55 > 1:14:58Brendan Rodgers has been confirmed as the new Swansea Manager.
1:14:58 > 1:15:00Rodgers, who's been out of football
1:15:00 > 1:15:03since leaving Reading in December, is expected to take charge
1:15:03 > 1:15:06of their pre-season friendly at Yeovil tomorrow.
1:15:06 > 1:15:08Brendan who?
1:15:08 > 1:15:10I'd never heard of him but I trust the Board.
1:15:10 > 1:15:13Never heard of him, to be honest with you, particularly.
1:15:13 > 1:15:17And when I did hear about him, it was failures.
1:15:17 > 1:15:20But it's a case of "In Huw we trust."
1:15:22 > 1:15:24He had sent, um, like a dossier in to the club about
1:15:24 > 1:15:28his philosophies on football and applied for the job,
1:15:28 > 1:15:32and about two weeks after we had lost the manager
1:15:32 > 1:15:34then it appeared on my desk.
1:15:34 > 1:15:36It had been lost for a week.
1:15:36 > 1:15:38And his coaching manual which, you know,
1:15:38 > 1:15:40which if you want to call it a bible is a bible.
1:15:40 > 1:15:43It was pretty thick, pretty comprehensive.
1:15:43 > 1:15:46I read through his thoughts on football.
1:15:46 > 1:15:48I thought, "I've got to meet this guy."
1:15:48 > 1:15:50Huw and I had a good look through it.
1:15:50 > 1:15:52I think he understood more than I did.
1:15:52 > 1:15:55But, um, yeah, he did have his bible.
1:15:55 > 1:15:57I think we hit it off really straight away.
1:15:57 > 1:16:00I think his thoughts on football, where our team was at,
1:16:00 > 1:16:05what he wanted to do, what we wanted to do, were perfect for each other.
1:16:05 > 1:16:10And, um, I think on that day, within two hours or whatever,
1:16:10 > 1:16:15you know, I was... More or less my mind was made up that he needed
1:16:15 > 1:16:18to come here and start working as quick as he could.
1:16:18 > 1:16:21Well, who would have thought Brendan Rodgers would have been
1:16:21 > 1:16:24as successful as he's been in his first full season in charge.
1:16:24 > 1:16:27Is he the man to bring Premier League football to Wales?
1:17:53 > 1:17:54Oh, I went up with all my friends
1:17:54 > 1:17:57and I think everyone from Swansea was up there on the day.
1:17:57 > 1:17:59There were... Swans supporters everywhere and...
1:17:59 > 1:18:02it was just unbelievable.
1:18:02 > 1:18:05Just full of Jacks. Everywhere you looked there were Jacks.
1:18:05 > 1:18:09Um, the black and white everywhere, singing and chanting.
1:18:11 > 1:18:13We went to a pub, everyone had a few drinks.
1:18:13 > 1:18:16I couldn't even drink alcohol which, you know, everyone could tell
1:18:16 > 1:18:19there was something wrong if I can't drink alcohol!
1:18:19 > 1:18:21Swansea, oh, Swansea!
1:18:21 > 1:18:25As a reporter on the local paper, you have to try and stay neutral.
1:18:25 > 1:18:27When it's such a huge occasion, when the stakes are so high
1:18:27 > 1:18:30for the football club you cover, the city you live in,
1:18:30 > 1:18:33you can't help feeling the nerves just like everyone else.
1:18:34 > 1:18:37God, it's every... it's taking too long.
1:18:37 > 1:18:38It's ten minutes, it's 20 minutes.
1:18:38 > 1:18:41It's just taking too long, this is, to get to there.
1:18:41 > 1:18:44And then, bang, you get into the ground and then...it's OK.
1:18:44 > 1:18:45You're there then.
1:18:48 > 1:18:50What you watch on television was happening to us.
1:18:50 > 1:18:53Do you know what I mean, like, the boys walking out in their suits
1:18:53 > 1:18:54and having a look around.
1:18:54 > 1:18:57Everybody was looking at each other and saying, pinch ourselves,
1:18:57 > 1:18:59we can't believe we're actually here, you know?
1:18:59 > 1:19:02And I don't think we said much, but perhaps we all thought,
1:19:02 > 1:19:04"What the hell are we doing here?"
1:19:04 > 1:19:07When you're sitting in the directors' box at Wembley
1:19:07 > 1:19:11supporting your club, which ten years previously
1:19:11 > 1:19:14had nearly gone out of business,
1:19:14 > 1:19:18and everyone who's sitting around you was there ten years ago as well,
1:19:18 > 1:19:20it's a hell of a feeling.
1:19:20 > 1:19:24Just try to enjoy the day and try to put everything out of your head
1:19:24 > 1:19:26until 15 minutes before it starts.
1:19:27 > 1:19:29Number one, Adam Federici!
1:19:29 > 1:19:31The Reading guy went first
1:19:31 > 1:19:34and the job is to get the fans going.
1:19:34 > 1:19:37He had a clipboard and notes. I had nothing.
1:19:37 > 1:19:41And I was standing on the touchline beating myself up, saying,
1:19:41 > 1:19:44"Johns, this is why you've never got as far in life
1:19:44 > 1:19:46"cos you never prepare. Look at him!"
1:19:46 > 1:19:50And he got up and he just read out the whole team, the whole squad.
1:19:50 > 1:19:52Wasted opportunity.
1:19:52 > 1:19:55As we walked in, Kev Johns was coming out to do his speech
1:19:55 > 1:19:57and I was gone.
1:19:57 > 1:20:00I was in tears from the moment he started speaking to the end.
1:20:01 > 1:20:04And now, Swansea fans, your chance to welcome
1:20:04 > 1:20:07your announcer, Kevin Johns!
1:20:10 > 1:20:15Welcome to a little part of London
1:20:15 > 1:20:18which is now known as Swansea!
1:20:23 > 1:20:26It's written in folklore, isn't it? For ever.
1:20:26 > 1:20:31We need to get our friends over there from Reading in the mood...
1:20:31 > 1:20:34When they got Reading to sing their song
1:20:34 > 1:20:37and then we had Kev pumping us up,
1:20:37 > 1:20:42the supporters up, it was...magical.
1:20:42 > 1:20:43Concentrating on the warm-up,
1:20:43 > 1:20:45but you can still hear Kev getting the crowd going
1:20:45 > 1:20:47and it's only afterwards when you hear people
1:20:47 > 1:20:50talking about Kev Johns's speech, the Braveheart speech.
1:20:50 > 1:20:53..the home of Swansea City Football Club!
1:20:53 > 1:20:56He says, this is our game, you know,
1:20:56 > 1:20:59this part of London is Swansea. We're the home team.
1:20:59 > 1:21:03For today is our day!
1:21:03 > 1:21:06CHEERING
1:21:06 > 1:21:09This is our day!
1:21:11 > 1:21:15So, wherever you've travelled from today, if you're a Neath Jack,
1:21:15 > 1:21:18if you're a Port Talbot Jack,
1:21:18 > 1:21:20if you're a live-in-England Jack,
1:21:20 > 1:21:24today, you are part of the greatest family in football!
1:21:24 > 1:21:25Swansea City!
1:21:25 > 1:21:28WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:22:57 > 1:23:00When the match kicked off, I didn't know if I wanted to watch at first.
1:23:00 > 1:23:03From the first moment, it was just so nerve-racking
1:23:03 > 1:23:06but I was thinking, "Swans don't do this the easy way."
1:23:08 > 1:23:10I always have my stopwatch, it's always on my phone
1:23:10 > 1:23:11and they all laugh at me.
1:23:11 > 1:23:14So, when the minutes come up, I always put it on to the stopwatch
1:23:14 > 1:23:17and they all laugh at me, but then after about two minutes,
1:23:17 > 1:23:20they'll go, "How long left, Martin? How long left?"
1:23:20 > 1:23:21And we do this in every game.
1:23:21 > 1:23:23Tate seeking Dyer.
1:23:23 > 1:23:25Finding Dyer.
1:23:25 > 1:23:27Challenge with Khizanishvili.
1:23:28 > 1:23:29Fouled him!
1:23:29 > 1:23:31WHISTLE BLOWS
1:23:34 > 1:23:37Sinclair stepped up to take the penalty
1:23:37 > 1:23:40and I did think back to James Thomas
1:23:40 > 1:23:41and the Hull penalty. And I thought,
1:23:41 > 1:23:45"No, we're not going to score another penalty at a big moment."
1:23:47 > 1:23:48From 12 yards.
1:23:48 > 1:23:50Top scorer. WHISTLE BLOWS
1:23:50 > 1:23:51Scott Sinclair.
1:23:53 > 1:23:55CHEERING
1:23:55 > 1:23:58And then, as soon as he converted it, I didn't celebrate.
1:23:58 > 1:23:59Could not celebrate a goal
1:23:59 > 1:24:01and I thought, "No, I'm not jinxing anything.
1:24:01 > 1:24:03"I'm not celebrating a goal this early on.
1:24:03 > 1:24:06"There's a lot of time left in the game."
1:24:06 > 1:24:10Two minutes later and there was a nice assist from Dobbie
1:24:10 > 1:24:13and it was the other end of the pitch from where the Swans fans were
1:24:13 > 1:24:14so at first I was like,
1:24:14 > 1:24:17"No, it can't have gone in, it can't have gone in!"
1:24:17 > 1:24:19And now Swansea really can start to settle.
1:24:19 > 1:24:21It's Dobbie. A little touch.
1:24:21 > 1:24:22It's Sinclair! It's two!
1:24:22 > 1:24:25And then, when all the fans were celebrating, I thought,
1:24:25 > 1:24:27"No, I still can't celebrate this goal."
1:24:29 > 1:24:31Alan Curtis and myself again,
1:24:31 > 1:24:33and we were like we scored one and we were like,
1:24:33 > 1:24:36"Oh, right, you know..." And then maybe we scored two,
1:24:36 > 1:24:38and we were kind of looking at each other thinking, "Good enough."
1:24:40 > 1:24:42Dyer's cross.
1:24:42 > 1:24:43Khizanishvili. Dobbie!
1:24:47 > 1:24:50God, by the time the third goal in, we were practically snogging.
1:24:50 > 1:24:53That was so... You know, we just couldn't believe it.
1:24:54 > 1:24:56Obviously, on the 40th minute,
1:24:56 > 1:24:58Stephen Dobbie scored the third goal
1:24:58 > 1:25:01and I thought that was a really poignant moment
1:25:01 > 1:25:04because Besian Idrizaj who had died the year before
1:25:04 > 1:25:08played the number 40 and he was a great friend of Stephen Dobbie's
1:25:08 > 1:25:10and I just thought it was a really huge moment
1:25:10 > 1:25:13that all the fans had planned to clap on the 40th minute,
1:25:13 > 1:25:15but instead, we were celebrating a goal.
1:25:15 > 1:25:18So, it kind of felt like, that felt really special.
1:25:18 > 1:25:20WHISTLE BLOWS
1:25:26 > 1:25:30PA: 'Reading 0 - 3 Swansea City.'
1:25:30 > 1:25:33We'd rather be 3-0 up than 3-0 down.
1:25:33 > 1:25:35But we went in at half-time, 3-0,
1:25:35 > 1:25:38and it was like, "This is dreamland."
1:25:38 > 1:25:40You can't even say it was going to plan
1:25:40 > 1:25:42because you can't plan a football game,
1:25:42 > 1:25:45but you couldn't have asked for more, really.
1:25:45 > 1:25:48Everyone celebrating, thinking it's all over, 3-0 up.
1:25:48 > 1:25:51Not game over. Not if you know Swansea City.
1:25:51 > 1:25:53I thought we were doomed to collapse in the second half.
1:25:53 > 1:25:56I ran the full length of the press box,
1:25:56 > 1:25:59high-fived all the boys from BBC Radio Wales,
1:25:59 > 1:26:00went up to Lee Trundle
1:26:00 > 1:26:03and he grabbed me by the ears and kissed me.
1:26:03 > 1:26:05I swear to this day, he closed his eyes.
1:26:05 > 1:26:07That's another story between me and him.
1:26:07 > 1:26:09One of my colleagues who was there
1:26:09 > 1:26:11and usually does rugby, patted me on the back and he said,
1:26:11 > 1:26:13"Well done, you're a Premier League reporter."
1:26:13 > 1:26:15And I think I swore at him and screamed.
1:26:15 > 1:26:18I said, "What are you talking about? It's only half-time!
1:26:18 > 1:26:20"Don't say that sort of thing!"
1:26:20 > 1:26:23In the changing room, I remember all of us saying, "Look, it's 0-0.
1:26:23 > 1:26:25"It's not 3-0. We've got the mind-set of 0-0."
1:26:25 > 1:26:27We know they're going to come at us.
1:26:27 > 1:26:29They've got to have a go in the second half.
1:26:29 > 1:26:31And then we start the second half.
1:26:31 > 1:26:32And then...
1:26:34 > 1:26:35..Reading just bombard us.
1:26:35 > 1:26:37Corner after corner.
1:26:47 > 1:26:49They score one.
1:26:49 > 1:26:51You can just feel their crowd sucking them in, you know,
1:26:51 > 1:26:53and they're on the attack, on the attack.
1:26:53 > 1:26:55I thought, "It's OK, as long as we can...
1:26:55 > 1:26:58"as long as we can keep, you know, keep it cool at the back
1:26:58 > 1:27:01"and everything for the rest of the game, we'll be OK."
1:27:06 > 1:27:08Me jumping on the back post. If they'd stuck someone bigger,
1:27:08 > 1:27:11they might have been able to head it off the line, but that was my job.
1:27:13 > 1:27:15And then the second goal went in and I thought,
1:27:15 > 1:27:17"No, this is the comeback."
1:27:17 > 1:27:20It's not game over. I remember him saying that.
1:27:20 > 1:27:24"It's not... Boys, 3-0, it's not game over. Anything could happen."
1:27:24 > 1:27:26I could've throttled him when it got to 3-2.
1:27:26 > 1:27:28Well, this game is still delicately poised.
1:27:28 > 1:27:32It started to feel as if things were starting to unravel.
1:27:33 > 1:27:363-2, we was under... we was under massive pressure.
1:27:38 > 1:27:40I start shaking, really. I start rocking.
1:27:40 > 1:27:41I feel ill. I feel sick.
1:27:41 > 1:27:44I don't want to be there, I want to go. I want to be there.
1:27:44 > 1:27:46I feel horrendous. I'm going to be ill.
1:27:46 > 1:27:48I'm going to be sick. I'm going to be the first person
1:27:48 > 1:27:51to be sick off the front row of the Royal Box. I feel that bad.
1:27:53 > 1:27:54Oh, my God! Oh, my God...
1:27:54 > 1:27:55Oh!
1:27:55 > 1:27:57Agh!
1:27:59 > 1:28:02Well, Huw Jenkins, he can't believe it, can he?
1:28:02 > 1:28:05And Garry Monk has saved the day.
1:28:05 > 1:28:07They hit the post and I...
1:28:09 > 1:28:12I honestly didn't think I could take any more.
1:28:12 > 1:28:14I was really ready to go out and have a pint.
1:28:14 > 1:28:16I just could not take any more of that match.
1:28:17 > 1:28:20That block from Monks... If it went 3-3 at that point,
1:28:20 > 1:28:22I think there would only be one winner
1:28:22 > 1:28:25and that would have been Reading, cos there was...
1:28:25 > 1:28:27you know, we was under the cosh so much.
1:28:27 > 1:28:28Here comes Alan Tate.
1:28:28 > 1:28:30Borini.
1:28:30 > 1:28:31Challenge.
1:28:31 > 1:28:33Penalty for Swansea!
1:28:37 > 1:28:39You know, it was just such a coincidence that,
1:28:39 > 1:28:42you know, the Hull City game, 4-2. Someone scores a hat-trick.
1:28:45 > 1:28:47You know, we can't repeat that on another historic day.
1:28:47 > 1:28:50We can't have it the same way, you know,
1:28:50 > 1:28:51with a hat-trick, two penalties.
1:28:51 > 1:28:54I thought, "It can't work out that way."
1:28:54 > 1:28:56Is Scott going to miss his first penalty?
1:28:56 > 1:28:58Is he going to miss his first penalty?
1:28:58 > 1:29:01I look at Huw. I say, "If we score, we win.
1:29:01 > 1:29:03"If we miss, we lose."
1:29:05 > 1:29:08I think I might have been closing my eyes at the time.
1:29:08 > 1:29:09You almost can't...
1:29:09 > 1:29:12wait for it to be...
1:29:12 > 1:29:14not over, but safe.
1:29:14 > 1:29:16And it wasn't safe.
1:29:16 > 1:29:18People around me couldn't look.
1:29:18 > 1:29:22I know they couldn't look, but I've always got to watch a penalty.
1:29:43 > 1:29:454-2 and I'm thinking, "That's it."
1:29:45 > 1:29:47I was sitting next to Martin,
1:29:47 > 1:29:51and he wasn't thinking anything like that. Martin doesn't, I'm afraid.
1:29:51 > 1:29:54And he still kicks every ball and he's still jumping up and down.
1:29:54 > 1:29:5790 seconds of added time to go.
1:29:58 > 1:30:00And then we get to 90 seconds to go,
1:30:00 > 1:30:02and I looked to Leigh Dineen on my left...
1:30:02 > 1:30:06And he's pointing at...and pointing at the timer on the phone.
1:30:06 > 1:30:09Like this at the referee. "90 seconds, 90 seconds!"
1:30:09 > 1:30:12And I'm going, "It's 90 seconds, Martin, we're there."
1:30:12 > 1:30:14And he said, "We're not there", he said...
1:30:14 > 1:30:17It's a million pounds a second. He said, "You're not still worrying?"
1:30:17 > 1:30:19I said, "Swansea City, still worrying."
1:30:21 > 1:30:24They're still carving out corners, Reading. But it's goals they need.
1:30:24 > 1:30:26And Brendan Rodgers'll tell you this,
1:30:26 > 1:30:29I kind of looked and it was 20 seconds.
1:30:29 > 1:30:31Well, I knew they couldn't score then, could I?
1:30:31 > 1:30:34So, I went up like this in front of our fans and Brendan said,
1:30:34 > 1:30:37"I turned round, Sue, and you're dancing" and I knew we'd done it.
1:30:37 > 1:30:40And then the ball rolls out by Alan Tate's feet
1:30:40 > 1:30:44and I think, "Not even Swansea City leave two goals in from now on."
1:30:47 > 1:30:49WHISTLE BLOWS
1:30:49 > 1:30:51CHEERING
1:30:51 > 1:30:53And then I cried!
1:30:53 > 1:30:56Um, it was just the emotion just took over.
1:30:56 > 1:30:59Me and my family and friends were just hugging each other,
1:30:59 > 1:31:00going "We've done it!"
1:31:00 > 1:31:03The last couple of minutes were, you know, it's a realisation
1:31:03 > 1:31:05that, you know, we're going into the Premiership
1:31:05 > 1:31:07and it was a fantastic feeling.
1:31:09 > 1:31:10When the final whistle went through,
1:31:10 > 1:31:13I didn't think the Swansea guys had emotion,
1:31:13 > 1:31:16but they do actually, yeah. It's quite amazing. HE CHUCKLES
1:31:32 > 1:31:33A Wembley win
1:31:33 > 1:31:35and promotion to the Premier League
1:31:35 > 1:31:38and nearly ?100 million in the bank.
1:31:40 > 1:31:42It's one game, you know, you can't understand it.
1:31:42 > 1:31:44What was I? 28, I think, at the time.
1:31:44 > 1:31:46Started playing football when you're eight years old.
1:31:46 > 1:31:48Here you are, on that day against Reading, and you win 4-2
1:31:48 > 1:31:51and you realise, next season, that we'll be playing
1:31:51 > 1:31:53in the Premier League and all that hard work
1:31:53 > 1:31:54and that dream is going to come true.
1:31:54 > 1:31:56It was a moment that you'll never forget.
1:31:58 > 1:32:00I said, "We're going to go on the pitch."
1:32:00 > 1:32:01Huw was like, "Oh, no, no!"
1:32:01 > 1:32:03I said, "I'm going on the pitch. I don't know about you."
1:32:03 > 1:32:05We get on the pitch and all the players are there,
1:32:05 > 1:32:07and I get on quite well with the players
1:32:07 > 1:32:10and it's like, "They're going to do the race to the thing."
1:32:10 > 1:32:12I'm thinking, "Right, I got my shoes on
1:32:12 > 1:32:13"I'm going to do the race, as well."
1:32:13 > 1:32:17So, me and Darren Pratley, arm-in-arm, and we do the slide.
1:32:17 > 1:32:22All of the Board members were on the holy grass of Wembley, you know.
1:32:22 > 1:32:23With the cup in our hands.
1:32:23 > 1:32:27We all looked like we're all children in a sweet shop.
1:32:27 > 1:32:30I don't even know how I celebrated.
1:32:30 > 1:32:32I think I just jumped up and down,
1:32:32 > 1:32:34and then Brendan Rodgers came across in front of us
1:32:34 > 1:32:37just screaming and it was absolutely incredible.
1:32:41 > 1:32:44We just all ran out onto the pitch. Very strange feeling.
1:32:44 > 1:32:47Very strange to be standing on the pitch thinking,
1:32:47 > 1:32:50"Blimey, not many people get a chance to do this."
1:32:50 > 1:32:53I was wearing my black sunglasses.
1:32:53 > 1:32:55We were dancing around celebrating
1:32:55 > 1:32:58and hard to fathom what we actually accomplished.
1:32:58 > 1:33:00I think sometimes we still don't realise it.
1:33:03 > 1:33:07Standing in front of 41,000 Swansea City fans
1:33:07 > 1:33:09on the pitch at Wembley.
1:33:09 > 1:33:12It's probably one of the greatest feelings you'll ever have.
1:33:21 > 1:33:24I went straight to the corner where the fans were,
1:33:24 > 1:33:27and where my mother was, and where my family was.
1:33:27 > 1:33:28And that was such a proud feeling,
1:33:28 > 1:33:32that I was running on Wembley with this cup in my hands.
1:33:32 > 1:33:33It was... It was unbelievable.
1:33:33 > 1:33:39# Why, why, why, Delilah... #
1:33:39 > 1:33:41Probably won't be travelling home tonight.
1:33:41 > 1:33:44We'll have to pinch ourselves to just get back to reality.
1:33:44 > 1:33:48But, yes, it's been a remarkable ten years for us in this football club.
1:33:48 > 1:33:51And just to have that opportunity, next season,
1:33:51 > 1:33:54to continue building and growing and to have that chance
1:33:54 > 1:33:57to play against the best teams in the country. It's fantastic.
1:33:57 > 1:33:59# We are family
1:33:59 > 1:34:03# We are family and we are family
1:34:03 > 1:34:05# We are family and we are family... #
1:34:09 > 1:34:13Everything prepared every fan for that moment.
1:34:13 > 1:34:18We all played our part in that day, which was our day.
1:34:18 > 1:34:21It was our day and I think it was destined
1:34:21 > 1:34:24that we were going to win that day.
1:34:24 > 1:34:27It's a night that's not real. It can't be real.
1:34:27 > 1:34:29You couldn't write it, you know?
1:34:29 > 1:34:31We were all still up four, half-past four
1:34:31 > 1:34:33and Brian Katzen says to me, "I'm going to bed."
1:34:33 > 1:34:35I said, "Fine. I'm not going to bed.
1:34:35 > 1:34:38"I'm going to see the sun come up. This cannot be a dream."
1:34:38 > 1:34:39At the end of the night,
1:34:39 > 1:34:41we were walking along the Swansea beach front
1:34:41 > 1:34:45like in Shawshank Redemption, you know, down in Zihuatanejo in Mexico.
1:34:45 > 1:34:47I think Huw didn't realise what had happened.
1:34:47 > 1:34:50So we walked down to the beach and watched the sun go up.
1:34:50 > 1:34:52Me, Brian, Leigh and Brian's brother.
1:34:52 > 1:34:54And then you felt this could be real.
1:34:54 > 1:34:56And you got up in the morning and went,
1:34:56 > 1:34:58"Right, when are them fixtures coming out?"
1:35:38 > 1:35:40You look lovely, Mum. Go on, do a twirl.
1:35:42 > 1:35:44Ooh, cake! Mm. Oh, it looks great.
1:35:44 > 1:35:46Yeah, I made it myself.
1:35:47 > 1:35:49You got fat! Thanks, Maureen.
1:35:49 > 1:35:53It's Michael! He's just popping in...on Valentine's Day!
1:35:53 > 1:35:57From the BAFTA Award-winning team behind Him Her.
1:35:57 > 1:36:00I love coming round here. Ah, it's very nice to have you.
1:36:00 > 1:36:01Mm!
1:36:02 > 1:36:03Thanks.