Player. Supporter. Saviour. Mel Nurse, 86, affectionately nicknamed ‘Mr Swansea’ by locals, is one of the most influential figures in the Swans’ sometimes turbulent 112-year history. He’s a man whose legacy far transcends cult hero status on the terraces, with his impact touching the entire community of Swansea: something recognised by the local council, who credited the former Welsh international centre-back with ‘freedom of the city’ and Swansea University, who awarded Nurse with an honorary degree in 2016.
Nurse, born in Fforestfach, Swansea in 1937 before making the short move to Alice Street, a row of terraced houses in Cwmbwrla which incredibly birthed five future Wales internationals, helped save his boyhood club, whom he represented on over 300 occasions between 1955 and 1971, from the brink of liquidation on two separate occasions.
It is by no means hyperbole to suggest that without the lifelong commitment of Nurse, modern-day Swansea City, a club that has since gone on to build a multi-million-pound stadium, spend seven seasons in the Premier League, and, in 2013, win a League Cup, may not exist.
There is an unthinkable alternate reality of Swansea without the interventions of Nurse: unless there was the successful inception of a Phoenix club that could come close to replicating the on-and-off-field successes of Swansea, the city’s young football fans could be tempted into travelling east along the M4 to the capital to watch their local professional team, Cardiff City.
Thankfully, for the sanity of the city, Nurse’s contributions, both in 1985, when the 12-time capped Wales centre-back helped the club fight for its very existence in High Court, and 2001, when Nurse saved the Swans from Tom Petty’s financial mismanagements, despite losing thousands of pounds of his own money.
This is the life story of Mel Nurse, the man who saved Swansea (twice).
Humble beginnings
Despite living on a serial Wales international star-producing street, a sensational story that has since been documented by Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre in the film Wonderland, Nurse’s formative years were defined by hardship, poverty, and struggle.
In 2009, the 86-year-old told Wales Online:
“There was no central heating, no electric, just a gas lamp. We had overcoats for bedclothes as we couldn’t afford blankets. I can remember waking up many mornings with my leg down the sleeve of the coat.”
But Nurse, a determined, entrepreneurial youngster with two childhood ambitions: to become chairman of Swansea and own a Rolls Royce (both of which he’d eventually fulfil), would develop his first craft while living on Alice Street—football.
Nurse predominantly learned to play football, a skill which would later see him subject to an unsuccessful £35,000 bid from Manchester United, with a tennis ball. For many working-class communities in the 1930s and 1940s, a football was too costly to purchase and thus the local schools and football clubs were forced to make do with whatever they’d got.
Player career
Even during his adolescent years, Nurse was a tall, commanding defender. At age 14, Nurse was spotted by Swansea scouts while playing for the Wales schoolboys’ team, whom he represented several times, including a 3-3 draw at Wembley against an England team containing Bobby Charlton and Wilf McGuiness.
After rejecting various potentially more lucrative moves, including a switch to giants Arsenal, out of the familiarity and loyalty to his boyhood club, Nurse would make his senior debut for Swansea in 1955 at age 18.
Nurse would make 156 appearances for the Swans between 1955 and 1962, helping the club to multiple top-half finishes in the old Division 2, before leaving the club for a then-club record transfer of £25,000. After subsequent spells at Middlesbrough and Swindon Town, Nurse would return to South Wales in 1968 and see out the remainder of his professional career with Swansea.
The Saviour of the Swans
As earlier alluded to, Nurse was an entrepreneurial thinker. During his playing days at Middlesbrough, where he made 118 appearances, Nurse first conceptualised a business idea that would eventually, in some way, contribute to raising the money to save Swansea City Football Club.
After years of sensible investment plans, Nurse would purchase several B&B properties along Swansea’s seafront, building a remarkable portfolio enabling him to fulfil his lifelong dream of owning a Rolls Royce.
Nurse’s business expertise would ultimately steer his boyhood club away from the near prospect of oblivion. In 1985, now a Swansea director, Nurse, alongside fan fundraising groups, agreed a deal that would ensure the football club avoided liquidation.
16 years later, in 2001, Swansea was again in financial disarray—the board attempted to resolve ongoing off-field difficulties by sacking seven first-team players, a move that prompted Nurse to resign from his role at the club.
But “Mr Swansea” would return. In 2002, the former Alice Street resident used his acute business understanding and personal finance to form a consortium to prevent Swansea’s looming liquidation. He then bought the club’s debts to save it from administration.
Would Swansea be occupied by Cardiff supporters without Nurse?
It’s a bleak thought, but, without Nurse, it’s probable there’d be no professional football team representing Swansea and its young supporters, despite the pleas of their parents who’d watched their home club battle through the turbulence of the 20th century, may have turned to the nearest club, Cardiff.
The saviour-like role Nurse played in 1985 and 2002, among his various activities in the local Swansea community, where, despite his personal wealth, he still humbly resides, is why he’s been given the freedom of the city.
Supporter’s fanzine, ‘A Touch Far Vetched’, hopes to see the city’s hero recognised further, as they call for a statue of Nurse to be erected at the Swansea.com Stadium.
A statue or no statue, Nurse will always be a much-loved Swansea player, supporter, and saviour.