Swansea City: Stalwart Christian O’Leary is still enjoying every moment 30 years on

O’Leary has seen hundreds of players come and go, either as a teammate or as a member of the squad he has coached.

There was always a desire, he said, that those who came understood what the place was.

“Even as a player, I hated it if anyone said anything negative about the club, the city, the people, anything,” O’Leary explained.

“I take it personally. So I do everything I can to make sure everyone who comes here has the best possible experience. Swansea City, As I had, and they see it as I see it.”

O’Leary’s first appearance Swansea 1986 game against Manchester United, a friendly played to raise money for the cash-strapped Welsh team.

It was his first – but certainly not last – experience of a crisis at the club.

As a teenager, O’Leary was involved with the Swans’ youth team and by 1995–96 he was knocking on the first team’s door.

That was a season Swansea There were no fewer than four managers — including the unknown Kevin Cullis, who lasted a week — and was now languishing in League Two.

Jan Molby was in charge at the back of the campaign, and it was the former Liverpool star who handed O’Leary his debut, in a 5–1 defeat at Bradford City in March 1996.

While all Swansea’s senior professionals were in tracksuits, O’Leary and another youth prospect, Damien Lacey, traveled to the game in “trousers and a polo shirt” as, in those days, there was no youth kit.