TOP-FLIGHT JACKS: Garry Stanley

We continue our focus on players who featured for Swansea City during the club's previous foray into the top flight of English football.
Here, we reflect on the career of former Swans midfielder Garry Stanley.

GARRY STANLEY
Date of birth: March 4, 1954
Appearances/goals for the Swans: 99 apps; 6 goals.
Former clubs: Chelsea (1971-1979); Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1979); Everton (1979-1981); Swansea City (1981-1984); Portsmouth (1984-1986); Wichita Wings (1986-1988); Bristol City (1988-1989).
Memorable moment: Stanley featured in a Football League representative side against a Glasgow select side at Hampden Park in May 1977.
Did you know? Stanley became the first player to be sent off in a Merseyside derby match when he was dismissed along with Terry McDermott at Anfield in 1979.

By the time John Toshack's Swansea revolution was underway during the mid-1970s, the Swans were being recognised as a team built with a connection to Toshack's former side, Liverpool.
But it was also on the other side of Stanley Park that a collection of Everton players were brought to South Wales to help with Swansea's rise through the divisions. Former Everton stars Bob Latchford, Dai Davies and Neil Robinson were already at the club when Toshack signed another Toffee in Garry Stanley.
Born in Burton upon Trent, Stanley's potential was quickly recognised by scouts from Chelsea, with whom he signed as an apprentice in 1971. His time with the Blues proved a successful period, where he made his Football League debut in a Second Division encounter at Sunderland during the 1975-1976 season.
After a season of establishing himself in the Chelsea first team, he helped the London-based club finish the campaign as runners-up to Wolves to gain promotion to the English First Division.
For the next two seasons, Stanley was a regular in the Chelsea starting line-up, where he was deployed primarily as a midfielder, while also being used as a full-back when required. But a change in management at Stamford Bridge led to problems for Stanley.
In 1979 he decided to take the plunge and move to America, signing for Fort Lauderdale Strikers. But after only one year in the states, Stanley moved back to the English First Division in a move that saw Everton part with a £300,000 fee to bring the player home.
The midfielder endured mixed fortunes during his time on Merseyside, where he played just 48 league games in his two years with Everton, failing to reproduce the form he had displayed during his fruitful years with Chelsea.
But when Swans boss Toshack was looking to bolster his midfield options after an exceptional start to life in the top division, the European Cup winner decided to sign Stanley in a deal worth £150,000.
Stanley's Swans debut took place in a mid-week League Cup tie at Barnsley, but it was his league debut at Stoke City on October 17, 1981, that will always be remembered by Swans fans of a certain age.
Coming on as a second-half substitute for Robbie James, he equalised for the Swans to make it 1-1 before a Bob Latchford strike earned the Swans a 2-1 win to move them to the summit of the First Division for the first time in the club's 71-year history.
Stanley was not known for his goalscoring exploits, but he did score one of the very best goals ever seen at the Vetch Field when he rifled home an amazing 30-yard effort that left Manchester City's goalkeeper Alex Davies grasping at thin air later that season.
After two seasons and with two Welsh Cup winners medals to his name, Stanley left Swansea to join Portsmouth on a free transfer before once again trying his luck in the USA, prior to finishing his professional playing career with Bristol City in 1988.
After playing for non-league outfit Waterlooville, he worked for N.T.I. Communications before working as a rep for a pharmaceutical company.