Phil SumblerWembley Stadium. 30th May 2011. Brendan Rodgers became only the second man to lead Swansea City into the top flight of English football and the first man to lead a Welsh club into the Premier League. A huge achievement and one that set the ball rolling fully for bigger things to come.
The following year he did what everyone thought was impossible and kept the Swans in the Premier League and Liverpool came calling. The rest, as they say, is just history as he came close (a Steven Gerard slip away if you like) to delivering a first Premier League title to Anfield before winning plenty in Glasgow with Celtic and then onto Leicester where he has given them their first FA Cup and narrowly missed out on the last day in the last two seasons on the Champions League.
And when Rodgers reflects back on his time he pinpoints that day in Wembley where the Swans celebrated as the day that changed his life.
The Swans go back to the stadium tomorrow, ten years on from that fantastic day, looking to repeat the feat under Steve Cooper and return to the Premier League after a three year absence. It may not have the party feel of more than 40,000 travelling Jacks as we had in 2011 but it is still a huge game and Brendan is right, the impact of what happens tomorrow could be life changing.
Speaking to the BBC Rodgers said “I will never forget my Swansea experience. I felt really at home there and from a personal perspective I have really happy memories and my daughter still has friends there.
“The two years there was full of happiness and that day changed the course of my life. It was more than that for us all. It brought us to the Premier League, where we could bring our football and bring the city to the world, because Swansea is then renowned round the world.
“It put Swansea City on the map. We could bring the city to the world and then it brings on a different challenge which excited us all. The bus journey home was the best journey I have ever done. When we started the journey the music wasn’t the best but Beatts (Craig Beattie) came up and said ‘boss, I’ve got some music we can play’ and we stuck his playlist on and it was the best playlist I have ever heard. From that moment when we left Wembley to pulling up outside Morgans in Swansea it was the best, the singing, cheering, it was just amazing.
“Every tune seemed the right song for the right moment.”
