The fabled Swansea Way started with Roberto Martinez. But to almost quote Isaac Newton, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of unsung Welsh Swansea managers." Brian Flynn would save the Swans from relegation to non-league and financial hardship in May 2003. Kenny Jackett built on that rescue and laid the foundations for Martinez. Without Flynn, there is no Jackett, and without Jackett there is no Swansea Way.

Kenneth Francis Jackett made his Welsh national team debut alongside Brian Flynn in the heart of the midfield at the Vetch Field against Norway in 1982. Just over 20 years later, the 2003 win against Hull City under Flynn would keep the Swans in the Football League and begin a story that can be traced all the way to today. Flynn was succeeded by his ex-national team colleague during that transformative time for our football club. Our progress was founded on incremental improvements, and the part Jackett played in that thread is personified by Joe Allen. A young Allen was first included in a match-day squad under the ex-Watford man and only left his coaching role at the club a few weeks ago. The supremely talented local lad would have always made his breakthrough but the list of recruits under Jackett's regime shows his eye for a player. Sam Ricketts was plucked from non-league and would go on to win over 50 Wales caps, alongside the likes of Garry Monk and Darren Pratley. Without Monk, would we have had an on-field figurehead who provided ballast for our rise? Without Pratley, do we get a Brendan Rodgers flying down the touchline high-fiving?

The Rodgers run is probably one of the top five defining moments in Swansea City's 21st-century history. It speaks volumes that Kenny Jackett has a claim to at least two more moments in that pantheon. That flag and winning performance at the Millennium Stadium final against Carlisle. And of course the final league and cup games at the old Vetch Field. Andy Robinson scored the last ever goal at the old ground against Wrexham in the FAW Premier Cup final. "The way it [promotion] happened at Bury with the fans on the pitch, sharing that with Kenny was a memory I will cherish all my life, as well as that last game at the Vetch when we beat Wrexham and I scored the winner."

You don't immediately think of the word progressive or modern to describe Jackett, but I remember an Evening Post interview with Leon Knight during one summer back in the day. He praised the manager's pre-season regime as one that included ball contact from the first day back, which really spoke to a player like Knight. Almost every quote from his ex-Swans players mentions the discipline and structure he brought to the club, and it was this coupled with his sharp football brain that brought him success and improvement at every club he managed. In his playing days, the 31-cap international was a versatile option in midfield or left-back, an attribute which feels very contemporary and was probably underappreciated at the time. A look back at the XI who started the Football League Trophy final shows a team brimming with talent and skill, a squad that reflected the manager's own resourcefulness, hard work and tenacity. These qualities brought the trophy back to SA1 and a few penalty kicks away from back-to-back promotion.

I have a lot to thank Kenny Jackett for. My first ever game at the Vetch was during Brian Flynn's time, but my Swans obsession really started in earnest during Jackett's reign. It was a thrilling period for a young Swans fan - new concepts like play-offs, promotion, finals, hundred-thousand pound sales, hundred-thousand purchases, new stadiums. I watched the Morfa stadium be built, brick by brick, and Jackett constructed a team worthy of such fine surroundings. What started as a pre-teen passion will now last a lifetime of fandom, and I am sure countless other Jacks of my generation would say the same.

So from this Swans fan, thank you for the past and future good times. And to sum up from the ex-players, I will leave the final word to Alan Tate: "I would like to say thank you for the memories and rest in peace. Once a Jack, always a Jack."

⚽️ Reuters tribute
June 12th 2026 (Reuters) - Lifelong Watford player Kenny Jackett, a midfielder and defender who played in the club's only ​appearance in the FA Cup final to date ‌and later managed the club, has died at the age of 64, the club said on Friday.

The Wales ​international was born in Watford and joined the ​club - where his father Frank Jackett had ⁠also played - at the age of 12, spending ​his entire playing career there and making 428 appearances. ​He was part of the squad that finished second in the First Division in 1982-83, the club's highest-ever finish, ​and played in the 1984 FA Cup final ​that the side lost to Everton.

His managerial career began at Watford ‌as ⁠well, and he went on to coach clubs including Swansea City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Portsmouth."Kenny holds legend status here following his remarkable achievements as a ​player, a ​coach and ⁠a manager, and the club has truly lost one of its own," said ​Watford chairman and CEO Scott Duxbury. "On ​behalf of ⁠everyone at Watford FC, I send my sincere condolences to his wife Samantha and sons David and ⁠Ryan, ​the latter of whom is ​working with us today, building on the legacy his father left."
Reporting ​by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson

Photograph : Action Images / Frances Leader