Leon Britton has seen it all at Swansea City and now hopes to cap it with the final piece in the jigsaw
Britton arrived at the club on loan from West Ham United in the fight against relegation from the football league and - bar a brief exodus this season - has been part of the furniture ever since.
His goal set the Swans on the road to Wembley when he opened the scoring in the second leg against Forest on Monday night and now he hopes to cap that with victory at Wembley on Monday week.
However he says the play off final will not be his biggest game for the club - that he bestows on THAT game against Hull in May 2003. “That was a defining moment in the club’s history,” he told Wales on Sunday
“If we’d lost the game who knows what would have happened? But I don’t think we’d be in the situation we are now with the chance to get to the Premiership.
“Looking back, I saw the other side of football – and it was nerve-wracking.
“I was on loan but I looked around the dressing room and saw lads whose contracts ran out at the end of the season and whose mortgages needed to be paid.
“I’d been at West Ham in a different world where top pros and top players were earning good money.
“But you come to Swansea and you’re battling to get that new contract to pay the bills.”
Britton looked back on Monday's game especially the final whistle celebrations “I remember the ref said ‘Look I’m going to blow the whistle, you’d better get off as quickly as possible’.
“You had to be pretty sharpish and it was the same after the Forest game.
“But at least the tunnel at the Liberty’s a bit wider than the old one at the Vetch and there’s a bit more security to get you off!
“It’s different pressures now but there’s a lot more anxiety when relegation is involved.
“There were nerves ahead of the two Forest games but these are the games you want to be part of and playing in.
“I was 20 and in West Ham’s reserves and I wasn’t even playing there all the time,” said Britton.
“I just wanted to play football and Swansea was the only team that offered me the chance.
“I spent six months on loan, had a great time and really enjoyed it.
“People were brilliant with me and I just wanted to sign for Swansea. I had trained all my life to play in the Football League and Brian Flynn gave me that opportunity.
“I didn’t know what to expect but though I was a young lad I thought I can handle this. I didn’t want to go back to West Ham reserves and play in front of one man and his dog.
“What you see on the pitch today, Roberto has sown the seeds – he started it all off,” he said.
“He wanted us to play football from the back. The training changed a lot, there was a lot more ball-work and passing and you could see straight away that it worked for us.
“We’ve had a few managers since and every one of them has put their own stamp on it.
“The lads who have been here a while have improved year on year and got used to it.
“Maybe Roberto left under a bit of a cloud but he’s done a lot for the club, he’s the one that started the change and got us playing football.
“It’s funny how these things work out,” he said. “If you’d told me told me last August that I’d be wearing a Swansea shirt in the second leg of a play-off semi-final and going to Wembley I’d say you’re crazy.
“But I was only away six months and, although the new manager’s come in and put his own stamp on things, it hasn’t changed too much here.
“It was a case of getting into the swing of things again but I’ve got my form and confidence back and now I’m playing my best football since I re-signed in January.
“I never thought when I signed here eight years ago we’d have a chance of going into the Premiership and West Ham would be going the other way into the Championship,” said Britton.
“I suppose it’s a chance to show people who thought I would never play at top level.
“But, if I’m being honest, I’d probably agree with them that at 20 years old I wasn’t ready for the Premiership.
“And anyway if we do win promotion it’s more delight on my part than for the people at West Ham who said I wouldn’t make it.
“Glenn Johnson did text me the other night to say well done but he’s moved on and a lot of the other lads have gone on to have top careers.
“It would be good to see some familiar faces down here – Glenn, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe – and be on a level playing field with them in the Premiership.
“I never lost sight of my dream, it’s been there since I started kicking a football – and now we’re only one game away from it.”