FOREVER CLARET: PETER SWAN

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Peter Swan on his Turf Moor memories & new career

2024-03-06T16:00:00.000Z

FOREVER CLARET: PETER SWAN

Peter Swan on his Turf Moor memories & new career

2024-03-06T16:00:00.000Z

Peter Swan on his Turf Moor memories & new career

Former Claret Peter Swan attended the Clarets game against AFC Bournemouth at the weekend.

Hailing from Leeds, the defender who also played as a centre forward spent two spells at Burnley, one under Jimmy Mullen in 1995 and another in 1998 under Stan Ternent - his manager at three of his seven clubs.

Ahead of the game, Swan took the opportunity to reflect on his memories of playing for the Clarets, his fondness for Turf Moor and his new chapter which has seen him set up a Domiciliary Care Company.

“My time at Burnley was fantastic to be fair, because I had probably the worst year of my career when I was down at Plymouth. It was Burnley that got me out of it. There was a time when I was down at Plymouth when everything went against me, and I even thought of packing it in. But when Burnley called, it was Jimmy Mullen that came in and bought me I can’t remember what year 1994/95, it got me out of jail.

“I remember my first day in training I went and sat there, put my boots on, put my head down and just listened to all the northern accents and the banter flying around and the feeling I had was this is warm, this is where I wanted to be. I seemed isolated when I was at Plymouth so my memories of coming here for the first time were fantastic. Then I had two great years before I went off to Bury. But I loved my time here.”

The move to Bury in 1997 saw Swan reunite with Stan Ternent who had managed him earlier in his career at Hull City.

“Yes, Stan Ternent was to blame for taking me away from Burnley in the first place! He was my manager at Hull earlier in my career when I was 21/22 years old. Then he rung me out of the blue when I was here for two years and took me to Bury - who had just got promoted to the Championship.

“I’d been playing centre half for six, seven years and he rung me and said, ‘will you come and play for me in the Championship as a striker?’ and I thought that sounds like a completely different job. It’s like going from an electrician to a joiner but I thought yeah, I’ll try that, I’d love that, I got brought up as a striker.

“So, Stan brought me to Bury, I had a year with him there and then I remember being on a trip away, he took us away because we’d stayed up at Bury. We weren’t expected to stay up in the Championship, but he’d done a great job. I remember on the flight coming back from Marbella he said to me ‘Swanny I’ve been offered the Burnley job what do you think?’ I said, ‘It’s a fantastic job gaffer, it’s on your doorstep, you’re a Burnley lad, you’d love it you’ve got to take it.’ So, he got up to get out of the chair on the plane and I said, ‘Oh by the way gaffer, you brought me to Bury, I left Burnley, and I loved it there, so don’t forget me.’ And he didn’t look back. So, I said ‘Gaffer!’ and then he turned round with a little cheeky smile and a wink and went ‘I’ll sort it’ and he brought me back.”

Ternent, Swan says always had a way of managing to get the best out of him.

“I probably had 22/23 managers in my career and Stan Ternent three times as a manager. I don’t know if I’m scared of Stan, respect him too much, it’s just something about him he got the best out of me. He knew what buttons to press. He kept me hungry, whether it was through a contract or not playing certain games. Certain managers just know how to get the best out of players and that’s where you get the successful managers because that’s what it’s all about.”

With such positive memories of his time with the Clarets, what was it about the Lancashire club that made the experience so special?

“I’ve had seven, eight clubs I’ve played at, and this is probably the most traditional club I’ve played at. The reason why I say that is I used to go out and do some coaching in schools, you’d go there, and the kids would come out and every one of them would have a Burnley kit on. They wouldn’t have a Liverpool kit on, they wouldn’t have a Leeds kit on, they all had Burnley.

“Traditional is probably the word that I would say, everyone is together.”

Taking his seat for the game against Bournemouth, Swan’s passion has now turned to rugby, however he does keep an eye on his former club under manager Vincent Kompany.

“I keep an eye on all my former clubs. I’m not a football buff, I’ve started to not dislike football to be fair but I’m more of a rugby league fan now I’ve got into that.

“From what I have seen of Burnley though, it’s a fantastic club you’ve got here. It takes time to build, I know it can be up and down at the moment. But I think you’re going to have to do that for two or three years, or maybe longer than that, to get that stability.

“I think there’s a good manager here, obviously his experience speaks for itself. He’s already had that massive promotion when he first came so I think it’s just about being patient.”

And following his retirement from professional football, Swan now finds himself in a completely different industry - but one that he finds incredibly rewarding.

“Three or four years ago I set up my own care company, so I do Domiciliary care and I go and deliver the care myself.

“The rewards you get from that, from the emails, from the families. Would I have thought I’d fall into that industry being a big strong, solid centre half, to now, caring for people, getting them out of bed, making sure they’re clean, had their tablets and I love that. I’ve come out of some houses in the morning and my shoulders have been so far back, I’m so proud of what I’m doing.

“It was something that I looked at when I started out thinking can I do it, and it was only because we couldn’t get the right care for my Mam that we went into it.

“My staff now, I’ve got 22 staff, all family, and friends, so we’re a proper family run business over in the Leeds, Wakefield area.

“I wouldn’t say I enjoy it more because playing a football game is what I always wanted to do as a kid, that was the elite. But this is up there with it. It’s rewarding, I love it.”

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