Read Swansea editor Declan Terry recently interviewed former Swansea striker, Lee Thorpe.

Thorpe played for many different teams in many divisions in English football, scoring over 100 goals in his career. Here, Lee speaks about the Vetch Field, Kenny Jackett, Lee Trundle, Garry Monk and of course, Swansea City Football Club. Enjoy!

You made over 400 appearances in a career spanning over 18 years, but how was your time at Swansea City?

My time at Swansea was great, and obviously I’ve got good memories at Swansea because we got promoted in what was the last season at the Vetch and even though I didn’t play too much for Swansea at the Vetch, I did play for quite a few clubs at the Vetch against Swansea so it was always one of them grounds; it was a nice ground to play at and always had a good atmosphere, and it was even better when I moved to Swansea and started playing there as a Swansea player. My fondest memories would be that season when we won the Welsh Cup in the last game at the Vetch, and getting promoted against Bury on the last day. Even though I was there for a short time, it was quite eventful.

You mentioned the Vetch Field, just how good was the atmosphere?

It was quite an intimidating place to play at when you were a visiting player, but when I played there when I was a Swansea player I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was great, and I don’t know what it was but it was just one of them old grounds that carried a bit of history and when you played there for Swansea, it wasn’t so much like going back to the old days, but it kind of was in the way the dressing rooms were, the stands, the little alleyway you walked through to get to the changing rooms and the prison behind it as well. It’s always a place that I’ll remember well, and I remember some good times there too.

After the 2005 promotion, could you ever have predicted Swansea would do as well as they are now?

Not really, but I suppose in my second season there, I didn’t play at all really and it was a bit disappointing because we had just moved to the new ground and then I ended up going out on loan a few times that season and did quite well. I felt as if I could give something to the team that season, and I had chances to leave during my second season but I could see that the club was going in the right direction. The squad that was assembled at the time was brilliant and I carried on and stayed at Swansea when I could have moved to a couple of other clubs because I felt it was better for my career to stay and at least train with the players. I suppose if I look back at my career, my time at Swansea was the last big club I played for. They’re a massive club and it was on its way up back then, so it was wasn’t that much surprising because during my time there they were already on the way up. They then moved into the new stadium and it’s just been a never ending upwards spiral from then on. I think the club is ran very well; even when I was there they seemed to have had everything sorted. And when they kept going up after I moved on to pastures new, I suppose I wasn’t that surprised, but to get to the Premier League and to stay in the Premier League the way that they have and how they’ve become an established club is something great. I’d say they’re now one of the best teams in the Premier League, but I wouldn’t have expected it to go like that. But at the same time I wasn’t too surprised when they got to the Premiership because everything was right at the club to that.

Going back to 2005, how was playing under Kenny Jackett?

I played under Kenny and I thought he was a good manager and a good coach. I did get on with Kenny Jackett to start with, and I helped with the promotion, playing on the last day against Bury and then was quite confident that I was going to play a big part in the next season. But it didn’t work out as well as it could have, but I don’t have too much to say about that because there was times that I felt hard done by. I wasn’t really given a chance, and some people might have said the players there were better than me, but I felt my style of play could help and the lads up front responded well to me because I’d take the heat off the big players. The defenders were in a game when they played against me and I could free up people like Trunds. To be honest, I didn’t leave the club with a bad taste in my mouth, but I suppose Kenny left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth for different reasons. One of them reasons being that I didn’t get a fair crack at the whip. As history showed, Kenny isn’t patient with strikers and some managers are like that and after I left, I feel Swansea left a revolving door for strikers, but that’s just the type of manager Kenny is and I’m just unfortunate that I was one of those casualties.

You mentioned it briefly, but was your lack of game-time due to that of Lee Trundle?

I never expected to get in the team in front of Trunds. When I signed for Swansea, one of the reasons they took me in because they needed somebody to get the knocks and be a target man so Trunds could get his goals and do his bit. Trunds was a great player and to play on the same pitch as him was great, and he’s a good friend and he used to tell me that he enjoyed player up there with me because defenders had something else to think about when I was playing. Trunds was able to get on with what he was good at.

In the end, you eventually were loaned to Torquay, and it worked out well. But you’ll probably be remembered most for your outstanding over-head kick goal against Stockport.

Yeah, the time I had at Torquay was good, I enjoyed a good spell at Peterborough on loan from Swansea too. I felt that when I went down a level, at the time I was very sharp. When I went to Torquay I think we were 10 points adrift at the bottom and we eventually managed to stay up and I played a really big part in that. It was down to my time at Swansea because I’d been training with better players and it showed when I went out on loan. I came back from my first loan at Peterborough after I’d done well there and Swansea had good reports from my time at Peterborough and wanted me to come back. I came back but still didn’t get given a chance. I was always the type of player that if I wasn’t playing, I never stuck around; it was all about playing for me and being out there on a Saturday.

After playing with Garry Monk, could you ever had foreseen that he’d be a very successful manager?

From my time at Swansea, I remember Monks and Roberto Martinez were those type of fellas. They were good captains and if Roberto wasn’t playing, Garry would be captain and vice versa. The success that the club had when I was there was definitely down to those two. They were leaders in the dressing room and out on the pitch, maybe Monks was a bit more outspoken and more of a harder person whereas Roberto lead by example and was a really good manager of the players and Monks was more of a rallier and a bit of a warrior too. I’m not really surprised, they both were really good players and I look at them two guys and think to myself that they were very good captains and normally guys like that make a link to management.

After our interview with Kevin Austin

Yeah, Monks was a good joker, but he was very determined and he was also a winner. With Monks there was always a time for jokes, but there was a time to get down to business. He wore his heart on his sleeve. I was a little bit surprised how well he’d done, but the job he’s doing and the way he is just shows that he’s an intelligent guy. And what he has done, is have some good managers in his time, and ran through the leagues and when you get the chance like he’s had, he’s took it. The chairman’s backed him and the fans have backed him, so it’s one of those situations that shows just how clever he is. Behind all the laughing and joking, there’s a great manger in him.

How do you think Swansea will do this season?

I always think Swansea will do well, I like the style of play Monks does, I think he’s very tactically shrewd too. I see the changes he makes and he looks like he’s got good people around him. They always seem prepared well and with Monks it’s always about preparation. He’s always got a game-plan or he’s planning his next move and that’s always a good sign with managers. He’s also got the players on his side which helps a lot. At the time he took over until now, he’s sort of dismantled the team and got rid of a lot of foreigners, which at some stage I think it was holding Swansea back a bit. He seems to have got a good blend now and now they work a lot harder than before. With the foreigners, fans can get carried away with that because it’s all good and well, but will it last? I think Monks saw that it wouldn’t last and brought it back to the old Swansea where it was about team spirit and getting the nitty-gritty lads that can play as well. I like the look of Swansea’s team, especially in the striker’s department. I think Gomis was a great signing, and I watched him a lot in the French league. It was good they took a chance on him, because I’ve always rated him as a player. That’s another thing, Swansea seem to get it right with the scouting systems and they don’t seem to make any bad signings. They sign players well sourced and well looked at, and they come into the Swansea side and always fit in well. I think this season we could be surprised how they finish. You never see Swansea scared of playing anyone event though it’s very tough game for Swansea playing against all the big clubs.

We’d like to thank Lee very much for taking the time to speak to us, we know he’s very busy coaching in the Blackpool setup. We, along with a the Swansea fans wish him all the best for the future – YJB!