Another week goes by and the rollercoaster rattles on. Only at the end of the season will we be able to truly judge whether the draw against Wrexham was a point gained or two lost. Predictions as to our end of season points tally and position have swung wildly as the weeks have gone by. For some weeks speculation has inevitably turned on whether the Swansea City side of 2002-3 would go down as the worst in the club's history. Inevitably, there will be argument as to the basis upon which this particular poisoned chalice is to be awarded. However, on the basis of League position there is only one contender. Harry Gregg's 1974-75 side finished in 22nd position in the former fourth division, resulting in the club having to apply for re-election. Whilst comparing sides of different eras is notoriously difficult it may be worth recalling events of that truly depressing time before jumping to hasty conclusions.

The make up of the football league that season might make younger readers raise an eyebrow. Man Utd and Aston Villa competed in a second division which saw Cardiff City relegated. Carlisle competed in the top division, along with the likes of Burnley. Derby were to finish as champions whilst Chelsea were relegated. Halifax, Hereford and Aldershot lined up in the third division alongside Charlton. Newport, Southport and Workington were all established members of the fourth division.

Time Honoured Ghosts

If the appearance of the professional leagues were very different, so was Swansea itself. This Swansea was a place which retained a sense of relative affluence in the final decade of widespread British heavy industry. Unemployment was at a relative low as jobs in coal and steel seemed to be for life. Margaret Thatcher was still a minor irritant whose influence was limited to stealing milk from school children. Local politics in the Guildhall saw plots hatched which were to result in a succession of local councillors spending time in another government building along the Oystermouth Road.

Of more importance to many, a pre-match pint of fizzy keg beer such as Watney's Red Barrel would cost around 25p. Virgin Records in Union Street was a magnet to the would be cool, whilst major bands such as Roxy Music, Queen and Deep Purple all played in the city. Punk had yet to let loose it's first gob and the Patti Pavilion played regular Friday night host to a series of national club/college circuit bands such as the Groundhogs. Local bands Man and Badfinger represented the area on the rock/pop scene. The Welsh rugby side seemed to spectacularly run rings around everybody bar the All Blacks, whilst at cricket Glamorgan played half their fixtures at St Helens which was then considered their senior venue. More chillingly, the Jersey Marine killer stalked women and parents issued dire warnings as to the likely outcome of hitch-hiking.

The Vetch itself looked rather different. If having the entire North Bank open was not necessarily an advantage in those days of dire crowds, the presence of the old Double Decker and it's rusting green paint did give the western end of the ground a more closed-in feel, and provided an useful shield from winter sunshine. At the other end, the old East Bank with its rising hump shape and railway sleeper terrace was a fine place to sunbathe if the weather was warm, but not for the faint hearted in a West Wales winter squall.

Master of Reality

Into this stack-heeled, flare-trousered Swansea strode Harry Gregg, survivor and hero of the Munich air crash. Gregg took over from Roy Bentley in November 1972, but had been unable to stave off relegation at the end of that season. Over the close season 1973 he sought to revitalise the team, replacing stalwarts such as Brian Evans and Dai Gwyther with a series of new signings. Some, such as Danny Bartley, Dave Bruton and Pat Lally proved inspired. Sadly Gregg's period in charge also saw the arrival of such memorable disasters as Micky Evans and Paul Bevan, two players whose ferocity was matched by an apparent lack of other footballing attributes such as skill and pace.

Gregg, as a former international goalkeeper, clearly didn't fancy the crowd favourite Tony Millington. Hugely popular with fans for his spectacular style, Milly was a great showman. Whilst hindsight makes one wonder whether the extravagant dives were always necessary, there was no doubting the entertainment value whenever he was on the pitch. Celebrating goals with handstands, kneeling at his post afraid to watch whenever the Swans were awarded a penalty, and the swopping of sweets with fans behind the goal whilst the Swans attacked were all part of an average Millington Saturday afternoon. However, such antics sat unhappily with Gregg and it soon became evident that Milly was on borrowed time at the club as Peta Balac, Jimmy Rimmer and Dai Davies arrived in succession on loan.

Rimmer in particular was a revelation during his initial loan at the club between October 1973 and February 1974. Having arrived as the out of form understudy to Alex Stepney at Old Trafford, Rimmer blossomed under Gregg's tutelage and commenced an upward swing in his career which was to culminate in a European Cup Winner's medal with Villa. Had it not been for the presence of Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence, Jim would surely have added to his single England cap. Many felt that if he had been a member of the 1981-2 Swans side that the football league championship could have been secured. Few who saw his performance in the Swans 2-1 win over Villa in December 1981, a game which became almost a personal duel between Alan Curtis and Rimmer, will doubt that. Both commanding and capable of the spectacular, Rimmer at his peak was genuine class and was to me the finest keeper I have seen in the Swans goal. Slightly past his best by the time he returned to the Vetch full time in 1983, his save in the final minute of the last match of the 1984-5 season against Bristol City to stave off relegation will still be remembered by many with awe.

Sweet Baby James

Sadly, Rimmer aside, the 1973-4 season was chiefly memorable only for it's mediocrity, although the development of Robbie James and Alan Curtis gave some hope for the future. Sixteen year old Robbie cracked in a spectacular 20 yarder for his first league goal and inspire an exciting comeback to win 4-2 against Rotherham on New Years Day. Curt seemed a little less confident and took longer to find his feet, but managed to score some memorable goals. Heretical as it may seem now, certain sections of the crowd got on the back of the young winger. However, the team lacked an experienced natural goalscorer and the fact that the season started with defenders Wyndham Evans and Tony Screen in the striking roles spoke volumes.

Wyndham had operated up front with a degree of success the previous season, normally changing roles with Herbie Williams after 15 minutes or so of a match. If Herbie was truly adaptable enough to take part in this West Walian version of “total football” then Wyndham's credentials up front were somewhat more doubtful. One of his more memorable contributions came in a game with Port Vale where a rash challenge and exchange of punches with their goalkeeper saw both players sent off. Needless to say, we still couldn't score.

Indeed, most of the notable events that season took place off the field. Pre-dating Ninth Floors meddling with the club colours by some 25 years, the season saw the Swans sporting a new kit. In fact, it was questionable whether we could any longer be called the “Swans”, as the traditional motif had been replaced by a dragon, and the black trim on the kit became red. Presumably, this was to mirror Gregg's more aggressive style of play, and to try to inspire nationalistic fervour. Suffice to say it only succeeded in confusing the fans, and was gone by 1976. Cardiff City take note.

Dark Side of the Moon

A further innovation was Sunday afternoon football. Quaint and puritanical as it may seem in these days of Sky TV influenced fixture schedules, professional matches on a Sunday in the 1970s were virtually unknown. The catalyst for this move was a series of industrial disputes which caused black outs and a prohibition on use of floodlights. With the Welsh rugby team in it's hey day the Swans had started the practice of avoiding clashing with televised internationals by playing on a Friday evening. With this no longer possible a number of games were re-arranged for the Sunday. Despite (or possibly because of) mutterings by the church and chapel lobbies initial attendances were encouraging, although the experiment was only rarely repeated following the settlement of the labour disputes.

Indeed, one of the more memorable series of events of the season had it's origins in the power shortage. In an attempt to beat the floodlight ban a generator was hired for a Friday evening clash with Peterborough. This imaginative solution had worked at other clubs and initially worked well at the Vetch. However, some twenty minutes or so into the match the rather archaic looking generator started to belch thick black smoke. With one side of the pitch looking like a scene from “Football Italia” the referee had little alternative but to lead the players off, and the game was abandoned amid clouds of smoke and dimmed floodlights. The match was re-scheduled for the following morning, a decision which Dai Davies was to rue. On a bright late winter morning the on-loan Everton keeper came out to field a routine through ball, but slipped on the frosty pitch and watched the ball bounce slowly and agonisingly over him into the net. Twenty-four hours in which Swans fans were given a foretaste of 1981-2 when floodlight failures and bizarre goals conceded by the man from Ammanford were to again be talking points.

Fragile and Close to the Edge

If a rather unfortunate piece of goalkeeping was one of the more memorable incidents of the 1973-4 season, we hadn't seen anything yet. If Rimmer and Davies went on to better things as a result of Gregg's coaching, he bit off more than he could chew when he signed Derek Bellotti from Southend over the summer of 1974. If Harry thought that he could repeat his coaching feats then he was to be proven sadly deluded with the man brought in as long term replacement for the now retired Millington. If Rimmer was the best I have seen in the Swans goal, Bellotti was consistently the worst. In his first home match the crowd looked on in horrified disbelief as a Barnsley player, seeing the Swans keeper daydreaming on his penalty spot, beat him from what must have been forty yards. Sadly, this was about the only similarity which Bellotti shared with David Seaman..

Other notable players that season included Mickey Evans, a full back who was rarely out of position, mainly because he never actually seemed to move anywhere. Vaguely resembling some sort of violent mannequin modelling a football kit, his performances live on in the memory far more indelibly than many of the supposed horror movies of the era. Rosemary's baby had some way to go before it matched the one Mrs Evans had brought into the world. Equally memorable for all the wrong reasons was Paul Bevan. There was a coaching theory which was popular around that time that half the game was played without the ball. Bevan obviously took this conscientiously to heart as my recollection of him was that he played the entire game without the ball. There was one corking goal against Workington, but my abiding memory of Mr Bevan is of what euphemistically might be described as “off the ball running”, often involving violent collisions with anybody who happened to be in the vicinity.

In Search of Space

If we were often brutal at the back, then we attempted to be suave and arty up front. Sadly, this applied more to hairstyles than the play. Suave was supplied by Dave Roberts, who was described in away programme pen pictures as a “skilfull winger”. We should have realised something was amiss when every other team had a winger who was “fast and skilfull”. Roberts had something in common with David Beckham in that he was frequently criticised for not going past players. Sadly he had nothing of Husband Spice's crossing ability. This may have been as well bearing in mind that the target for crosses was one Peter Abbot, a striker who resembled a taller and thinner version of Peter Wyngarde in the then popular tv series “Jason King”. Both Roberts and Abbot were rumoured to have been offered jobs in “My Father's Moustache” following being released at the end of the season.

If this attacking duo had perennial problems in finding space in the opposition penalty area, there were no such problems for hardy fans in finding space on the terraces. Possibly attempting to create some publicity and boost the crowd, but more probably because the club's wage budget by this stage could only run to the average schoolboy's pocket money, Gregg gave a debut to 15 year old Nigel Dalling. Sadly, Nigel was unable to emulate Robbie James, the previous holder of the record of being youngest player to appear for the Swans.

Cunning Stunts

With results awful and gates meagre, financial troubles plagued the club all season. Even this season's worst attendance would have been considered a major upturn at that time. Eventually, with the club on the brink of a financial precipice, Chairman Malcolm Struel sold the Vetch to the Council. The apparent knock down price was questioned by some at the time, but with hindsight it might be argued that this was one of the best things to happen to the club in the long term. If the club had continued to own the ground it may well have been a target for the various unscrupulous property developers who preyed on struggling football teams in years to come. The thought of what might have happened if the freehold of the Vetch had passed to the likes of Ninth Floor, Lewis or Petty doesn't bear thinking about.

Most of the terrible traumas on the field that season have been blocked from my memory by some natural self-defence mechanism. On the positive side there was a Geoff Thomas hat-trick in a gale force wind against Doncaster, but inevitably they also scored three. There was a three times taken penalty against Rochdale on a Friday night which was eventually put away by Dave Bruton after Geoff Thomas's first two attempts had been saved by a goalkeeper who was adjudged to have moved. They just don't make refs like that any more. This was another 3-3 draw, one of Rochdale's scorers that night being Alan Taylor who was sold to West Ham a few weeks later and went on to score twice for them in that season's FA Cup final. Otherwise, the abiding memories are of a series of grim home defeats, the worst being the Christmas gift of four goals to Shrewsbury at the Vetch on Boxing Day. A further low point was seeing the reliable and normally affable Herbie Williams sent off after exchanging punches with a Lincoln player. Herbie decided enough was enough, leaving his beloved club for Australia. Many of us wished we could have got on board the plane with him.

Split

It was quite apparent by Christmas that the team as it stood were simply not good enough, and that re-election was staring us in the face. Sadly, the financial woes meant that there was little chance of an infusion of new blood. Many suspected that if the club had been in a stronger financial position we would have paid off Harry Gregg before Christmas. As it was, he lasted until the New Year when he received a better offer from Crewe. In the end, few were sorry to see him leave.

Harry Griffiths took over, possibly as the only option the club could afford at that stage. In the longer term, the appointment turned out to be inspired, as over the next two or three seasons Harry shrewdly rebuilt the team on a limited budget. Two seasons later we were to finish top goalscorers of the entire football league playing arguably some of the most exciting football ever seen at the Vetch. A year after that saw the start of the Toshack era. That was for the future. In the time left that season, and with the resources available, Harry was unable to turn matters round. A depressing 2-0 home defeat to Exeter in the penultimate game sealed our fate. Happily, Malcolm Struel lobbied hard and effectively, and sufficient votes were obtained to ensure survival as a professional club.

For Your Pleasure?

Supporting the Swans that season seemed a character building exercise to rank alongside anything that the likes of “Survivor” might throw up. Makers of “reality” tv series may want to consider giving six or so disparate individuals season tickets to a struggling football club, and force them to attend every game – such a theatre of cruelty could make compelling viewing.

Why did we do it? Why did anybody bother turning up? Was it just to use up the vouchers on the season ticket? Was there really nothing better to do in South West Wales on a Saturday afternoon in the early 1970s? Even being a trainspotter or a maker of match-stick models couldn't have been less trendy or have exposed you to less ridicule than being a Swans supporter that season. Were we just mad and sad? Or did we genuinely see signs of hope in the emergence of Curtis and James? Those of us that stuck the course that season did at least have the smug pleasure of pointing out that we had been there at the start of what turned out to be the club's most successful period. Not that any of us could have possibly forseen that at the time, or indeed that such claims attracted much jealousy.

Currently, most of us are hoping deep down that another dark spell has reached it's nadir and that we can survive and build a successful team from here. Certainly performances in recent weeks of Brian Flynn's revamped team have suggested that they are some way from deserving the tag of “worst ever”. However, on a sobering note, this season's side are some way from being out of the woods in terms of statistics.Even some optimistic predictions are suggesting we will survive but finish this season with less than 50 points. Records show that the Swans did win 15 matches in 1974-5, including 6 away. Had three points for a win been in operation they would have earned 51 points and finished in 19th place. Just at the moment, most of us would settle for that.

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