May 2nd 1981 – Swansea City’s finest day comes in Preston

May 2nd 1981.  A date that will live long in the memory of Swansea City supporters everywhere.   A 3-1 win at Deepdale that ended a remarkable journey that began just four years earlier and lifted the Swans from Division Four to Division One in such a short period of time.

Just six years earlier, the Swans had been forced to apply for re-election to the Football League after finishing bottom of the Fourth Division but the win at Deepdale secured a third promotion in 4 seasons for John Toshack and his side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJrDsrCf2VQ

The Swans went into the game knowing that they would secure promotion with a win thanks to their superior goal difference over Blackburn Rovers but it was against a Preston side who needed points to stay in the second division.

The Swans were backed by more than 10,000 supporters who made the long trip to North West England. This was the biggest away support for the South Wales club “since Swansea met Preston at Villa Park in 1964” (South Wales Evening Post, 2 May 1981). Throughout the match, the travelling contingent backed their team vocally and “included Cwm Rhondda and the Welsh national anthem in their musical repertoire” (South Wales Evening Post, 2 May 1981).

Leighton James opened the scoring in the 24th minute whilst Tommy Craig added a second very shortly afterwards to send the travelling support into celebration and open the door to the first division for the Swans.

Alex Bruce may have pulled one back with a little over 10 minutes left to play but when Jeremy Charles scored the Swans third in the closing stages of the match it was as good as over and the Swans were a First Division football team.

Never before had a side managed to climb the league system as quickly as the swans did under John Toshack. Bill Shankly, whom Tosh had played for at Liverpool, applauded the club’s remarkable achievements. In an interview with BBC Sport shortly after the match at Preston, he asserted that Toshack could be “manager of the century”.

“This is the greatest day in the history of Swansea City and there’s no reason why they can’t stabilise themselves in the big league” he added.

Why not check out the Evening Post’s 25 year celebratory publication of that famous day here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErhmMtj_mKk

Writing in his autobiography ‘Tosh’- the man himself summed up that magical moment when the final whistle sounded “When the final whistle went though I felt for one of our other players.  Dudley Lewis at eighteen years of age had done a remarkable job,.  When Leighton Phillips had caused me problems I had been forced to make the choice between myself and Dudley at the heart of our defence and although he had done so well in his first half dozen matches, as the season reached its climax he was naturally beginning to feel some pressure.

“For one so young to have gone into the side at such a critical time spoke volumes for him, and he was the first player that I made for at the end of the game.  Then it seemed the natural thing to go and salute our army of ten thousand supporters, so along with the rest of the players I remained on the pitch at Deepdale for ten minutes or so.

“They were marvellous moments.  I had done so much as a player at Liverpool and thought that I had said goodbye to days like this, but I can honestly say that 2 May 1981 is one of the most memorable days of my life.   When I returned to the dressing room the first person I met was Bill Shankly.  Whilst everyone else was celebrating with champagne, Shanks stood typically with a cup of tea in his hand looking as though he was already planning for next season! ‘Well done son, it’s a bloody miracle what you’ve done at Swansea, the most remarkable thing since the war to go from the Fourth to the First Division in such a short space of time.'”

The words of John Toshack have been taken from his Autobiography “Tosh” first published in 1982 by Arthur Baker Ltd