My friend turned to me at around 60 minutes into the Swansea versus Nottingham Forest game and said, ‘I don’t think there’s much in this game for us, I think I’m going to make an early exit’. To be honest they had had quite a busy and tough week, the weather was atrocious and if you wait until the final whistle then it does take an extra half an hour to get out of the stadium.
As they left for the exit Nottingham Forest broke through the Swansea defence to score a third goal. It was too late to see my friends reaction, but I couldn’t help feeling, with another early start for work the following day they had probably made the right decision.
I wasn’t the only one to think that was game over. Cameron Burgess the Swansea Centre back and captain for the day grabbed the ball from the back of the net and angrily volleyed it up field. The Forest fans were celebrating loudly right up until the moment we all noticed the linesman had a raised flag. The goal scorer was off side, the Swansea fans were delirious, the forest fans silenced, and the game was back to only 2 nil to Forest.
Unless there is a family emergency, or I’ve got to get somewhere quickly after a Swansea home game I never leave before the final whistle. That was always the case but these days I look after one of the lounges at the Swansea.com Stadium on Match Day, so I need to be there early to welcome the guests when they arrive and leave late to make sure they’ve had a good experience…win or lose.
Welsh Football Legend Cliff Jones.
These days you never know who might be on the guestlist at the stadium. In recent months we’ve had Snoop Dogg’s son and Welsh sporting legends Sir Gareth Edwards and Cliff Jones. My job is to be there to answer any questions about the match day experience and if the guests are from further afield maybe tell them the history of the club or the lower Swansea Valley.
Welsh Rugby Legend Sir Gareth Edwards.
I try my best to do it with respect and try not to be too star struck. I think a lot of the problem for me isn’t when we have a famous face like James Corden or Cerys Matthews. I get start struck by the legends of my youth, from days gone by.
Cerys Matthews at the Swansea.com
As I greeted the 10 string party from Nottingham Forest on Wednesday evening they all individually introduced themselves. As well as members of the board we often have club legends who have an ambassadorial role in a club they have represented so well. We have a similar policy with Swansea with Alan Curtis and Lee Trundle only too willing to fulfil that role.
The first member of the party I recognised was Edu. Edu Gaspar was a Brazilian international who played for Arsenal. At 6ft 2in he is still an impressive presence and I was…well… impressed. But I was not half so impressed as I was when I was introduced to the little Scottish man stood next to him… John McGovern.
Nottingham Forest Legend John McGovern
When I was a football mad kid I would write to various football clubs to request autograph sheets. These were usually pre-printed on club headed paper. I must have been about 9 when I found out my Uncle Colin had been in school with the Derby County and Wales footballer Alan Durban. Never one to let a connection go to waste I wrote to Alan Durban c/o Derby County, told him I was related to Colin Pope and could I get the Derby County autographs. I also included a stamped self-address stamped envelope and a blank sheet of paper save for the words ‘Autograph’s’ at the top.
I didn’t have long to wait for that envelope to arrive back in Brynhyfryd. Expecting the usual printed sheet I was absolutely delighted to see the real autographs that filled the blank sheet of paper I had sent.
Among those who had signed the paper was Alan Durban’s team mate John McGovern. John’s career wasn’t straight forward. He signed for Derby with Brian Clough as Manager and enjoyed a meteoric rise from the Derby reserves to being part of the First Division title winning team of 1971-2. The following year the team got through to the semi-finals of the European Cup losing to Juventus in suspicious circumstances!!
However the ride was not going to last. In 1974 Brian Clough became manager of Leeds United. It did not go well. During his 44 day reign Clough signed John to Leeds and soon both were to find they were unwelcome. As John says everyone in the team had a track suit with their name printed on the back. He was there 6 months, was never involved with the first team squad and never got his name on any Leeds clothing.
Now you might forgive John McGovern for thinking it was all over for him but, well, it’s a funny old game football. 12 weeks after being sacked by Leeds United Brian Clough became manager of Nottingham Forest who at the time were in the Second Division. Clough then bought McGovern from Leeds, made him team captain and in 1979 John lifted the European Cup before going on to beat Barcelona in the European Super Cup.
That’s why I was so star struck to meet John McGovern. We had a photograph together and then he brought out a picture postcard of him with his trophies and signed it for me. I couldn’t have been happier…well…maybe I could.
At 68 minutes into the Swansea Forest game I was thinking this has been a pretty good performance from the Swans. A lot of new players getting minutes, we could have had a penalty and forest looked like a good Premier League team. Then the magic started happening.
A deflected shot led from new loan signing Malick Yalcouyé led to a corner. I remember thinking to myself why don’t we ever score from corners. With that Cameron Burgess rose like a salmon above the Forest defenders to pull a goal back. I text my friend just to let them know we had a game. The next 10-15 minutes was a bit like basketball as we pushed for an equaliser whilst Forest sought to finish the game off.
Alan Sheehan made another set of changes bringing on Liam Cullen and Žan Vipotnik. Some nice inter changes between the South Korean Eom and Liam Cullen the lad from Kilgetty led to a ball flashing across from the left to be met by the Slovenia goal machine for the sweetest of glances past the flailing Forest keeper. We were 3 minutes into 7 minutes of added time.
Now last Saturday we were 2-1 up against Hull and they only went and scored in the 97th minute to break out hearts. We knew this was a dangerous time for the Swans.
When I say I never leave before the end of the match I always leave my seat and start to head to my lounge so that I can be prepared for the guests when they arrive after the final whistle. I was standing on the concourse with some of my Swansea colleagues as the second goal went in. I grabbed my phone and told my friend to make sure they had the TV on as we were headed for penalties.
The game restarted and we managed to force a corner. I remember young Ethan Evans who works at the club looking up at the clock and urging the Swans to take their time. The last thing we wanted was for Forest to break away score the way Hull had the previous Saturday. Then time seemed to stand still…
To be honest the corner kick from Eom wasn’t the best, it didn’t even clear the first line of defence, but the headed clearance went to Ethan Galbraith. Galbraith had been superb all match, in fact he’s been superb since we signed him. He shifted the ball to his right and struck the ball so cleanly. It was headed for the top corner of the net only to clip what appeared to be the point where the upright post hit the cross bar. At that moment Cameron Burgess was actually running away from the goal but he turned on a sixpence and with the sweetest of half volleys rifled the ball into the net.
All of this just goes to show, it’s never over until it’s over. Like John McGovern and Swansea City you just have to keep going.