Swansea City played their first Premier League game 13 years ago this week and a player who came off the bench that day made the first of his 304 appearances for the club.
In the summer of 2011, following promotion to the top flight, Swans head coach Brendan Rodgers strengthened his squad with several new signings. Wayne Routledge joined the club from Newcastle United in a deal reportedly worth £1.8 million, a transfer fee that proved to be very good value for money over the next decade.
The winger, who joined the club as a 26-year-old, finished his career there and having been something of a wanderer before moving to South Wales, nobody would have expected Routledge to stay at Swansea for so long or make such an impact.
Wayne Routledge never looked back after leaving Newcastle United and joining Swansea City
Routledge signed for Newcastle United in January 2010 while the club was still in the Championship and helped the Magpies return immediately to the top flight, where they won the league title by 11 points.
However, following the club’s return to the Premier League, he struggled to play regularly and moved on loan to QPR, the team he had left for Newcastle the previous year, and helped the Hoops win the Championship, his second consecutive title.
Routledge had earned a reputation as a journeyman, having never been able to settle down at one club, and at the age of 26, Newcastle was the eighth club he had played for.
With that in mind, it probably wasn’t too exciting for Swansea fans when Routledge signed in August 2011, and no one would have expected him to stay at the club until the end of his career.
|
Wayne Routledge’s senior career – Transfermarkt |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Association |
Seasons |
P |
G |
A |
|
Crystal Palace |
2001-05 |
120 |
11 |
9 |
|
Tottenham Hotspur |
2005-08 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Portsmouth (loan) |
2006 |
13 |
0 |
2 |
|
Fulham (loan) |
2006-07 |
28 |
1 |
2 |
|
Aston Villa |
2008-08 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|
Cardiff City (loan) |
2008-09 |
9 |
2 |
5 |
|
QPR |
2009-10 |
49 |
7 |
14 |
|
Newcastle United |
2010-11 |
36 |
3 |
9 |
|
QPR (loan) |
2011 |
20 |
5 |
6 |
|
Swansea City |
2011-21 |
305 |
33 |
35 |
However, Routledge settled in well at Swansea and found a much-needed permanent home there, quickly becoming a regular under Rodgers before blossoming under Michael Laudrup during the 2012/13 season, in which he won the League Cup.
While fans weren’t exactly thrilled with the winger’s signing in the summer of 2011, given his unsteady career up until then, he developed into a mainstay over the course of the following decade and matured like a fine wine, being trusted to start in important matches until his retirement in 2021.
After spending time at various clubs and never finding his feet, a move to Swansea in 2011 proved to be the perfect move for Routledge and over the next decade he cemented his status as a cult hero in SA1.
Wayne Routledge will always be fondly remembered by Swansea City fans
Players such as Routledge and Kyle Naughton became polarising figures in their later years in the Premier League with Swansea, with fans doubting whether they were good enough for the top flight, so relegation may have been a blessing in disguise for the pair.
The winger showed all his quality and experience in the Championship. And the fact that, at 36, he was trusted to start in Swansea’s 2021 Championship play-off semi-final. It was his last game before his career ended due to injury. That speaks volumes about how highly he was regarded at the club.
Things haven’t always gone smoothly for Routledge in the Championship. Following relegation from the Premier League in 2018, he and his wing partner Nathan Dyer were initially excluded by Graham Potter and asked to leave to free up their Premier League wages.
Prior to Swansea’s trip to Brentford in December 2018, Routledge had only featured in four Championship matchday lineups, but injuries and poor form meant Potter had no choice but to include the experienced winger pair in the team and it paid immediate dividends for the Swans.
Routledge scored after just 20 seconds at Griffin Park to help his side to a 3-2 win, a performance that ultimately led to him returning to regular football and even signing a new contract to extend his stay.
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Over the next two seasons, Routledge helped his side reach two consecutive Championship play-off seasons before his final appearance for the club ended in injury in the Championship play-off semi-final against Barnsley in 2021.
This was to be the last game of his career and, although being stretchered off the pitch was not the ideal ending, it was fitting that his final appearance was helping Swansea reach the play-off final at Wembley.
The move to Swansea certainly came at the right time for Routledge and thanks to his ten years with the club, he will always be fondly remembered by fans.
Signing him from Newcastle in 2011 proved to be an incredible deal in hindsight and Routledge finally found the permanent home he had longed for. He will go down in history as a cult hero in SA1 and Swansea fans may even forgive him for playing nine games on loan at Cardiff City before his time at the club…
