# 1981–82 Swansea City A.F.C. season

During the 1981–82 English football season, Swansea City A.F.C. competed in the Football League First Division, following promotion from the Second Division. It was their debut season in the English top flight and the first season in which a Welsh club was part of the top English league since arch-rivals Cardiff City were relegated at the end of 1961–62.

## Background

Swansea's rise to the top flight of English football had come only four seasons after competing in the Fourth Division and thus few tipped Swansea to survive in the First Division. Swansea soon proved the naysayers wrong by crushing Leeds United 5–1 in their first match ever in the top flight, with debutant Bob Latchford scoring a hat-trick. The win saw Swansea rise from the basement division to the top of the entire Football League in barely three years. Victories over footballing royalty such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur followed as the club topped the league on several further occasions. However, injuries to key players took their toll, and the lack of depth in the squad meant that the season ended in sixth-place finish.

### Transfers
#### In

* Dai Davies - Wrexham, July
* Ray Kennedy - Liverpool, January, £160,000
* Ian Walsh - Crystal Palace, February
* Colin Irwin - Liverpool, £338,800

#### Out

* Leighton Phillips - Charlton Athletic, June, £25,000
* David Giles - Leyton Orient, December, loan

## Football League First Division
### Results

Last updated: 4 September 2013 Source:

### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 67 | 48 | +19 | 71 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 5 | Arsenal | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 48 | 37 | +11 | 71 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Swansea City | 42 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 58 | 51 | +7 | 69 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round |
| 7 | Southampton | 42 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 72 | 67 | +5 | 66 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 8 | Everton | 42 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 56 | 50 | +6 | 64 | |
* ↑ Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1981–82 FA Cup winners.
* ↑ Swansea City qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round as the 1982 Welsh Cup winners.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: statto.com

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | D | W | W | L | D | W | L | D | W | L | L | W | L | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | W | D | W | W | L | L | L | W | L | L |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |

## FA Cup

Last updated: 4 September 2013 Source:

## Football League Cup

Last updated: 4 September 2013 Source:

## Welsh Cup

Last updated: 19 January 2014 Sources:, Welsh Football Data Archive

## European Cup Winners' Cup

Last updated: 4 September 2013 Source:

## Kit

Swansea's kit was manufactured by Belgian company Patrick. The kit bore no sponsorship.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | WAL | Dai Davies |
| — | DF | ENG | Colin Irwin (captain) |
| — | DF | WAL | Wyndham Evans |
| — | DF | WAL | Dudley Lewis |
| — | DF | WAL | Nigel Stephenson |
| — | DF | YUG | Džemal Hadžiabdić |
| — | DF | YUG | Ante Rajković |
| — | MF | ENG | Ray Kennedy |
| — | MF | WAL | David Giles |
| — | MF | WAL | Leighton James |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | WAL | Robbie James |
| — | MF | WAL | John Mahoney |
| — | MF | WAL | Chris Marustik |
| — | MF | WAL | Neil Robinson |
| — | FW | WAL | Jeremy Charles |
| — | FW | WAL | Alan Curtis |
| — | FW | WAL | Dean Saunders |
| — | FW | WAL | John Toshack (player-manager) |
| — | FW | WAL | Ian Walsh |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | WAL | David Giles (on loan to Leyton Orient) |

## Squad statistics

    Last updated on 4 September 2013

### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Player | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Welsh Cup | Welsh Cup | Cup Winners' Cup | Cup Winners' Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | App. | Goals | App. | Goals | App. | Goals | App. | Goals | App. | Goals | App. | Goals |
| - | GK | Dai Davies | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 53 | 0 |
| - | GK | Chris Sander | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| - | GK | David Stewart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| - | DF | Ante Rajković | 40 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 51 | 1 |
| - | DF | Colin Irwin | 37 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 2 |
| - | DF | Džemal Hadžiabdić | 25(+1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33(+1) | 0 |
| - | DF | Max Thompson | 22(+1) | 1 | 0(+1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27(+2) | 2 |
| - | DF | Nigel Stevenson | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0(+1) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 28(+1) | 0 |
| - | DF | Dudley Lewis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| - | DF | Wyndham Evans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(+2) | 0 | 1(+2) | 0 |
| - | DF | Gary Richards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| - | DF | Dave Rushbury | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| - | MF | Robbie James | 42 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 53 | 20 |
| - | MF | Leighton James | 34(+4) | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 46(+4) | 12 |
| - | MF | Neil Robinson | 27(+2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 37(+2) | 1 |
| - | MF | John Mahoney | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3(+2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 32(+2) | 0 |
| - | MF | Gary Stanley | 22(+7) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31(+7) | 5 |
| - | MF | Chris Marustik | 19(+3) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27(+3) | 1 |
| - | MF | Ray Kennedy | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| - | MF | Brian Attley | 2(+2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(+1) | 0 | 0(+1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3(+4) | 1 |
| - | MF | Jimmy Loveridge | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| - | MF | David Giles | 0(+2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(+2) | 0 | 0(+4) | 0 |
| - | MF | Tommy Craig | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| - | FW | Alan Curtis | 40 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 52 | 13 |
| - | FW | Bob Latchford | 31 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5(+1) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 41(+1) | 15 |
| - | FW | Jeremy Charles | 9(+4) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 14(+4) | 3 |
| - | FW | Ian Walsh | 3(+2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(+1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3(+3) | 2 |
| - | FW | Darren Gale | 0(+1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(+1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(+2) | 0 |

### Top scorers

| Place | Position | Nationality | Number | Name | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Welsh Cup | Cup Winners' Cup | Total |
| 1 | MF | | - | Robbie James | 15 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 20 |
| 2 | FW | | - | Bob Latchford | 12 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| 3 | FW | | - | Alan Curtis | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| 4 | MF | | - | Leighton James | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| 5 | MF | | - | Gary Stanley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | FW | | - | Jeremy Charles | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | FW | | - | Ian Walsh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | | - | Ray Kennedy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | MF | | - | Chris Marustik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | DF | | - | Ante Rajković | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | DF | | - | Neil Robinson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | | - | Max Thompson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | DF | | - | Colin Irwin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | DF | | - | Brian Attley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | - | - | - | Own goal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 58 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 1 | 81 |