Peter Swan

There was an obituary in The Times today about a man I'd never heard of called Peter Swan. It oozes with illustrative material for preachers. It can be accessed here.

This is the gist -

Commanding England centre-half who was tipped to become a football ‘great’ before his career was ruined by a betting scandal

Peter Swan effectively sold his soul for £50. That was the money the England footballer won from a bet after allegedly agreeing to fix the result of a football match in 1962. The decision cost him his career as a professional footballer, a place in England’s World Cup-winning side in 1966 and his self-respect.

When England beat Italy 3-2 ... in Rome in 1961, the Italian media had hailed Swan as “the best centre-half in the world” ... Swan would have played for England in the 1966 World Cup ....

Swan’s career started to unravel after training at Sheffield Wednesday one day. He got into a huddle with his team-mates David “Bronco” Layne and Tony Kay and agreed to bet against their own side. Kay had been approached by Jimmy Gauld, a veteran player at Mansfield Town who was involved in a professional betting syndicate.

Layne suggested that Wednesday always lost away to Ipswich and so why not choose their game against the Suffolk club on December 1, 1962. Swan, Kay and Layne each paid £50 to place a bet on Ipswich Town beating Sheffield Wednesday at odds of 2-1. The money was enticing. Swan had a growing family and Christmas was coming up. His wages were relatively modest. No one would ever know.

Ipswich ... won the match 2-0. In the event, Swan was not required to do anything to influence the result. “The game went like it always did at Ipswich. What if it had been 0-0 with five minutes to go? I don’t know .... But the only thing I had done wrong - and I knew I had done wrong - was the bet.”

The indiscretion was largely forgotten until, two years later, Gauld attempted to forestall financial ruin by selling his story to the Sunday People for £7,000 (£138K today) using taped conversations with Layne as evidence. Swan, Layne and Kay were banned from football for life and later faced criminal charges.

At Nottingham assizes in 1965 Swan .... was found guilty ... sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay £100 costs, his winnings on the bet .....

When Swan was released his banishment started to bite. He was not even allowed to attend matches. “When the wind blew you could hear the roar from Hillsborough at our house and that was hard. I played for a pub side and they got fined for having me. I wasn’t even allowed to go and watch my son, Carl, play. It was like they’d cut my legs off.”

He remained in the wilderness until 1972, when the Sheffield MP Joe Ashton and ... Sir Matt Busby successfully lobbied to have his life ban from football lifted .... He re-signed for Sheffield Wednesday and on August 12, 1972 made his first appearance ... in eight years at the age of 36. He then led the team out to a deafening roar. “I turned to where my wife, Norma, was sitting with our five sons. Gratitude and humility engulfed me. I felt like running into the crowd and embracing all those forgiving fans who had made my return the proudest day of my life. It was the day I regained my self-respect.”

Peter Swan was born one of eight sons in South Elmsall, near Pontefract .... He joined Sheffield Wednesday as an amateur at 15 and worked in the local pit during the week .... Swan made his debut against Barnsley in November 1955 and by 1958 was a regular .... His ascent coincided with a period of great success for the club .... He made his England debut ... in May 1960 and stayed in the team for the next 19 matches ....

Swan had married Norma Clifton in 1957. She predeceased him in 2007. ....

... After playing 15 games in the 1972-73 season he moved to Bury, where he captained the side and helped them to win promotion to the Third Division. He retired at the end of the 1973-74 season and became manager of non-league Matlock Town, guiding them to the FA Trophy in 1975. Swan applied for managerial vacancies at many league clubs, but the scandal counted against him and eventually he went back to running a pub in Chesterfield.

In an interview with The Times in 2010, during which he broke down in tears and admitted to feeling daily remorse, Swan warned that corruption was still rife ....

He remained proud of having played for his country and wrote to the Football Association to request a new England badge for his blazer after losing the original. He did not receive a reply.

Peter Swan, footballer, was born October 8, 1936. He died of pneumonia on January 20, 2021, aged 84