When fate plays a hand, the rest sometimes is just history – the story of a legend

Angel Rangel is a Swansea legend.  He is one of those players that the word was invented for and, having had the pleasure of meeting him on multiple occasions, he is one of the nicest most unassuming players that you could meet.  A humble man from humble surroundings who always kept his feet firmly on the ground.

There are many tipping Rangel for a return to Swansea at some stage in a coaching capacity and it certainly isn’t a concept that should be dismissed out of hand providing he is the right man for the job which he quite probably could be.

But it could have been so different for the man who paid two thirds of his own transfer fee and only ended up at Swansea thanks to a delayed flight and a good performance in a game where Roberto Martinez was watching a different player.

A quick word from the then Swans boss saw him swap thirty five degree heat for the wind and rain that we all know Swansea so well for and within five years he was a Premier League player, a League cup winner and captaining the Swans in Valencia, a club not too far from one of his homes in his younger years.

This starts to feel a little like a Roy of the Rovers type story as you talk about a player plucked from nowhere for a price less than almost every Premier League player will earn in a week and turned into one of the most reliable players that you could ever wish to play for your team.

Over 370 games appearances for the Swans in an eleven year period it gets you slightly annoyed as to the nature of his departure that he believes would have been handled better under the stewardship of Huw Jenkins but he has moved on and I guess so could we remembering the good times of which Angel gave us plenty.

Promotions from League One and the Championship, a League Cup triumph in 2013 and a European campaign to follow and some of the best football we have ever played under Roberto, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup.   Rangel himself acknowledges it started to go wrong with the appointment of his former captain Garry Monk who changed the philosophy and the rest is just a history that eventually saw us drop from the Premier League after a seven year stay!

It was an interesting read to see what a Swansea legend had to say when he was speaking to the excellent QPR site LoftForWords and lifting the lid on his time at Swansea and the subsequent spell at QPR which followed.

He talked about Roberto’s expansive football but described Brendan Rodgers as the “perfect fit” as he talked about our promotion winning season ten years ago – over to Rangel himself – “He found a very strong core of players at Swansea who knew who to play Roberto’s way and Paolo’s way, but he definitely brought his own style and recruitment as well – he bought players that fitted the ‘Swansea way’, Scott Sinclair scored 20 goals that season. He really develops players, he makes good players top players, and you’ve seen that at Leicester, Liverpool, everywhere he’s been. He mastered what was already there, we’d played both sides of the game and he created his own style with a core of players craving to learn and improve their game. He was the perfect fit.”

As the Swans prepare for another stab at the play offs starting on Monday evening at Barnsley it is somewhat fitting that we can look back with misty eyes to the memories of ten years ago and the superb few years that followed – years that may never be repeated again.

“Winning the League Cup, a major trophy, the only one we had won, was a big, big deal. For me, playing in Europe, four or five years prior when I signed for Swansea that was unthinkable. I remember we went to Valencia in the Europa League, September time, I’d lived about an hour from Valencia when I was younger, and we beat them 3-0 at the Mestalla, I was captain for the first time and I had my whole family and friends at the stadium, it was a beautiful day, 30 degrees, all the Swansea fans… that’s up there. I still have the shirt from that day on the wall behind me here from that game, alongside my QPR one. It’s a big memory for me that day.

“To win a major trophy and play in Europe is another level again. There are so many paths to make it in football, you could come through an academy to the first team, you could be transferred from one team to another, you could be promoted with your own team which was my path. Playing part time, semi-professionally, gave me the values of hard work, consistency, day in day out, and a hope that I would make it. If not, you have to know at least you gave it everything. I was lucky.”

All good things must eventually come to an end and for Rangel and Swansea that happened in 2018 when he was told that he wouldn’t get a new contract.  It came at a tough time for the Swans, relegation from the Premier League was tough and the fall out from the ownership change was still fresh and tensions were running high off the pitch with things on the pitch having deteriorated over a number of bad transfer decisions and managerial changes.

“I was told I wouldn’t get a new contract. My game time had been limited for two seasons compared to the previous eight. I was getting, in some ways, old, and they wanted new players so I wasn’t getting a contract. They wanted me to go to DC United instead because it was the same owners. That never happened because in the MLS you have one so-called ‘designated player’ per team and they signed Wayne Rooney. Rangel or Rooney? I believe he sold more tops than I would have done. So that didn’t happen. It was sad, I had a farewell at Swansea and there I was at 34, I’d hardly played that season and I had a summer that was a nightmare because I wanted to know what was next and nothing came about for two or three months.

 I believe I wasn’t treated the way I deserved. If Huw Jenkins had been in charge it would have been completely different, he was a good friend after working together for so long and I didn’t have that relationship with the new owners, they weren’t around Swansea very much and it was difficult to build that contact and relationship. It felt a bit unfair.”

Rangel admits that coaching is an aim of his which may make the ears prick up of those in charge at Swansea but first he wants to spend some time with his family “for the remainder of this year.

“I will look to get back into football, into coaching. I’ve done a few badges but I haven’t got all the licenses. I want to get that done and then I want to travel a bit and visit managers I’ve worked under – Brendan and others – to learn from them, different methods, to help me create my own identity. Then I’ll see what comes next for me, coaching, young kids, first teams, I’ll have to see. I have to be on the grass. The thing I miss the most at the moment is being out on the grass and using my brain football wise, I’m not doing it at the moment and it’s what I’ve done all my life.

“I think coaching will be my thing, but everybody says I’ll be a better manager than a coach so I don’t know. I’d have to find my feet and see what I’m better at. I’ve played the game for many years but it’s one thing playing the game and another managing it. It’s completely different, how you get your message across, the methods. I believe as a coach I’d be able to use my knowledge better, as a manager I’ve never been a boss of anything so I don’t know what that will be like.”

There is a chance that you could have just been reading the words of a future Swansea coach or boss but whatever way you look at it you have been reading the words of a Swansea legend and I will always be grateful for that delayed flight, a twist of fate that bought Rangel to Swansea and helped create so many memories that we will never forget.

Angel Rangel was talking to QPR unofficial website LoftForWords – if you want to read more from the Swansea legend then please visit their website here and catch more of the thoughts of Rangel in his own words.