Swan: Peter Harold (Peter)

1985-1989 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Defender/Forward

Born: Leeds: 28-09-1966

Debut v Manchester City (a) (Substitute): 14-10-1985

6’0” 11st 12lb (1987)

A pupil of Middleton Park School, he represented Leeds City boys from under-ten to under-fifteen and Yorkshire at Under-Fifteen and Under-Eighteen levels and played for Yorkshire Amateurs. After serving his apprenticeship, he signed for Leeds in August 1984. Although he was primarily a defender, Swan contributed some useful goals when used as a target man in attack, where he made good use of his physique. He was part of the Leeds United Junior teams that produced Scott Sellars, Tommy Wright, Terry Phelan, Roger Eli, John Scales and Dennis Irwin, but while most of the others were given their chances by Eddie Gray, it was not until after the arrival of Billy Bremner that he made his first team breakthrough. His debut was made as a substitute for central defender, Andy Linighan, in a Full Members Cup game, as was his second game. His League debut came on 1st January 1986, in a 3-1 home win over Oldham Athletic, when he partnered Neil Aspin in central defence, but three days later he partnered Ian Baird as striker in the 0-1 loss away to Peterborough United in the F.A. Cup. The remainder of his fifteen League starts in that 1985-86 season were as a striker, with Ian Baird but he scored just three goals, his first two goals for United coming in the 4-0 home win over Stoke City on 1st February 1986. 1986-87 saw him on the fringes as he reverted to defensive duties. It was back to the attack in 1987-88, when after a couple of games as a substitute in mid-October, he forced his way into the team, firstly as joint-spearhead with Bob Taylor, during which time he scored in three consecutive League games and twice in a fourth game, a 2-2 home draw with Oldham Athletic in the League Cup, before Bobby Davison and later Ian Baird became the twin strikers with Bob Taylor. This saw Swan revert to central defence where he played the final ten League games. He was unable to get into Bremner's starting side in 1988-89 and the arrival of Howard Wilkinson saw him put in a succession of transfer requests as the two did not form a mutual admiration society. Wilkinson finally agreed to let him go as he needed funds to buy Gordon Strachan from Manchester United. He was sold to Hull City for £200,000 on 23rd March 1989, a then club record fee for the Tigers. He was bought by his former manager Eddie Gray who sought to add some backbone to his struggling Tigers team. He was used mostly as a centre half for Hull though his occasional switches to the position of emergency striker soon became known as 'The Swan Option' amongst Tigers' fans. It was while at Boothferry Park that he first came under the tutelage of Stan Ternent, who had taken over from Colin Appleton in November 1989 after he had replaced Eddie Gray the previous May, and the two developed an understanding which would have an impact on the rest of Swan's career. He started seventy-six League games for Hull together with another four from the bench and scored an impressive twenty-four goals and scored another goal in two starts and three games from the bench in the League Cup in his two year stay. After Hull were relegated in the 1990-91 season he chose to stay in the Second Division and Eddie Gray, who acted as his agent, did the negotiations as he joined Port Vale for £300,000 in August 1991. He twice played at Wembley in 1993 as Port Vale won the Autoglass Trophy Final by beating Stockport County 2-1. Then, eight days later he returned to the hallowed turf as Port Vale met West Bromwich Albion in the Second Division Play-off Final, but suffered the indignity of being sent off, by bringing down former Leeds teammate Bob Taylor who was clear through on goal, as the Baggies won 3-0. In his three year stay at Vale Park he started one hundred and five League games and played a further six games from the bench and scored five goals. He also scored once in nine starts in the F.A. Cup and started six League Cup games, without scoring while in the Autoglass Trophy he scored once in twelve starts. After being a regular in the Vale team which achieved promotion to the First Division in 1993-94 he was signed by Division Two Plymouth Argyle for £300,000 in July 1994. Signed by Peter Shilton, for a team supposedly destined for promotion, he made a scoring debut, but Plymouth were humbled in a 1-5 home defeat by Brentford on 13th August 1994. Although he went on to captain the Pilgrims and was voted third best player at the end of the season, his stay at Home Park was not a success, as they were relegated to Division Three, and he had his first of several fallings out with Neil Warnock and after playing his final game for the Devon side in a 2-2 draw at Crewe Alexandra on 22nd April 1995, on 4th August 1995 he moved to newly relegated Division Two side Burnley for £200,000. While at Home Park he scored twice in twenty-seven League games, of which three were as a substitute, and also scored once in two League Cup starts and made two starts in the F.A. Cup without scoring. He made his Turf Moor debut on the opening day of the 1995-96 season in a 2-1 home win over Rotherham United on 12th August 1995 and in his first spell at Turf Moor he stayed for two years and made his last appearance in a 3-1 away win at Blackpool on 25th February 1997. In that time he made forty-seven League starts and two more from the bench and he scored seven goals, while he made three F.A. Cup, two League Cup and six Football Trophy starts, without scoring. He moved down the road to Gigg Lane and joined Stan Ternent on 8th August 1997 for £50,000, making his League debut in a 1-1 home draw with Reading on on the following day as a sixty-ninth minute substitute for striker Ronnie Jepson and with the newly-promoted Bury he helped them achieve a seventeeth spot in the First Division by netting six times from thirty-seven League games, eleven of which were as a substitute, and he also made one start in the F.A. Cup and one start and one game from the bench in the League Cup but did nor score in either competition. He was back at Turf Moor for the next season signing on a free transfer on 28th August 1998 and made his League debut in his second spell at Turf Moor in a 1-3 loss at Walsall on the following day. He stayed for almost two seasons, but only made eleven starts and eight substitute appearances in the League and hardly featured in the first team in the second season. He played his final game for Burnley as a seventy-fourth minute substitute for Lenny Johnrose on 29th January 2000 in a 2-2 away draw with Stoke City. He signed for Third Division York City on 14th March 2000, becoming captain, but only managed only eleven games before he was forced to quit football after sustaining serious knee cartilage damage. He had injured his knee in a pre-season friendly and underwent exploratory surgery in August 2000, which revealed the injury was worse than first feared. He dropped into Non-League with Ossett Town in November 2000 where he tried management before being axed in 2002. He tried being a football agent but became procurement manager for a Sheffield-based Company. He gained a coaching licence and has worked in football broadcasting in Hull and writes a column for the Hull Daily Mail. His son George started with the Leeds United Academy before being transferred to the Manchester City Academy, at the age of fourteen, along with Louis Hatton for £800,000. He rose to captain of the under-eighteen team but suffered a broken leg, had a cruciate knee ligament operation and a lateral knee ligament operation before returning to Elland Road on trial in the summer of 2014. He had had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Stromsgodset in Norway in his final season at City. He was released by Leeds and he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on the recommendation of Scott Sellars, his former coach at the Etihad, and was on trial until Christmas 2014 and was still in the Under-Twenty-One squad at Easter.