Peter Swann

Authors:

By Peter Swann, Nick Johnson

Format:

Hardback

Availability:

In print, usually dispatched within 3-4 days.

Price:

£17.99 £16.19 (Save 10%)

Tagged with:

Football, Biography, Peter Swann, Sports Scandals, Match Fixing, Sheffield Wednesday FC

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Further Details

• Published: 1st Oct 2006
• ISBN: 0752440225
• Pages: 240
• Size: 235mm x 165mm

From the Publisher:

Top footballers in today's game enjoy multi-millionaire status - it is quite remarkable that Swan ruined his career for the sake of winning 100pounds on a bet...

For forty years, former England International Peter Swan has refused to tell his story and put the record straight. You can understand his reluctance. Swan was at the centre of the 'Biggest Sports Scandal of the Century'. He was one of the three Sheffield Wednesday players jailed for defrauding bookmakers after they bet on their own team to loose a game against Ipswich in 1962. The story was first splashed across the front page of The People and Swan has been avoiding the press ever since.

Swan served his time but was initially given a lifetime ban from returning to football - he got around it by playing in friendly matches under a different name. The ban was lifted after eight years, with Matt Busby a key figure in the campaign, and Swan made a comeback to professional football with Sheffield Wednesday. No other British player, before or since, has returned after so long out. After playing a season with Bury he moved on to management where he won the FA Trophy with non-league Matlock Town at Wembley, but found that he was effectively frozen out when he attempted a secure job in league management. Peter gracefully retired from football management to run his pub - jokingly dubbed The Crooked Swan by his regulars.

In 1997, the BBC screened The Fix - a drama that claimed to tell the truth about the scandal. Swan was to be disappointed. He writes: To say I was shocked at what I saw is an under-statement. I could hardly take in what I was watching. It was so far away from the truth, it was unbelievable.

Nick Johnson, a member of the Football Writers Association, won Swan's trust when he wrote up an interview with him which Swan says was ..the first time anyone has written exactly what I've said. A decade later, Swan asked Johnson to help write his autobiography. Swan writes: Writing this book has given me the chance to relive some wonderful moments from my career. There have been so many lies told about the scandal, so I wanted to put that right. As I'm now in my seventieth year, it seemed the right time to tell my story. I'm pleased to have been given the opportunity to set the record straight.

Candidly written, Peter Swan: Setting the Record Straight is the engrossing story of a man who made one mistake and has lived with the consequences ever since.