We were shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Kenny Jackett at the age of just 64. It’s been nearly twenty years since his spell as manager ended, but thinking back to that period and there were some great days, some of the best in a long long time.
Although it didn’t start that way, he wasn’t a universally popular appointment when he replaced Brian Flynn in April 2004 after a season that started with a bang ended with a respectable but slightly disappointing 10th place.
In came a host of signings, many of them defensive as improving a leaky back four became his priority. On a shoestring he signed, Sam Ricketts, Garry Monk, Kevin Austin, Willy Gueret and Adrian Forbes who would all be key players over the next couple of years.
After a slow start the Swans hit the summit of League 2 in October and remained in the promotion hunt for the rest of the campaign although a run of one win in nine in the new year threatened to derail our hopes of giving the Vetch a promotion Swansong in its final season.
Heading into Easter, Jackett’s side couldn’t afford many slip ups during the run in, but would win four of the next six leaving the final two games as must win if we had any chance of automatic promotion.
Both would prove to be unforgettable and it was one of his signings – Adrian Forbes would write himself into folklore.
Shrewsbury were the visitors for the final league game at our home of 93 years and whilst the game wasn’t a classic, Forbes scored the all important goal against a young Joe Hart to take the promotion race to the 46th game.
Over 5,000 Jacks travelled to Bury for one of the craziest away days in the club’s history the following week, and Forbes fired home in the first minute to cause pandemonium at Gigg Lane and the rest of the match was spent trying to see the game out. Jackett had to send a substituted Lee Trundle over to the fans late on to stop them coming on the pitch, but it was only delaying the inevitable as everyone charged towards the players tunnel at full time to celebrate promotion.
Of course it wouldn’t be Swansea without something crazy happening, and Jackett had to go to the police station after Willy Gueret ended up getting arrested in the celebrations.
There was still time for one more game at the Vetch a few days later – the visit of Wrexham in the FAW Cup and a 2-1 win rounded off a great season in style.
Bu new exciting period was about to begin as the Swans opened up their new home at the Liberty Stadium and the club took their new surroundings like a duck to water.
Up until this point Jackett had his critics for the style of play not always being easy on the eye, but the first few months of the 2005/6 season were an absolute joy.
Bristol City were battered 7-1, Chesterfield were on the wrong end of a 5-1 loss and by mid November the free scoring Swans were top of the league ahead of the visit of Yeovil which became our first sell out and highest crowd for over two decades as 19,000 watched us 2-0 victory either Lee Trundle playing the best football of his career and already on seventeen goals.
Jackett sought reinforcements in the January transfer window as we aimed for back to back promotions, but in truth we lost our way after that. There were injuries in defence but he didn’t seem to know his best team and the style of play became more cautious once more, although we still scraped into the playoffs in spite of winning only six of our final twenty six games.
Brentford were defeated in the semi finals but we would be denied a return to the second tier by Barnsley, who beat us on penalties despite the fact we outplayed them.
Despite the disappointment it had still been a successful season, the FAW Cup was defended and the Football League Trophy was won by beating Carlisle.
For the following season promotion was the clear aim, but in truth there was something missing. Jackett’s sides were inconsistent and while doing reasonably well, never looked like doing much more than hovering around the outskirts of the play-offs.
Nevertheless it was a big shock when he resigned in February 2007 citing a lack of support from everyone at the club.
When I interviewed him back in 2010 he explained to me that sometimes things reach their natural conclusion and with hindsight it’s hard to say he was wrong.
In spite of all the success he achieved it’s fair to say he wasn’t universally loved in south Wales. The way Roger Freestone was released was poor, a club legend deserved better than being released without being told it was his final game while cutting Roberto Martinez from the squad was very harsh. There was even a sense that Leon Britton would have to move as he struggled for game time before moving out wide a year later. Plus Leon Knight was banished having made a big impact in his short time in SA1.
But you can’t overlook the fact he was within a whisker of back to back promotions as well as the three Cup victories. There were other tasks in which he excelled at, there was a big drinking culture at the club and he did well get that under control as well as a lot of big characters at the club who he largely managed to keep in check which was no mean feat in that era. On the pitch Alan Tate became a right back rather than a centre back and won player of the year in 2005/6 and he moved Kris O’Leary to holding midfield from centre back and he would win player of the year in 2004/5. But the latter is probably partly why he wasn’t as popular as some managers, it was often about effectiveness rather than being easy on the eye as some of his selections suggested.
He was respected rather than loved, but I’d be surprised if that bothered him, I’ll remember him as a good man who was prepared to do what he thought was best for the Swans and if it upset people then so be it. History proved he got a lot of those calls right. There’s no doubt that he played a major role in our rise.
Both parties benefitted from each other. After his departure the Swans would scale even greater heights under Martinez and eventually grace the Premier League while Jackett went onto win promotion with Millwall and Wolves and had most recently worked as a director of football at Gillingham.
Looking back at his career you’d have to say he left nearly every club he managed in a better position than where he found them, and not many can say that. And in this day and age, not many managers would get near 922 games which is some doing in today’s game.
RIP Kenny, thanks for the memories
