This claim came almost 10 years to the day since Lampard made his football league debut at the Vetch for the Swans on the 7th October 1995 against Bradford City in front of 2,207 people, (including his mum and dad in the Centre Stand) At the time of the move, Lampard was just another fresh from the Hammers youth academy, and there was little indication that he would go on to have the career he has now, but there was certainly a family pedigree behind him. His father, Frank Lampard Snr, had represented both West Ham and England with distinction, as had Uncle Harry Redknapp, then his manager at the Hammers. His cousin Jamie Redknapp had also represented England, as well as captaining Liverpool and Spurs. With such footballing blood running through his veins, his loan move to the Swans would no doubt have been a major talking point amongst the Swans fans back in October 1995 had it not been for the turmoil and upheaval at the Doug Sharpe run club. On October 2nd 1995, after a demoralising 0-3 defeat away at Burnley in Division 2 (now League 1), fans favourite Frank Burrows quit his post with the Swans, citing 'personal reasons'. It was widely regarded as the culmination of months of frustration at how the club failed to build on the success of their Autoglass trophy victory the preceding season. This frustration had roots in the clubs continuing need to sell their best players to cover losses. The club hade made £201,000 from the much-maligned cup, on top of £244,000 from a run in the FA Cup, yet little of this money was handed to Frank to use for team strengthening. It transpired that the club had been losing £40,000 a week and had reported a loss of £473,000 for the past year. The final straw was the board's apprehension in granting Burrows the cash to bring in two loan signings to strengthen a midfield decimated by injuries, with John Cornforth and Dave Penney being notable patients of the Physio. The two players Burrows had lined up were 32-year-old Wolves winger Robbie Dennison and Birmingham midfielder Ian Richardson. Burrows quit before he was able to conclude the deals, leaving Caretaker boss Bobby Smith with the job of finalising them. Dennison leapt at the chance to join the Swans cause, but Richardson turned down the move, prompting the Swans to look elsewhere, and a deal was done with Hammers boss Redknapp for his nephew Frank Lampard. Lampard signed in time to make his debut on the 7th Oct against Bradford where he partnered Kwame Ampadu in central midfield. The Swans were 8 games without a win and thankfully ended the poor run with a 2-0 victory courtesy of a Steve Torpey brace. On a personal level, Lampard's professional debut didn't go as well as I'm sure he'd have liked, the 17 year old tired badly and he was substituted after 71 minutes. The wages of Lampard and Dennison were costing the cash-strapped club £2,000 a week, a significant amount in those days, and whilst Dennison was providing value for money, Lampard was in need of improvement. He completed his first 90 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Peterborough 7 days later, and put in a much-improved performance. Caretaker boss Bobby Smith said afterwards "…He was got everything to be a Premiership player". Surprisingly though, this comment was not aimed at the future England star, but at his midfield partner, Kwame 'Paddy' Ampadu. It's a funny old game indeed! Ampadu would later claim, with judgement heavily influenced by hindsight, that Lampard was the best player he'd ever played with. Needless to say, the feeling is unlikely to be mutual. Ampadu - who spent four years at the Vetch from 1994-98 - said that even at such a tender age Lampard brimmed with star quality: "The first thing that actually struck me about Frank was his physical presence," said the former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international. "He came across as a big, powerful player. In fact, he was probably as big as any of the central defenders in Division Two at the time "When Frank was at Swansea he was a quiet, but friendly boy who liked to have a giggle and muck in with the rest of the lads," said Ampadu. On the 18th of October 1995, Lampard surely realised his childhood dream as he made his debut in the Autoglass Trophy in a 0-0 draw with Leyton Orient in the since abolished group stages. The Swans were defending champions and had hopes of retaining their trophy. Inspired by his brush with the Autoglass, Lampard went on to produce a MOM performance in the next league game against Bournemouth at the Vetch on the 21st October, showing glimpses of the mixture of strong battling qualities and intelligent passing that would later be a hallmark of his game. Unfortunately, only 1,998 were there to watch the game - the lowest league gate in 19 years. There were barely more at the Racecourse a week later to see Lampard concede his first penalty against Brian Flynn's Wrexham with a clumsy challenge. Future Swans legend Karl Connolly gave the future England penalty taker a few tips by despatching the pen with ease to score the only goal of the game. Lampard managed to live up to his promise with a first league goal scored in the 2-0 away win at Brighton on the last day of October. With Lampard senior watching on from the stands, Frank lifted the ball over the keeper after a good link up with target man Steve Torpey. Smith was full of praise for the young Hammer "The way he took his goal oozed class. When he is 20 West Ham are going to have some player - unless we sign him." I'm not so sure attempting to sign him at the time would be worth it, Sharpe would probably have sold him to Birmingham for £250,000 in the close season. The clubs injury crisis meant that the costly £2,000 a week loans of Lampard and Dennison had to be extended for a second month. In the 1st week of November, 5 weeks after Burrows resigned, the club appointed Smith as manager until the end of the season. Long standing youth team coach Jimmy Rimmer was promoted to be Smith's assistant. Unfortunately for Smith, his 1st full-time game in charge ended in a 1-2 defeat at the Vetch, with a Freestone error the unlikely cause of defeat. If Smith's 1st league game as full-time gaffer was disappointing, the next game he faced was his 1st stab at the FA Cup, away at Fulham. Mickey Adams' team had gone 14 games without a win going into the tie, and despite the Swans' injury crisis being worsened by a suspension for Ampadu and the absence of cup-tied duo Lampard and Dennision, the Swans were hopeful of getting at least a draw. What actually happened was that the Swans left craven cottage with a 7-0 hammering to cherish, unsurprisingly the worst 1st Round defeat in the clubs history. The last few league games were fairly unremarkable for the young Lampard. And he was not to have much impact in the remaining games he was at the Vetch. He was dropped to the bench for the Autoglass trophy game away at Peterborough. Whilst their counterparts 10 years on were easing to a 4-0 victory against Rushden on their way to winning the trophy for the second time, the class of 95-96 were dumped out by an extra-time goal. The loss at London Road left the Swans in the unenviable position of bowing out at the first stage of each of the three domestic cup competitions. The club hadn't found itself in this position since 1973-74 season, and only added to the gloom around the club. There were to be no fairytale distractions from the club's league predicament to ease the fans concerns during those torrid winter months. Even the Welsh Cup was out of bounds after the 'exiles' had recently all been banned from competing in it due to the setting up of the League of Wales. As Lampard's loan was coming to the end of its second month, the decision was taken not to extend it for another month, along with Dennison. The return to fitness of Penney, Pascoe and Cornforth was the major factor in this decision. So it was a farewell to Lampard Jnr. On his time at Swansea, Lampard recalls, Lampard recalls: "It was an eye-opener to some extent and a real growing up period for me - being thrown in against men. "It made me grow up and I often look back at Swansea and my early days at West Ham and it makes me really proud to think what I've achieved since then. "I was 17 and the policy at West Ham at the time was to send young kids out and give them some experience against men. It is fair to say Lampard hasn't done too badly for himself since his spell with the Swans. After his loan spell ended, Lampard returned to West Ham, and in January 1996 he made his Premiership debut for the Hammers. A bout of 'flu' kept him out of the memorable FA Cup games in 1998 between the two teams. Incidentally, that first FA Cup match at Upton Park saw the debut, aged 17, of another future Chelsea star and England international, Joe Cole. A mixed career with West Ham was ended by a surprise £10 million move west across London to Chelsea, where he has established himself as one of Europe's top midfielders. His ascendancy was exemplified by a recent poll of Real Madrid fans that concluded Lampard was the player they would most like their club to sign. It is easy in these situations to be influenced by hindsight. Let us not forget that Lampard was only a 17-year-old rookie when he came. His impact was minimal, unlike that of Leon Britton a few years later. He did not ooze class or give the impression of being a future star like Matthew Rush did. However, what his example does show is that young players who have the basics right at that age can, with sheer hard work and the right handling, can go on to be great players in the game, and that starting your career in the lower divisions does you no harm whatsoever. As for the Swans, Kevin Cullis was just around the corner, as was the departure and swift return of Doug Sharpe. For better or worse, there was never a dull day for the Swans in those days.