Frank Swift

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Personal information
Frank Swift
Full name	Frank Victor Swift
Date of birth	December 26, 1913(1913-12-26)
Place of birth	Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Date of death	February 6, 1958 (aged 44)
Place of death	Munich, Germany
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1933-1949	Manchester City	376 (0)
National team
1939-1946 1946-1949	England (wartime) England	014 (0) 019 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Frank Victor Swift (December 26, 1913 - February 6, 1958), was a football goalkeeper for Manchester City and England, born in Blackpool, Lancashire.

Swift was signed from non-league Fleetwood F.C. in 1932 at the age of eighteen and made his Manchester City debut in 1933. He was a virtual ever-present from then until football was suspended due to World War II. War denied Swift of several years of playing in his prime, as demonstrated by his 14 wartime appearances for England. 19 full England appearances followed after the war, including the famous Italy v England (1948) victory in Turin where he became the first goalkeeper since Alexander Morten in 1873 to captain the side.

Raich Carter once said of Frank Swift that he looked so big in goal that as a forward it often seemed that trying to score against him was like trying to put the ball into a matchbox. Swift's hands were so large that he frequently took the ball one handed just as someone with more normal sized hands would catch an orange perhaps.

Swift was part of the Manchester City sides which won the FA Cup by defeating Portsmouth in 1934 and the League Championship in 1937. He was very nervous throughout the game but at half time Fred Tilson promised him that he would score and he did so sealing victory for the Manchester team. After the final whistle in the 1934 cup final, Swift was so overcome with emotion that he fainted. He later explained that he became more nervous from the fact that he could hear a photographer behind his goal counting down the seconds to the final whistle! George V later sent a telegram enquiring about his recovery. Swift retired in 1950 following 338 league appearances, and took up a career in journalism.

He died, aged 44, in the Munich Air Disaster after reporting on Manchester United's European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade in Belgrade, Yugoslavia for the News of the World. Swift was pulled alive from the wreckage but died on his way to hospital. He is widely regarded as one of the best English goalkeepers of all time^[1]^[2] along with Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton and is frequently noted as one of the best players to have graced the English football league. His replacement in the Manchester City team was Bert Trautmann.

Swift was named as one of the Football League 100 Legends in 1998 celebrating 100 seasons of league football in England, alongside other Manchester City players Billy Meredith, Colin Bell and Bert Trautmann^[1]. He has also been inducted into the Manchester City hall of fame.