Kenneth Swain (born 28 January 1952) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played in numerous positions, including striker,

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and full back.

Playing career

Swain began his professional career with Londoners

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, signing from

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

in the summer of 1973. As he had been a non-contract player with Wycombe, having joined them from college football, his signing-on fee was just £500. He made his League debut for Chelsea in 1974. His most successful season with the club came in 1976-77, when his strike partnership with Steve Finnieston helped

Eddie McCreadie Edward Graham McCreadie (born 15 April 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played at left-back, mainly for Chelsea. He later became a football manager. Career McCreadie started his footballing career with amateur Scottish side Drumchapel ...

's young side win promotion back to the First Division. He remained with Chelsea until 1979, when they were relegated, and then signed for Aston Villa for £100,000. With Villa, Swain was switched to full-back and was a part of the team which won the league championship and European Cup in consecutive seasons. He left Villa in 1982 and had spells with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and finally

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. He achieved success later in his career, adding to the league title and European Cup winner's medals at Aston Villa with a Second Division runners-up medal at Portsmouth in 1987, and achieving promotion in third place with Crewe from the Fourth Division in 1989.

Managerial career

Following his retirement, he moved into management, with stints at

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. He also managed the England under-16s for a decade between 2004–2014 and was as an assistant coach for the

England national under-17 football team The England national under-17 football team, also known as England under-17s or England U17(s), represents England in football at an under-17 age level and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England. T ...

between 2012–13.

Personal life

Between 2002 and 2004, Swain was Director of Football at

Thomas Telford School Thomas Telford School (commonly referred to as TTS) is a City Technology College in Telford, Shropshire and is sponsored by The Mercers Company and Tarmac Holdings Limited. Prior to 2016 the mixed ability school ranked as the top performing co ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Aston Villa * Football League First Division: 1980–81 * FA Charity Shield:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

(shared) * European Cup: 1981–82 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1980–81 First Division, 1981–82 First Division

References

● Playfair football annuals 1974-75 to 1992-93

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Kenny Living people 1952 births Aston Villa F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English footballers English football managers Grimsby Town F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff Nottingham Forest F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Sportspeople from Birkenhead West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. managers Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Association football defenders