As I start part two of my personal top ten Swansea results I’ve realised that I’ve not included any of the matches under Roberto Martinez. This is not intentional and the style and quality of football he introduced was exceptional. I have so many happy memories of watching the Swans under his leadership and I was devastated when he left. However while the Martinez era definitely took the club to the next level and prepared us for the success we now enjoy there were no games that could quite break into my top 10.

Swansea v Nottingham Forest 2011

After finishing in third place we’d got a 0-0 draw away at Forest despite playing the whole game with 10 men. We deservedly took a two nil lead but in fairness Rob Earnshaw played the pantomime villain role perfectly by pulling one back and nearly getting an equalizer. And then Pratley scored THAT goal.

Swansea v Reading 2011

I was so pleased it was Reading and not Cardiff we were playing. Not that I didn’t feel we could beat Cardiff – it was just that the hype of the “£90M” match didn’t need the extra stress, hassle and nonsense that goes with a derby. We made a weekend of it with the whole family joining together, partly to support the Swans and partly to remember my dad, who had passed away the day after the play off semi-final.

After the game and the celebrations we found ourselves in Chinatown and while waiting to be served in a restaurant I got chatting to a Reading fan eating quietly with his wife. He was a nice guy and although clearly gutted he felt the better team had won. While I was talking we were called upstairs and the family shouted to me. I shook his hand. “Got to go” I said “We’re going up”. I didn’t mean it like that (I meant upstairs to eat) but you should have seen the look on his face!

Swansea v Liverpool 2012

This might seem a strange game to include given that it was really a meaningless end of season fixture. But in reality it was far more than that – it was a celebration that we had defied the odds and the critics and succeeded in the Premier League without compromising our style of football. Glorious weather, thousands of Elvis impersonators; a sweet victory and finally a much deserved lap of honour by the players and their families. Life was perfect – and then the bugger left us to manage Liverpool!!!!

Swansea v Bradford 2013

In some ways the day itself seemed a bit of an anti-climax. Unlike the 2011 play off final it lacked the drama and tension and it was absolutely freezing!! But it was our first ever major cup final and we were overwhelming favourites and, especially on such a wide pitch, there was surely only going to be one winner. We had done the hard work in previous rounds, knocking out Liverpool and Chelsea along the way. The match itself couldn’t have gone any better and a 5-0 win would have been greater if we had not (rightly) held back when 4-0 up and Bradford were down to 10 men.

Valencia v Swansea 2013

Ah, Spain in September. Flights to Benidorm with the family, followed by a few days sunbathing and a night out in Valencia for the game itself. It couldn’t really get much better could it?  Oh hang on – no money. So we all watched it on the telly instead.

So there we have it, my personal top 10 best Swansea City results are in the following order:

So to answer the original question, from my point of view Valencia is not our finest result ever. It ranks joint sixth only and you may not agree and looking at the table it surprises even me. In total these games span 30 years of the club’s history – which is making me feel just a little old as I write these words.

I never would have thought a 3-3 draw at Torquay would seem more important than the Autoglass Cup win at Wembley, or the Valencia win. But then while it didn’t have the glamour associated with those two games, it secured promotion at a difficult period and at the time I hoped it would be a new start for the club.

Ten games in 30 years only tells a small part of the story. I have missed out so many wonderful results and performances over the last few years (such as our first Premier League away win at Villa); the Football League Trophy win at the Millennium Stadium (and that goal from Trundle); the emotion of digging up a piece of turf with my son after the last ever game at the Vetch; winning 6-4 at Bradford (got that on video somewhere as well); the great 3-2 victory over Leeds in the Championship; and of course Premier League wins against Arsenal (home and away) and Man City. Oh and the League Cup victories at Chelsea and Liverpool of course.

That five of the 10 results have taken place in the last three seasons shows how wonderful these last few years have been and those of us over a certain age will never, ever, take it for granted. Here’s to the next 30 years!!