For Swansea supporters heading towards the Vetch on 10 January 1981, there was something extra to look forward to. A new East Stand, a crowd of more than 22,000 and a visit from league leaders West Ham. Toshack’s Swans were second in the table, and the thought of First Division football was becoming difficult to shake.

Imagine explaining that to someone on the North Bank a few years earlier. They would probably have checked what you had been drinking.

The East Stand’s formal opening gave the afternoon a sense of occasion before a ball had been kicked. Swansea were spending serious money on the old place, almost £800,000, and supporters could see the ambition taking shape above the town end. The team had climbed through the divisions; now the ground was trying to catch up.

Of course, it was still the Vetch. Houses pressed close, approaches narrowed as the crowd gathered, and thousands funnelled towards their usual patch. A new stand could change the skyline, but the place retained its familiar squeeze.

There was trouble, too. Supporters clashed outside the ground before the match and again afterwards, For fans caught around those confrontations, getting to and from the game became part of the ordeal. But it wasn’t as bad from those reports of the day, witnesses will tell of a stubborn resistance to the away fans attempts to spoil the encounter. Unstuck is an often used word. The narrow streets around the ground with locals knowing every step and space was an andded advantage. Spotters, runners, call them what you like but as soon as strangers arrived every pub around the ground were aware.

That was then.

Inside, West Ham were thoroughly inconsiderate guests. Swansea had provided the new stand and the occasion; the Hammers supplied the lesson. Trevor Brooking, David Cross and Geoff Pike scored in a 3–1 away win, with Alan Curtis getting Swansea’s goal.

That was a hard result to swallow. A big home crowd had turned up for a meeting of the division’s top two, hoping to see Swansea strengthen their promotion challenge. Instead, West Ham headed home with the points and the Swans were left nursing another bruising defeat, straight after the five-goal FA Cup loss at home to Middlesbrough.

Worse followed. Cambridge, QPR, Notts County and Sheffield Wednesday all beat Swansea as the promotion push began to wobble badly. Supporters who had allowed themselves to picture trips to the country’s biggest grounds suddenly had plenty to worry about closer to home.

The East Stand itself would never become quite what had been planned. The wider redevelopment stalled, leaving its peculiar shape and projecting floodlights to settle into Vetch folklore. Fans would spend years looking at it, sitting in it and making memories beneath it.

And that struggling Swansea side? Toshack took his players away to Spain, helped steady them, and eventually carried the campaign all the way to Preston.

Those who stood at Deepdale that May, or waited anxiously for news back home, knew what the recovery meant. They had watched a promotion challenge threaten to disappear and then come gloriously back to life.

West Ham spoiled the East Stand’s opening. By the end of the season, Swansea supporters had something rather bigger to look forward to as Tosh led them to the top flight.

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