saintsfc.co.uk provides ten facts you may not have known about Southampton's Barclays Premier League opponents on Sunday, Swansea City.
1 - Swansea City became the first team from Wales to win promotion to the English Premier League when they beat Reading 4-2 in the Championship Play-off Final at Wembley in 2011.
2 - The Swans are the only team from the Premier League never to have reached the final of the FA Cup. Gary Monk’s side lost 3-1 to Blackburn Rovers last weekend as they were knocked out of the competition.
3 - Wilfried Bony, who joined ahead of the 2013/14 season, is the club’s most expensive signing and also their most expensive sale (when he joined Manchester City earlier in the transfer window).
4 - In 2000, Swansea City’s Jamaican striker Walter Boyd hit the headlines for receiving a red card before play restarted, after he came on as a substitute, for striking a Darlington player.
5 - Kevin Cullis holds the record for Swansea City’s shortest-lived manager. His spell in charge lasted just seven days in February 1996. He took charge of just one-and-a-half-games, after it was reported senior players took control of a half-time team talk in just his second game.
6 - Swansea City’s mascot Cyril the Swan was banned for two matches in 1999 after clashing with then Norwich City Director of Football, Bryan Hamilton, during a League Cup tie.
7 - Cyril the Swan was almost replaced by a black swan called Sid the Cygnet. Cyril appeared on the National Lottery and needed an odd number to be drawn. Number 47 came up and Cyril the Swan kept his place.
8 - There are two possible origins of Swansea’s ‘Jacks’ nickname. One is the reputation of local “Jack Tars” in the early 19th century, while the other is the black retriever dog called Swansea Jack who rescued no fewer than 27 people from drowning in the River Taw and Swansea Docks during the 1930s.
9 – Swansea City have won the Welsh Cup ten times and finished runners-up on a further eight occasions. The last time they competed in the competitions was in 1995, due to a rule change meaning teams competing in the English league system cannot take part.
10 – Southampton winger Eljero Elia was a neighbour of Swansea City director John van Zweden in Holland when he was growing up.
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