Hartson's Hammers memories

When it comes to Swansea and West Ham, one man who is well placed to pass comment is former Wales international John Hartson.

Big John never got the chance to pull on the Swans shirt during a stellar career, but his 33 goals in 73 appearances for the Hammers made him a firm favourite at Upton Park.

And in an exclusive interview in Saturday’s matchday programme, Hartson looked back at his time in the capital with fond memories.

“I had a great couple of years there,” he said. “Harry Redknapp signed me and I formed a good partnership with Paul Kitson and between the two of us, we scored the goals that kept us up in my first season.

“In my second season there I scored 24 goals, which was only one behind Andy Cole who was the Premier League’s top scorer that year.

“I got on really well with the fans there and I was fortunate enough to play with some great players at the time such as Rio, Frank, Joe Cole and Ian Bishop.”

Ironically, his last game for West Ham came against the Swans in an FA Cup third-round replay at the Vetch back in January 1999.

Martin Thomas scored the only goal of the game as John Hollins’ side knocked out their Premier League opponents.

But with both clubs now on a level playing field in the top-flight, it is another indicator of how far the Swans have come in the last decade.

And despite last season’s remarkable 11^th-place finish, Hartson believes Michael Laudrup’s men still need to be looking at maintaining their place in the division.

“First and foremost, you have to be looking at safety,” he said. “If Swansea can get to 38 points with ten games to go, it gives you a real opportunity to kick on and finish in a good position at the end of the season.

“But there will be lots of teams in the same boat because of the financial rewards that are now on offer in the Premier League.

“So I think they will be looking at retaining their status once more and maybe having a cup run along the way.

“But the Swansea fans are very intelligent and they will know that if they can get close to where they finished last season, it will be a wonderful achievement.”

Also in this weekend’s 76-page edition of Jack Magazine, we caught up with Leon Britton as he talked about his time as a youngster at West Ham and his Premier League adventure with the Swans.

We have an exclusive interview with World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst, Nathan Dyer answers your questions in our new ‘Fans’ Mailbag’ feature and we take a look back at former Swans from years gone by in our ‘Where Are They Now?’ section.

And if that wasn’t enough for you, in keeping with the centenary celebrations we have a special feature in every programme this season that charts the history of the Swans in bitesize instalments.