Tosh (2022) - full transcript

[Narrator] In 1975, Swansea
City were down and almost out.

At the end of that season,

they were forced into the humiliation

of applying for reelection
to the Fourth Division,

and you can't get any lower than that.

The Vetch Field was like
the proverbial graveyard.

The pitch was bumpy and
bare, the support likewise.

Home gates on Saturdays
averaged under 2,000.

For the small amount of
supporters and directors,

the future, such as it was, looked bleak.

But help was on the way.



I don't think I've ever
been daunted in my life.

(upbeat rock music)

(crowd cheering)

If you grew up at
Liverpool under Shankly,

you weren't allowed to be
daunted about anything.

When I went to Liverpool, maybe, yeah,

I felt a little bit, a
little bit like that.

(soft music) (crowd chattering)

We got off the train, Sue and myself,

on the platform there at Liverpool,

and Shanks was there
with his trilby hat on

at the end of the platform.

And he came on and he
shook my hand, and he said,

"Welcome to Liverpool, son.



You've left Sunday school
and you've come to church."

(John chuckles)

Rock music.

What Shanks drummed into all us was that.

"No, no, no, you are the
best, boys, you know, you."

We believed him.

[Interviewer] What is
the Liverpool recipe book?

Oh simplicity, and the will to win,

and helping each other.

It's a form of socialism
without the politics, of course.

Politics don't work, never will work,

time we got rid of them.

A form of socialism where
you help me and I help you,

and at the end of the day,

they helped each other and they won.

Then they got the idea they're invincible.

And, of course, they were invincible.

They are invincible.

When I left Liverpool,

or I say when I left, I knew my time.

I'd had this thigh injury, this problem,

which had held me back a bit.

After a couple of months, this would get,

then it affected my
training and one thing.

And then it was quite clear
that there was a problem there.

And then I just was invited
by the Gola sports firm

to go down to a sports
trade fair in Swansea

at the old Dragon Hotel.

And I just got talking.

I met Malcolm Struel, got
talking one or two things,

and the Swansea thing came up.

Through something happening
about Swansea and playing.

Would I fancying about managing,

and I just said, "No",
first of all, "no, no."

Then I thought huh, well,
this is interesting.

(upbeat rock music)
(birds squawking)

The main thing is that I've
come back to South Wales really,

and that I'm going to put into practise

the things that I've learnt

over the last eight years on Merseyside,

and I'll be putting them into
practise at Swansea City.

And, of course, Swansea,
when you grew up at Cardiff,

in football, Swansea is the
enemy number one. You know,

So when I decided to go
to Swansea from Liverpool,

it was like whoop.

A lot of people, a lot of raised eyebrows.

[Narrator] An inspired move

by Swansea City Chairman, Malcolm Struel,

led to the arrival in March
'78 of what, in retrospect,

can truly be called a 'Football Messiah'.

With the club just in
touch with promotion,

Struel persuaded Welsh
international striker John Toshack

to leave Liverpool.

The city in general just
absolutely sort of exploded.

I mean, we were all
excited to be, you know,

There was a little bit of a trepidation

because we didn't know quite
how he was going to be.

I mean, Tosh at the time

was only, what, 27, 28 years of age?

He was still a young man.

I'm hoping to give Swansea City,

and the people of this area,

the success that I feel it deserve.

I think that's the one
thing that people forget

is that Tosh came as a player-manager.

We actually signed a
First Division player.

But with his ability in
training as much as anything,

we knew that the standards
had to be lifted by everybody.

He brought a big time feel to the club

and really a belief
that if you follow Tosh,

then you're going to be successful.

(upbeat rock music continues)

I remember all us,
everybody - all the players,

we were all in the
changing room at the Vetch.

Everybody's talking and sort of,

"Ooh, ooh, what's going happen?"

And then, of course, he
come in with the chairman.

The chairman introduced him.

And there was like a
minute silence, you know,

Everybody went deathly quiet.

I can remember the first
day, sat in the dressing room

with our kit on.

And the kit that we had was our own kit.

Reds, greens and blues, you name it.

Shorts, all different
colours, socks and everything.

Tosh came in smart, tie, suit.

Some people can just fill
a room with a personality

and Tosh was able to do that.

And he's a big man, anyway, you know.

He's impressive looking
when he walks into a room,

but he's got an aura about him.

I think all the top people, it's an aura,

it's a presence, and Tosh
had that in abundance.

(crowd cheering)

He actually told us at
the end of the speech then,

and "by the way," he
said, "I'll have you lot

in the First Division within three years."

And I can remember looking
across the dressing room

like this to Wyndham, and we were going.

It was genuinely one of
those things that, you know,

as Tosh was talking to you, you know,

you actually would believe
in him, type of thing.

And then, of course, he'd sort of

turn his back a little bit.

And me and Curt looked at each other

as if to say, we're in
the Fourth Division now.

You know, First Division.

Does he know he's at Swansea City,

and not Manchester City? (Laughs)

And true to his word, we
started believing in Tosh.

You know, the more sort of time went on,

you realise that, yeah,
I mean, he was ambitious,

but he backed it up.

Fourth, Third, Second, First.

Easy to say it, but a bit
more difficult to do it.

(soft music)

Harry made a great contribution

because he cared about this football club.

And I had a man at the helm

who really put his heart and soul into it.

In fact, I think in his first full season,

he got us from the re-election situation

to about 10th in the league.

And that was the start of the way back.

When the time came, when I
felt that Harry had taken us

as far as we could go, it
was a terrible decision

to have to make the tell him

that I felt that he ought to step down,

step down to a number two position.

But it was a very, very
difficult decision.

He took it really well

because he felt that it was
going to be good for the club.

And, of course, he was
secure in the knowledge

that Tosh really wanted him to be there

because he relied upon his
knowledge and his experience.

So the combination of
the two was fantastic.

Harry loved Tosh from
the moment they met.

He was very happy to step down

and Tosh couldn't believe
the welcome that he had,

first of all from Malcolm,

but certainly from Harry,

because it was an open arms welcome.

I was so grateful for Harry.

I mean, he helped me when
I went there first of all.

He told me, he said.

You know Harry had that
thing, it was like.

"Ah you can't do that," he said.

"Harry, what about him?"

"When they play down here, down the Vetch,

you can send them out and
go and have a cup of tea

up in the director's box there.

But once they get on that M4,

you're going to have your
work cut out away from home.

"They get homesick."

(laughs)

I loved Harry because he sort
of, he got myself involved.

He got Curt, Robbie, Charlo.

He knew us personally,
and Tosh could see that.

He could see us and Harry together.

He knew that it was good.

And Tosh just gelled into it,

he was clever then

he just gelled into it.

But Harry was a great
coach, a great manager.

Swansea through and through.

(soft music continues)

(crowd cheers)

(birds chirping)

[Interviewer] Did you
find it very difficult

to become a manager?

Well, it's difficult to think

being a player-manager.

It's difficult because I'm
trying to get over here

a way of playing, a way of
training and a way of living

that I got used to myself at Liverpool.

I looked at the way that
the side had been training,

and a lot of respect for
Harry, God bless him,

but he really was up against it there.

(gentle music)

I mean, it was a case of some days

they would train over on the beach

just across the road there.

Other days they would go down Ashley Road

until the local park
keeper, threw them off.

So it was, it was pretty difficult.

He changed everything, you know.

Even we used to take our own kit home.

Finish training, take your own kit home,

wash it to wear the following day.

All that changed.

The kit was washed for us.

He had washing machines plumbed in,

got in touch with Adidas
so we had training kit.

And yes, it made you feel
like a billion dollars.

It was a revelation really.

He came in and changed training.

And the preparation really
was completely different

whereby we used to sort of
just turn up at the club

on a Saturday for games.

We actually went away on a Friday night.

So the prep was excellent.

I tried to arrange for
us to have a bite to eat.

We had Dolly who lived
right down the corner

by the players' entrance.

He persuaded Dolly to go into the kitchen

to make us a little bit of.

It wasn't just so much
the boys would eat it.

It's just for the fact
that after training,

instead of everybody shooting off

in their different directions

that we all stayed together

just to mingle for an hour or so.

Dolly would come in

with a little bowl of soap each for us,

and then we'd just have one round of toast

and a sausage on it, you know.

You look back at it now

and, yeah, it's really, really funny.

Dolly was a lady,

and I think she was originally
from Devon or somewhere.

And you've got to remember
a lot of the Welsh players

that were there, they'd been there

since they were young lads.

And Dolly looked after the players.

I mean, she guarded them.

She'd do anything for them.

She'd say, "No, I'm not doing it."

Next minute, she'd do it for them.

And she was a character.

But I'll tell you what,
no one argued with her.

Even Toshack wouldn't argue with Dolly.

Nobody argued with Dolly.

(lively rock music)

I remember the night of
my debut, against Watford.

I think, Swansea had been
averaging about 5, 5,500.

19,000, 18,000, I think, turned up.

It was a fantastic day.

(crowd cheering)

It was a 3-3 draw.

And it was a good way to start.

And obviously for Swansea

to get 17, 18,000 almost
into the Vetch in those days

was a big, big thing.

[Interviewer] No regrets about the job?

Oh, no, certainly not! Never.

Terrific.

I enjoyed it. Fabulous.

I haven't enjoyed a match so much

since Wales and Scotland.

(soft bass music)

We played Watford on the first game

and then the following week then

we had Crewe Alexandra away.

And Tosh give a speech and that.

I just turned to him and said,
"Tosh, be careful today."

I said, "I know Crewe."

And said, "There's some nasty
boys out there, you know."

And he said, "Wyndham, I've
played against A.C. Milan,

Inter Milan, Juventus, Leeds United.

Are you serious?"

And he made me feel about that size.

All the boys giggled and laughed.

And I said, "Oh why did
I say that?", you know.

Anyway, we go to play.

First corner we have.

Somebody takes the cross.

Somebody goes across Tosh,
cracks his nose by there,

covered in blood.

At halftime then,

he looked as if he was
playing for Liverpool,

he was all red.

We were all white and he was all red.

And he give us a team talk there.

And he turned to me and said,

"Don't you say anything?"

(laughs)

And I had to say it.

I said, "You haven't played"

"against Crewe Alexandra,
have you?" (laughs)

(crowd cheers)

To get promotion from
the Fourth Division

initially to the Third, he
had to bank on one thing.

And that was the players that he had.

Charlo, Robbie, Curt and himself

to score as many goals
as you can, as you say.

They score three, we score four.

It happened a few times.

(upbeat rock music)

He wanted us on the
front foot all the time.

Attack, Attack, Attack.

That's all he ever talked about.

And the likes of Robbie James and Curt,

obviously, he spotted
that they were excellent.

Robbie was power, pure power.

Who passed people,
knock people off things.

Just they don't even exist
when Robbie was around.

Curt would turn you up in knots.

You'd think you had the ball
when you were in training

and then he'd be gone.

Charlo, you'd lose him and
he'd be at the back of the net.

We had a nucleus of very
local players as well,

and they knew how special
it was to play for the club

and what it meant to everybody.

So it wasn't just you
weren't just playing football

for yourselves or for the team,

you're playing for the city as well.

(upbeat rock music continues)

It's been a good club to me.

I've played for them for a long time,

and I've done all sorts of jobs, chores,

whatever you wish to call them.

And as long as I can get up in the morning

and come down to the
Vetch Field, I'm happy.

Pretty advanced, are we?

[Interviewer] Again.

Eric, got to step to the side.

Go on.

(soft music)

It's one of the saddest days.

I had literally nightmares
about it for weeks afterwards.

I just, I remember walking
into the medical room one day

just to ask, or just to see

how we were fixed the
players for training.

Who could train, who couldn't,

and Harry just dropped
to the floor, you know?

The doc was there fortunately enough.

The doc come running through

and sorted a few things out.

Took him straight off to the hospital

and gone just like that, you know?

So that was one of the
most difficult times,

obviously,

that I've had.

(gentle guitar music)

Tosh said, "Wyndham".

He said, "Come here."

He pulled me to one side like that

and he said, "I've got bad news

that Harry has died this morning."

I said, "Died?

Harry Griffiths?

Yesterday he was fighting fit and that."

And I remember I said,
"Tosh, I got to go."

I just went out, down to the beach.

And just had to walk, that's all.

I came back then to the training.

I was in quite early, so
I just went down just to.

I couldn't believe it.

Imagine the team talk of players,

having to tell the players
that Harry had passed away

in the morning of the game.

All this business about "let's go out"

"and do it for Harry" and all this.

That sounds great, you know,

but when you're actually in that position,

it was very, very
difficult, very difficult.

You know, when we played that evening,

there was always that
"where's Harry" type of thing.

For all the players,
he had been a constant.

From when we all first started
the club different times,

and Harry was always the constant there.

I think there's a lovely
line from Robbie James actually

at the end of the match, they
looked over to the dugout

and Robbie said, "Harry wasn't there."

"But he was," he said,

"Because he was always looking after us,

always looking down on us,
always encouraging us."

It might sound, I don't
know, ironic a little bit,

but maybe it spurred us
on, Harry, a little bit,

what happened, you know.

To say, "Come on, Harry
wouldn't have liked that."

Or "Harry would have
been proud of you there."

It spurred us on a little bit,

and getting promotion obviously

was Harry's team really, you know.

I mean, I'd just gone in on the end of it.

And, if you like, gave my
little bit of whatever you want,

but I regard that promotion
as Harry's really.

(gentle synthesiser music)

[Interviewer] What are his
particular qualities then,

do you think though?

Oh, that knowledge of the game,

and listening to people and
picking people's brains.

And the determination he's
got, a quiet determination.

I had a noisy determination.

John's is a little quieter,
but just as effective.

(upbeat rock music)

Well, I felt, right, we've got up

to the Third Division now.

I mean, first thing you have to do

is sit down with the chairman
and see what can we do here?

When I first heard that Ian Callaghan

and Tommy Smith were coming,
I couldn't quite believe it,

but it was a case of
Tosh and his contacts.

Tommy Smith was struggling
with a lot of injuries.

Whereas there was
nothing wrong with Cally.

He's just, Cally was like Gandalf.

He can play now I think.

He was going on and on and on,

but he just wasn't getting in the team

and slowed down a bit.

Smith was quite volatile on
the field and off it, I think,

and it's fair to say, and
Callaghan, quiet, modest,

but a fine player.

One of the finest passers

of the ball I've ever seen, I think.

Watching Tommy and Ian Callaghan

on "Match of the Day" as a kid,

and then all of a sudden
they're sat next to you

in the changing room.

It was a surreal moment really.

With Cally and Smith, it reinforced

what Tosh was telling us.

When you actually see
the guys of that level,

who'd won the European Cup
and played at that level,

doing what Tosh was asking,

showing you what Tosh was asking,

talking to you about it,

it just resonated with you
and it just stayed with you.

Fantastic habits, really were
fantastic habit builders,

all of them.

I suppose Swansea was
seen as the new Vegas.

People come and get you and take you down

to the starry lights of South Wales.

And the fact that they were
doing it made it interesting.

The unfortunate thing
is it's not like now.

We never saw any footage of it.

So there was just newspaper
reports of what was going on.

We noticed that it give,

particularly Charlo, Curt,
Robbie, these younger ones,

a bit of a lift to be with
Tommy Smith and Cally.

We became really the talk of football,

at that level,

and even a little bit higher as well.

All of a sudden, the "Match of
the Day" cameras were there.

People were taking a lot of notice.

Publicity wise, we were involved a lot.

The flood of national papers
that came looking for stories

was quite incredible.

They all had their own men down
at Swansea chasing stories.

And this was because of Tosh.

I think that the opposition
were almost in awe,

when we were going out onto the pitch.

And he was like,
especially over the tannoy,

then they announced the teams

and you could see them
like nudging each other

and pointing at "There's
Tommy Smith, there's Cally."

It wasn't that much different
from playing at Liverpool,

because Tosh obviously
played under Bob Paisley,

an absolutely fantastic manager.

Some of the tactics and the training

and what we'd done at Liverpool,

but then he had his own ideas.

And as I say, it turned out to be, for me,

a fantastic time at Swansea.

(crowd chanting)

I think the things with all those games

was just the amount of
support that we had.

So even though it was Third Division,

there were still big games.

They put maybe put a little
bit of extra pressure on.

But, I mean, at that particular time,

I didn't know what

I didn't know what pressure was.

We were always told at
Liverpool with Shanks and Bob,

"Pressure, pressure?"

That's when you've no work to go to, son,

and you have to stand in a queue

and wait to be paid money weekly.

"Pressure, the best days of your life."

And they certainly were.

(crowd chattering)
(lively music)

[Interviewer] What sort of season

has it been for you, John?

I mean, you've transformed
Swansea City, haven't you?

The players you've brought.

You've got the crowds back here.

You must be delighted,

whatever the outcome of the
actual season's results.

Well, the main thing is

that we're filling the ground every week

and we're getting young players interested

in coming to the club.

And for me, that's the
most significant thing

that's happened over the last 12 months.

People coming in here, filling the ground

and youngsters wanting to
be part of Swansea City

because it's a club that
we're trying to build here,

not just a team.

[Interviewer] When you look at the top

of the Third Division,

any one of the five sides could go up.

How do you see it finishing?

What's going to be the decisive factor?

Well, we've got two games left,

and if we win them both
we'll finish as champions.

That I do know.

But further than that, your
guess is as good as mine.

We go into the Chesterfield game

knowing that more or
less, if we win the game,

then we're going to get
promoted to the Second Division.

I think it was just written in the stars.

(lively music continues)

25,000 crowd.

The biggest crowd we'd had for,
I don't know how many years.

2,000 when I first come here,
25,000 now cheering us on.

We knew it was going to be hard,

but Chesterfield, for some reason,

was going to upset the party.

(lively music continues)
(crowd cheering)

We didn't have 46 games to win promotion,

we had 8 minutes.

The crowd were getting
a little bit frustrated,

but all of a sudden,
there was a bit of a roar.

And I looked round, Tosh was
getting his tracksuit off.

There was only one sub in those days.

And I worked out

that possibly the best
place for me was substitute.

Tosh came on.

A few minutes after, we got a free kick

on the edge of the box,
which is about here.

He came up from the center half-position.

"Wait till I get on the edge of the box."

When it left my left foot,
I thought, "that's it."

As the ball was coming over,

I could hear John Charles'
words ringing in my ears,

"Put them back where they come from, son."

The goalkeeper's following the
flight of the ball that way.

And it makes it all the
more difficult for him.

If you head it down
there, it's easy for him,

but if you head it back
where they come from, son,

"it's all the more difficult
for him to change direction."

And I mean

I seem to be up there for about 20 minutes

when I watch it on the television.

And the ball just seemed to go.

(crowd chattering)

(crowd cheering) (upbeat music)

John Toshack, you came on
again and you did it again.

That's right, yes.

A few people sweating,

but I don't know what all
the fuss was about really.

[Interviewer] Did you really though

expect to go up in your first season?

Well, let me put it you this way.

We really intended to
have a bloody good go.

That was a demolition of this ground

because the roof's came off every stand,

and people from all over
Swansea, all over Wales,

were congratulating us
at the end for, well,

2/3 of Tosh's dream really.

Tonight belongs to everybody
connected with Swansea City.

I'm pleased for them because
without being big-headed,

this is something that
people like Tommy and myself

have come to expect every year.

But there's a lot of people
who worked very hard for this.

Three or four year ago,

the club was down on its
knees seeking re-election.

And I'm pleased that the people
who stuck it out with 'em

and they've got their rewards tonight.

(crowd cheering)

I mean, everybody just
relished the occasion.

It was such.

The fact that we'd been in the doldrums

for quite a number of years,

then all of a sudden Tosh has come in

and we're back in the old Second Division.

As I say, for a lot of people,

they would've been happy with that.

And I think people
assumed that, right okay,

we weren't big enough, good enough

to get into the old
First Division, but see,

Tosh had other ideas.

The main story after that was,

was Alan Curtis finally going to go

at the end of his year's contract,

which he'd signed the previous year.

And on the Monday morning,

the big man himself walks into the office,

taps me on the shoulder.
And he said, "Alan's gone."

(soft music)

I said, "Right."

He's gone to Leeds, £350,000 club record,

panic in the office because
we had no hint of it there.

But suddenly the back page story

became the front page story.

Leeds at the time, you
know, they were, I guess,

they were probably the top
two or three in the league.

It's like signing for one of
the top four at the moment.

And it was one of those, even
the players were saying to me,

some of the staff saying to me,

"It's an opportunity that
you can't turn down."

Tosh then had to go
into his first season

in the Second Division
without the talisman really.

To lose Curt was a

a bit of a blow,

to say the least.

But then again, I mean
that's football, you know

particularly when I look at it now.

If we're working with younger players

and the top clubs come and take
them, it's a job well done.

Unfortunately, it's something

that's never, never, never
changed over the years.

(soft music)

[Narrator] Seven years ago, Swansea City

were a tatty Fourth Division
club facing bankruptcy.

The tatty image of the ground remains.

But today the club
unveiled ambitious plans,

a facelift for the Vetch

to match the amazing progress
made by manager, John Toshack.

I've always believed
that it's not just enough

to build a team.

You've got to build a club,

and building a club
means building a stadium,

a stadium that everybody:
Management, players, directors,

can be proud of.

And that's what we're trying to do.

And we think that by producing
a stadium of this kind,

it'll help to give that
sense of pride to everybody,

not least our supporters.

(upbeat music)

In fairness to the
board and the chairman,

ever since I've been at the club,

everything that I've wanted I've got

and I don't think a manager
can ask for any more than that

from his chairman or his director.

I remember going over the
bridge at Port Talbot there

and looking across and thinking "not sure.

I'm not sure about this."

The Jersey Marine Road driving down,

it was like a bombed area, it was.

My wife actually did say to me,

"Wow, it's not really
nice down here, is it?"

I come to Swansea Train Station,

and when I come from the train, raining,

cold,

but it's summer?

As soon as you got into the town

and you got to the Vetch,
you got to the Vetch

and Tosh he said, "Right."

His wife, as he was married to then, Sue,

who was a Cardiff girl.

She took my wife in the car

and drove her straight down to the Mumbles

and Caswell Bay and Langland Bay,

showing her all these places.

We met him at the Langland Bay Hotel

and we had a chat there,
stayed there overnight.

Me and my wife just decided,
we woke up in the morning,

a beautiful sunny day, Saturday morning,

looking over Langland Bay,
yeah, let's go for this.

My wife come back, knocked the door,

she said, "Have you signed yet?

Have you signed yet?"

I said, "well, we haven't discussed."

"Well, hurry up and sign!

It's fantastic, David.

It's brilliant, we love it down here."

I came to changing room.

All players very kind,

like I'm there maybe two or three years.

Everybody friendly.

(upbeat music continues)

This is the amazing thing
about Swansea, I think.

I've lived in London for over 20 years.

I have never set eyes on
a professional footballer.

I mean, partly the times
have changed and obviously,

they're not eating at the
same restaurants as me,

but walking around Swansea
you would regularly see,

especially Mumbles, you'd see players

just having a walk around.

I played for Fair wood Rangers for a while.

Toshack's youngest son,
Craig, was playing.

So Tosh would be on the
sides as we played football,

which, you know, obviously
was like amazing.

I think that was the thing.

They were huge celebrities.

And yet they were just about within reach

in a way that footballers just
aren't these days, you know?

And that if you did sort of see one,

they'd happily talk to you.

There was a sort of humility
about the team as well.

(gentle guitar music)

Living in Swansea in those
times, especially as a kid,

I was 12, 13 at that time,

the players were just available
and that availability,

I think, certainly to younger kids,

but it just felt for everybody, you know.

My dad would say, "Oh, I saw Robbie James

in Swansea on the weekend."

And everyone just seemed to
know everybody in that time.

Certainly the bond between the fans,

literally on the North Bank,

and the players were so strong.

And I think Tosh sort of
enhanced that as well.

I think he wanted it to be that way.

And they talk about the 12th
man being the North Bank

and the Vetch itself.

And that was certainly
fostered by the players

in and around the city.

Robbie James, he looked like one of us.

He had a real odd style of running.

He used to run with his thumbs
up in front of him like that.

He had this sort of short,

sort of staccato stride to him really.

But then he would have
this incredible power,

never seemed to lose a tackle.

He could shoot, he could
finish, great in the air.

He had absolutely everything,

but he still encapsulated
that kind of, that normality.

He had his moustache,
he had his broken nose,

and he just seemed like one of us.

It's hard thing to explain really.

And that meant that we really,
really were on his side

with everything that he did.

And what he did was just
brilliant really for those years.

He was incredible.

The boys in those days used
to come, stay up in a hotel,

which is now a nursing home,

which is right opposite to where I am.

And then in the morning
they would walk down

and around the beach and
back, back to the hotel.

And on one occasion, fair
play, my boys were playing

and I think it was one of their
birthdays or what have you,

but they were playing in the front lawn

with some kiddies nets, you know.

The next thing I know
everybody was in the goal,

in the nets.

Money can't buy that kind of thing.

And that was a sort of team.

You felt it.

They all wanted to.

They gave so much, they
gave so much to the locality

and to the club.

People were very, very
excited by the way that the club

was going at the moment at that time.

But it was nice to have little pockets

where you could just, not sneak away,

because you didn't need
to sneak around anyway,

but just go and enjoy a quiet
few minutes on your own.

And so it was nice.

It was nice at the time.

(lively music)

One of the great
occasions in the Bay View

was when Neil Robinson's wife had a baby

and it was decided that we
have to wet the baby's head.

It was customary to do that.

Oh, what a night that was.

Of course it was back in the day

where last orders was called at 10:30.

It was early hours of the morning.

The wee small hours, as they say.

There was a bang on the door.

The door was burst open.

And about six or seven
policemen rushed in.

"Nobody move, everyone stay there.

It's the police.

You're drinking after hours.

You're drinking after time."

David Giles was on the mic.

He said, "Ladies and gentlemen,

I'd like to introduce the police."

I mean, it was a
friendly raid, you know.

I think all the police were Swans.

They were all Swans fans.

Sergeant was there,
"Right, Get everyone's name."

So you could see these young
constables looking over you.

"Name?"

Well, they knew it was Leighton James,

Leighton James,

Robbie James, David Giles.

Sarge, this is all
the Swans team, this is.

He said, "Well, get their
autographs then." (laughs)

And one of the police
officers at the time

was in Swansea School Boys with me.

And he actually took my name and address.

He said, "I'm awful sorry."

But yeah, okay.

He said, "Yeah."

He said, "What's your name?"

I said, "Look, you know my name."

I said, "You were in school with me."

I got the blame, funny enough.

I got the blame for that.

I remember getting up
the following morning,

and thinking (sighs), I drove
straight into the ground.

Walked in, Carol was in
the secretary's office.

I said, "Is he in?"

She went, "Yeah."

I said, "Does he know?"

"Yeah."

I went, "Right."

Boss, I got to tell you.

After the game last night,

one or two of us got booked for drinking,

"having a drink after
time in the Bay View."

And he went, "How many of you?"

And I just looked at him, I went, "28."

He went, "What?"

I said, "Yeah."

I said, "We go everywhere as a team.

You should know that."

He went, "Right, who wasn't there?"

What upset me that day

was that I think two
of them weren't there.

Dai Davis weren't there

because his family was
down from North Wales.

And one other, I can't
remember who it was now.

But everybody else was there.

The following day, I find
the two who weren't there

because I felt that a
night out with the players

and everybody they should
have all been there,

but a couple of them weren't so, yeah,

I wasn't happy with that.

(crowd cheering)

It was all for one, and
one for all with Tosh.

I give him all credit to him for that.

He'd been taught well by
the likes of Mr. Shankly

and Mr. Paisley at Liverpool.

And you got to remember, John
was quite an intelligent man.

He wouldn't be listening to Shanks

and listening to Mr. Paisley
and sort of dismissing it.

He would be taking in
all the good knowledge

that he'd got off them.

(soft music)

A lot of us have gone into management,

ex-Liverpool players.

And I say this with all due respect,

they've all had Shanks to
fall back on if you like.

But although I say it myself,

I think I just felt

that he had

a little bit of a special
feel for me, you know.

You just didn't feel like
letting Shankly down.

If you were training,

if you were on the
football pitch training,

he had a habit if he was about
40, 50 yards away from you

and he wasn't happy with
you about something,

Saturday's game or what it was,

he had a habit if he had Bob
next to him or something,

he'd go like that.

He'd do that.

He wasn't saying anything to Bob.

He'd point at you like that as if he was.

And you'd, ooh, you'd look the other way.

You certainly didn't want
to get on his bad side.

(upbeat music)

He was really keen on
us all being together

at all times now, as much as we can.

Because obviously if you fit together,

if we're all in here now or whatever,

and then when you go on the field to play,

you'll be together again.

I think he put a sign
on the wall that said

that "in the event of
us getting promotion,

there will be a group of players and staff

going to to Magaluf, Majorca,
on a week's holiday."

And all the boys just
looked around at each other.

They love the idea of
going to Majorca for 10 days

and all being together,
and having a good sing-song

and a few beers, warm
weather and all sorts.

"We'll never get to Magaluf
playing like that boys."

I'll tell you that now.

And their heads would go down.

And during the game
then, say you're playing,

you're the goalie now,
you're the full-back,

he'll say, "Don't make any mistakes

or you won't be going to Magaluf."

That's what he said.

We had a good win.

We played well.

"Hey, Majorca here we come."

Well, I always used to say,

that's the secret of his success.

It was great for team spirit.

Bonding, I think, they call it now.

Team spirit.

It was great in those days for
these lads to get on the bus,

outside the Vetch and go to
Rhoose Airport, in Cardiff,

and wait in a queue and
get on a flight to Majorca.

In a proper prim and proper
way, they really, as I say,

really looked forward to it.

(soft country music)

I think sometimes you need to go away

to appreciate almost what you've got.

Unfortunately, during my time out injured,

Jimmy Adams on was the manager
of Leeds, who signed me.

Alan Clark then had sort of
taken over the reins from him,

and he just wanted a
little bit of a clear out.

He called me into his office and said,

"Look, we've had an offer
and we've accepted the offer.

But obviously it's your decision."

So when I asked who the club was

and they said it was Swansea,

then I sort of punched the air.

I remember saying to
him when he left, I said,

"I'm going to put half of that
in the drawer in my office

and in 18 months - 2 years,

I'm going to go up to Leeds with that,

and they're going to let you come back."

He was like, "Oh, oh,
oh, yeah, yeah, yeah."

And he laughed, and this,
that, and the other,

but as it turned out, two seasons later,

we paid half of what we had sold him for,

and he came back.

It was an no-brainer
for me to come back home

and also to play for the Swans.

We feel that we know him
better than anyone else.

And eventually we'll get more
from him than anyone else.

That was like a shot
in the arm to everybody.

That was probably the
point during the season

when I realised, hang on,
this could be serious boys.

We got a chance here.

(crowd cheering)

Well, you and your side
have shown that Swansea

are capable of getting to the top,

but now can you stay there
until the end of the season?

Well, I don't think we've
been out the top six all season

and we've had a good run in December,

which has pushed us up Second, as you say.

And that's something I think

that only time will tell really.

I think Tosh was always one of those

that didn't matter how
you start the season.

Obviously, you've got to
have a good middle bit,

but it's how you finish the season.

And I think that was always his mantra.

Preston was the last game
of the season, obviously,

but the Saturday before
we'd played Chelsea at home

and we had another one
of them stellar games

where we just battered Chelsea.

We absolutely murdered them.

It was 3-0.

It could have been 5 or 6.

We were that good.

(lively music)

And on the Monday night
we had Luton at home

in a rearranged game,
which was widely remembered

as probably the best game of football

seen at the Vetch that season.

That's as good a game
as I've seen at any level,

anywhere in the world, magnificent match.

We knew now the ball was in our court.

So we were obviously quite confident.

Going up to Preston.

And there was an air of
calm about the place.

There was a little bit of
fear, I think, if anything.

Ironically, Preston had to win to stay up.

We're having to go up
to Preston in Lancashire

to win a match.

A draw would have been no good for us.

We have to win the game to
go into the First Division

for the first time in the club's history.

It's black and it's white.

There's no grey areas, boys.

You win, you're up.

You don't win and they do, you're down.

(John whistles)

Everything was there.

I mean, this was no sort of

end of season finale or whatever.

There is so much riding on this game

that you cannot believe it.

(suspenseful music)

I took the players up on the Friday

to the Holiday Inn in Liverpool,

and Shanks came over.

"They look all right, son.

"You're going to be all right," he said.

And all the players were a little bit.

As they walked down to
go into the dining room,

he looked at them all.

"Right, all right, son, you'll
be all right, son, tomorrow.

You'll be all right.

They're ready."

And I thought, "Yeah."

And this is against Preston.

Shankly, Tom Finney, the old
great Preston side, you know.

I thought, imagine us going to Preston,

Shanks sitting there in the director's box

at Deepdale where he was revered,

and wanting Swansea City,
a little Welsh team,

to win the game.

So he came and he gave
the lads a talking to,

and they were all, as you can imagine,

they were all like that with their eyes.

I just felt that we can't.

We're not going to lose this game.

[Reporter] On the
motorways, heading north

was an armada of cars

trailing the club's
black and white colours.

Native northern accents were buried

by the sound of South Wales
as 10,000 made the journey,

outnumbering Preston's fans

and the club's second
biggest crowd of the season.

Supposed to be 10,000 people there.

I'm sure I spoke to
about 20, 30,000 people

who reckoned they were at the game.

I've never seen anything like it.

Just about every car,
every bus, every mini bus

had a flag, had a banner.

Shankly come into changing room.

I watched Liverpool and Shankly,

and he start to talk

maybe four, five minute, like motivation.

And after two, three minute,

I say, "Which language this man talking?"

Because I happy because
people no understand me,

but I now happy, I no understand him

because it's fast Scottish,
but motivation how he's talks.

We all waiting to go out to win game.

Bill Shankly was talking
about the supporters,

and how much it means to them.

It would change our lives.

But the fact that so
many had turned up there

and that we'd never been
there before, and it was real,

and the people back home.

He just stressed the point
of "don't let them down."

He came up to you and
he just shook your hand,

and he said, "Are you ready, son?

Are you ready?"

And he looked you right in the eye

like I'm doing to you now.

And you had to look at him and
he said, "He's ready Tosh."

And he'd go around every one of us.

"Are you ready, son?"

And he said, "They're all ready Tosh.

You're going to win.

Don't worry about it."

When Shankly was shaking
your hand you think

I'm playing now don't break my hand.

(crowd chattering)

So many things happened in that.

So many things happened
in that 90 minutes.

The first 10 or 15 minutes of the game

were actually far more nervous
than the week before it.

It was almost as if, well,
you show us what you've got

and we'll show you what we've got.

And neither team was really on top.

And I remember, Robbie
knocked a long ball out to me.

As the ball came,

all my concentration went into
controlling it first time.

And it came down and

virtually stuck to my foot.

[Announcer] Leighton James.

And as I looked up, I
thought, "right, I've got you."

(crowd chattering)

[Announcer] Leighton James.

It's there.

- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Fantastic.

Make it sound easy, don't
you? (Interviewer laughs)

(lively music)

We were 2 up at half time and, again,

sort of, we had good control of the game.

Then they pulled one back

and then they put all sorts of pressure.

They piled the pressure
on the second half.

I remember their big centre-half, Baxter,

he had a header from a
corner, and to this day

I'm sure there was a
little hole in the net.

I thought it had gone through
and out the other side.

I thought the ball had
gone through the net.

He hit it and

the next thing I saw, it was
up in the back of the stand.

And I thought, "Thank God for that."

Well, I felt we had the
surge of Swansea City fans

pushing us forwards and
blocking the goals and that

as if we are going to win.

And we're hanging on and
hanging on and hanging on,

then we broke away.

I just tried to run it into the corner.

Then all of a sudden it opened up.

Robbie was inside, I
played it into Robbie.

I thought there was no safer pass,

Robbie was going to keep it.

Robbie, God bless him, miscontrolled it,

and again, again.

Robbie miscontrolled it just a touch,

just knocked it in my path.

I had one touch,

and I think somebody in
the background shouted.

"Jeremy just smash it into the stands,

save a little bit of time."

So I tried to, but unfortunately
hit the top corner, so.

He hit it and that was it.

(crowd cheering)

[Announcer] Charles.

(crowd cheering)

(soft music)

Those two minutes,

they almost seemed like
a little bit of a dream

because they weren't going
to come back from that.

They were deflated.

And, well, just the realisation
that after all this time,

the club had gone into the First Division.

The Swans were in the First Division.

I mean, I've been very,
very fortunate, I tell you.

Big clubs, Liverpool, Real Madrid,

but (sighs)

That day at Preston,

takes some beating.

I feel myself shivering now.

(uplifting music)

This is the greatest day of my life.

I thought possibly that
when I left Liverpool,

I may have left days like this behind,

but I've never known
anything quite like this.

The realisation

boys, we've done it.

First time this club's ever
been in the top flight.

That's down to us.

He's done a remarkable, managing job.

I would say possibly he's
manager of the century.

I mean, what he's achieved in Swansea

in a short space of time

he hasn't forgotten what he learnt.

He prepared and adjusted

and it's a great credit
to Swansea and to John.

(people chattering)

I'm today very happy,

and Swansea supporters, Swansea players,

are very good for me,
understand, for my family.

Manager Toshack, my best friend.

(crowd cheering)

(crowd chanting)

That day, the post sold out

for the only time in its history.

In fact, the size of the
type it was actually bigger

than when the post announced

the end of the Second World War.

(lively music)

(crowd cheering)

(players and people chattering)

(crowd applauding)

(horns honking)

(people chanting)

Rehearsals have gone
well today for next season

because I can assure you
that this is only the start.

(people cheering)

It didn't surprise me at all
what he's done John Toshack.

What he has done at Swansea

is the most remarkable thing

that's been in the game since the war.

That he took Swansea
from the Fourth Division

into the First Division in
such a short space of time.

The most remarkable thing under the sun.

Yeah.

And I think he's going
to be the top manager.

(soft music)

(players chattering)

We're not going into this
division to make the numbers up.

If you try to come and you push yourselves

and push yourselves thinking
you're going to come 4th,

you come 8th and you've done well.

But if you start talking
about just staying up 18th,

you finish 21st.

That's what I learnt.

(soft music continues)

Nervously expectant,

I think would be the
best way to describe it.

"But we've got to play Liverpool,

got to be Man United, got
to play Arsenal, Tottenham."

"Yeah, and?"

The town was bouncing.

Wherever you went, I mean,

everybody was talking about the Swans.

They're talking about the season,

how they were looking
forward to the coming season,

how the fact that the club
had never in the history,

we'd ever played to the top flight.

You know it was something

that the city had waited for a long time.

And then, of course,
the fixtures came out.

First game of the season,
home to Leeds United.

And you're thinking, well, in that era,

there weren't many
bigger games in football

than Leeds United.

(crowd cheering)

Sometimes in life, and in football,

you get a feeling that something
is really going to happen.

I mean, call it fantasy land, I know,

but you just felt that
they were going to win.

(lively music)

I think people say that, "ah, you know",

"you got nothing to prove" and
stuff like that, but you do.

I think Trevor Cherry was the defender.

And he picked the ball up

and I was just running at him basically.

For the more he backed off,
the more he backed off,

then you just drop your shoulder,
and it sounds easy enough.

5-1.

I mean, what? How does this happen?

You couldn't write a
script better, could you?

You couldn't if you tried to.

Swansea 5 Leeds United 1.

It was a super, super day all round.

You know, 5-1.

The momentum we got from that

carried us on for the rest of the season.

(lively music continues)

(soft music)

Obviously, it hit me pretty hard

as it did all ex-Liverpool players,

all Liverpool people generally.

The city of Liverpool was stunned.

(gentle music)

I mean, it happened.

I don't like to say ironically,

but by a strange piece
of fate, if you like.

It happened a week before we
were due to go to Liverpool.

Tosh was terrible.

Shankly was like his father in football

and he had, Shankly, was
always on the phone to Tosh

because I knew all the calls
that went through obviously.

Well, but he had a private line, Tosh,

and Shankly was always on the phone,

and Tosh was always on the phone to him,

And he was very quiet, yes, yeah.

There was a lot of tea served that week.

I was really proud to
be asked by his family

to carry the coffin

at the funeral.

And as I say, it was a
strange, strange time,

really, really strange time for me.

As I say, with the Swansea/Liverpool game

at that particular time,

and all I can remember being.

(gentle music continues)

Liverpool for me was one of
the most important things

that happened in my professional career.

Probably the most important thing.

Real Madrid, or whatever, or
debut for Cardiff, of course,

and teams that I played,

but actually being signed
by Shankly for £110,000

at that particular time, a record,

moving from Cardiff and
going up to Liverpool.

Three Championships,
European Cups, UEFA Cups,

all down to Shankly really.

I will always be grateful for Shankly

because I would never be where I am

talking to you like this now
if it hadn't been for him.

(upbeat music)

You can't learn to be a coach.

I think coach is born.

And I think he's born to be leader.

There were great, terrific
matches against top sides.

I mean, the Liverpool game
at An field, obviously,

comes into mind.

The game at Ipswich, against
Bobby Robson's Ipswich,

we were top top dogs to go
there and beat them 3-2.

We knew that in our
day we could beat anybody

and give anybody a game.

Liverpool weren't meant
to be beat by Swansea.

I mean, all of a sudden,
Swansea was a big name.

I'm not just talking about football.

I'm talking about the city itself.

The whole world was looking at us now.

It is almost unbelievable really

that we were top of the league

and it's almost as if we
can't win this league surely.

We could have easily finished
runners up in the league,

which would've been even more
of an outstanding achievement.

I think it's one of
the quickest times ever

that one team had got from
the Fourth to the First.

And the great thing about it,

as I mentioned earlier on really,

we had five or six local lads in the side

that went right through

and that was the sort
of the bond of the team.

And to be there and go
up to the First Division

with those guys was absolutely fantastic.

I would say that everybody,
certainly myself included,

would say that when you
look back at your career,

those four years, five
years or whatever it was,

that's probably the most happiest

and the most successful
time of our careers.

And I don't think any one of
us would swap it for anything.

My Swansea days I regard

as the happiest days
of my football career.

And I really do mean that.

It was a journey full
of emotion, obviously.

Just an amazing, an amazing ride.

I wouldn't say 'pinch myself'.

I just went along for the ride.

I mean, it was a great
ride from when Toshack came

right until the very end.

You just had to go along with it really.

You know, (phone rings) at the same time

I felt that we should really
have scored more goals.

Can you just hold on a sec. (Men laugh)

Hello?

You got the wrong number, love, sorry.

Listen, don't phone through
again on this number, will you?

Phone An field.

♪ Swansea ♪

♪ Oh Swansea ♪

♪ Oh city said I ♪

The old North Bank I can can see it now,

I used to walk out and all over there,

down the Vetch, it was a that.

If you sit in the dugout,
I could turn around

and say to the chairman, "Oi,
will you be quiet, please?"

You know, I mean, they
were that close to us.

They could bang their hand on
the top of our thing there.

You see the stadiums now and
the places where people play.

The old Vetch Field and
old Dolly, God bless her,

the cleaning lady, you know,
who lived just right next door.

She'd come in, in the morning,

she'd be there cleaning the restroom.

"What are you moaning about
now this morning again?"

She'd be on there.

But I mean these people were,

for me at that particular time,

what football is all about, you know?

They'd say, "Ah you've done well, John."

You've been lucky", you know.

Real Madrid and there's his Wydad,

and winning the championship there

and going all over Africa.

And I'd say, "Yeah, yeah, that's right."

I said, "But don't forget Dolly

(laughs)

Down at the old Vetch Field."

I mean, that is where it all started.

(soft music)