St. DAVID'S PRESS

The swansea city alphabet

Huw Richards

At last, a comprehensive and well researched A-Z of the Swans that is both intelligent and readable, and most importantly, written by a genuine fan.
Gareth Phillips, author of Fans Eye City

As all good football A-Zs should be: passionate, well researched, beautifully illustrated and wilfully idiosyncratic
John Williams, former Director of the Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research

This is no ordinary A to Z guide to a football club.  Instead we are presented with an entertaining, informative, and at times idiosyncratic history of Swans, the like of which has not been seen before.  Its depth of knowledge, sharpness of observation, and quality of writing make the sum of the collection much greater than its many individual parts.  This will be a terrific read for all Swans fans, especially those who don't take their obsession too seriously!
Huw Bowen, Professor of History, Swansea University

Fascinating… bold and quirky but also scholarly, endlessly surprising and very witty. At every point, not least in the casual asides, the reader will be drawn into a richer appreciation of this always tantalisingly charming football club.
Peter Stead, historian, broadcaster & football fan

The Swansea City Alphabet evokes the experience of supporting the Swans, the highs and the lows, the good times and the bad. In it you will find the club greats - and not so greats - and events, themes and experiences in the club's eventful past and present.

From Vetch to Liberty and from Ivor to Trundle, it reflects the life and times of a club whose condition is often serious, but rarely dull. A lively and fascinating book , The Swansea City Alphabet provides a wealth of information and anecdotes including the High Court Judge who had something in common with the North Bank urinals, the Swans great who was born in gaol and the pioneering goalscorer who ended up as a bishop.

A personal selection, but one that will appeal to all supporters of Swansea City, it is written with warmth and humour by a lifelong fan. It is copiously illustrated both from the author's own collection of memorabilia, and includes over 80 photographs.

Huw Richards is a third-generation Swans fan, an experienced journalist and a trained historian. He writes on the Swans and Wales for When Saturday Comes, as well as contributing to the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune, and is a regular broadcaster on sports issues. In 2005 he was short-listed for the prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for his book Dragons and All Blacks. 

Huw wrote the 1945-65 section of The Vetch Field: A People's History. He was also co-editor of For Club and Country: Welsh Football Greats, contributing the chapters on Ivor Allchurch and John Toshack. This is his sixth book.