Sunday, 4 August 2013

All Time Swans XI - Right Forward - Lee Trundle

"Magic daps" completes the triumvirate of Swansea forwards




Now, I know there have been question marks over the formation of my All Time XI so far, but think about it. If you had Trundle, in his pomp-laden heyday, cutting inside from the right in the Swans' current formation, with two other quality forwards (such as Latchford and Curtis) causing havoc with the defence elsewhere, you'd have a seriously tasty forward line. 

Trundle joined from Wrexham and was thereafter never far from the headlines, be it for his trickery on the field or his choice of t-shirts in the wake of Football League Trophy wins, but his place in the hearts of Swans fans is assured for bringing a touch of finesse to a side who had, for a good few years prior to his arrival, had a philosophy not dissimilar to that of the England rugby union team. Under John Hollins we'd been adept at sneaking a goal and then defending for 90 minutes, but the arrival of Trundle quickly put paid to any lingering remnants of dreary football, as fans started to expect the unexpected from their flashy new frontman. After all, it wasn't so long before that that we had such luminaries as Dave O'Gorman, Aidan Newhouse and Tommy Mutton vying for a first-team berth - Trundle was quite the departure indeed. 

Starting his career at a series of clubs in the North West, Trundle played for Burscough, Chorley, Staylbridge Celtic, Southport and the nattily named Bamber Bridge FC before finally drawing the attention of Wrexham whilst playing for Rhyl in the Welsh Premier League. He'd started to score goals for fun at that level, so a step up to professional football was the natural progression and he didn't disappoint - going on to perform well enough in his three seasons there to earn a move south to a Swansea City side now under the command of Brian Flynn - the man who'd signed him for Wrexham. 

Trundle immediately endeared himself to the Jack Army with a debut-day goal against Bury, and a hat-trick in his next outing against Cheltenham. His preference for the extraordinary quickly saw him shoot to fame - in part due to his willingness to send in footage of his trickery to Soccer AM, as they had/have a feature called "The Showboat" which is tailor-made for Trundle's brand of football. There was one match, which I had the pleasure of attending, where Trundle pulled off so many flicks, tricks and dragbacks that he was awarded his own Showboat "Special". Apologies for the quality of the video, but it's still a good watch; as a starry eyed teenager whose favourite player was once Ryan Casey, you can imagine how jaw-droppingly awesome it was to see this kind of thing going on right in front of the North Bank:





All in all, Trundle went on to make 194 appearances for the Swans in all competitions scoring 91 goals, making him one of Swansea's most successful goalscorers - and some of them were absolute peaches. I vividly remember one in front of the old East Stand/Terrace, where he had his back to goal before spinning on a sixpence, beating his man all ends up, and dispatching a cool composed finish into the far corner, but the goal that always sticks out in your memory is probably the same one that sticks out in mine; the opener in the Football League Trophy final against Carlisle United.

With the game only three minutes old, Leon Britton snatched up a loose ball on the right hand side and proceeded to loft a ball diagonally towards Trundle. What happened next was, in all honesty, plain ridiculous as Trundle, a striker playing for a League One club, chested the ball beautifully down and volleyed it across goal into the far corner in the next movement - an absolutely stunning finish which would have gone down as one of the great cup final goals had it been scored by Didier Drogba or Cristiano Ronaldo in more celebrated circumstances. See for yourself:





Great isn't it? Trundle ended up moving on to Bristol City for a cool £1million, but it never really happened for him there and, short loan spells at Leeds & the Swans exempt, he went on to play for Neath Athletic as well as Marine AFC back on Merseyside. Excellent bloggers Lostboyos went to see him in action - read about their exploits here: http://lostboyos.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/lost-in-marine/

In more recent times Trundle has returned to the Swans, and has been appointed an ambassador and youth coach - the youngsters coming through the system will do well to learn a few of Trundle's tricks but it seems his role is largely to do with maintaining good relationships with the community and fanbase - hell, he's even agreed to do an interview for The Swansea Way! Hopefully we'll get that sorted soon...

Trundle was someone who was always going to make the grade for my All Time Swans XI, as for me he helped to shrug off negative hangups on the field much like the current regime shrugged off years of malpractice behind the scenes. While the board had to scrutinise accounts, bills, wage budgets and the like, it was Trundle's job to produce goals, and to make the fans believe that there was something better around the corner. He did just that, and boy were they right...

Don't forget to check out the other inductees into my All Time Swans XI:






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