Peter Swan, one of Wednesday’s most famous players of the post-war era, has died at the age of 84.
The centre half made more than 300 appearances for the club in two spells at Hillsborough and was also an England international.
He joined us as an amateur in May 1952 and signed a professional contract in November 1953.
After breaking into the Wednesday first team, he became a major part of our developing side in the late fifties and early sixties, including the squad that finished runners-up to Spurs in the old Division One in the 1960-61 season.
Swan also won 19 caps for England and was part of the World Cup squad that travelled to Chile for the 1962 finals, illness while in South America unfortunately meaning that he missed out on possibly playing in the tournament.
His career was later dealt a massive blow when a Sunday newspaper revealed he was one of three Wednesday players involved in betting on the Owls to lose a game at Ipswich in December 1962. In April 1964, he was given a lifetime ban from football and a four-month jail sentence followed.
However, eight years later the ban was lifted. He began training with Wednesday again and the then manager, Derek Dooley, was sufficiently impressed to give Swan a 12-month contract.
That return on the pitch was completed in August 1972 when Swan made his first team comeback at Hillsborough on the opening day of the season in a 3-0 win over Fulham.
He went on to play 15 games for us in the early part of the season before moving on to Bury at the end of the campaign.
The London Owls send our sincere sympathies to Peter’s family at this sad time.