Championship New Boys: Swansea City

Swansea City are the first of our League One offerings, as Vital QPR continues its look at the Championship new boys.

Facts and Figures

Founded: 1912 as Swansea Town

Nickname: The Swans/ The Jacks

Ground: The Liberty Stadium - 20,532

Manager: Roberto Martinez


Selected Honours

Football League One - Champions: 2008
Football League Third Division (South) - Champions: 1925, 1949
Football League Division Three - Champions: 2000

Football League Trophy - Winners: 1994, 2006

Football Association Cup - Semi Finalists: 1926, 1964

Welsh Football League - Winners: 1913, 1925, 1926, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1951, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1976.

Records

All time attendance record: 32,786 v Arsenal, at Vetch Field (FA Cup 5th Round, 1968)

Record league victory: 8-0 v Hartlepool (Fourth Division, 1978)

Record league defeat 1-8 v Fulham (Second Division, 1938)

Record Buy: Ashley Williams - £400,000 from Stockport County

Record Sale: Lee Trundle - £1,000,000 to Bristol City


Recent History

Flash back to 2004, with Swansea City playing second fiddle to rivals Cardiff City in all departments, an ageing stadium, a team bereft of confidence, and a club languishing in the lower reaches the bottom tier of English football. How times have changed, both teams now on a level playing field with Swansea in a state of the art modern arena, looking to cement their status, only one notch below the Premier League.

Seeing great potential in the club former Rangers Assistant Manager Kenny Jackett took the helm, and despite initial scepticism from members of the Jack Army, Jackett won them around by securing promotion on the final day against Bury.

Jackett has great success initially with the Swans in 2005/06, taking them into the promotion places as Christmas came round, but as the lights came down, so too did Swansea`s season, narrowly scraping 6th place courtesy of a thumping 4-0 win over Chesterfield. They coasted past Brentford, but Barnsley proved too much, as a goal from Daniel Nardiello equalised the game just after the hour mark, with the Swans eventually losing 4-3 on penalties.

Jackett wasn`t to be denied his silver-wear however, guiding the Swans to the FAW Premier Cup, defeating Wrexham in the final, and also lifting the football league trophy, making it a fairly productive campaign for the Swans.

A mediocre beginning to the 2006/07 season, with expectations of promotion hanging in the air, cost Jackett his job, which he put down to lack of support from all parties concerned at Swansea. Roberto Martinez relieved caretaker Kevin Nugent, and nearly salvaged a play-off place for the Swans, only for Blackpool to secure a result of their own the final day, thumping them 6-3 to secure promotion.

The following season there was indeed promotion delight for Martinez and Swansea, with the Spaniard guiding the Swans to their record points total, 92, in his first full season in management. Quite when they secured promotion was hard to determine, with Swansea adamant they tied it up away to Gillingham. The football league had different ideas, as promotion and the title hinged on a Leeds United appeal against a 15 point deduction.

As the league drew to a close, it mattered not, as Swansea secured promotion at a canter, and Leeds United went on to lose out to Doncaster Rovers in the play-off final.

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