THE LAST time Jan Molby played at Wembley five years ago, Liverpool won the FA Cup by easily outclassing Second Division Sunderland. The man tagged "the new Graeme Souness" helped to provide his predecessor with the Scot's only piece of silverware during his largely unhappy return to Anfield as manager.
A more telling Wembley contribution had come six years earlier when two sublime Molby passes set up goats for Ian Rush as Liverpool beat Everton 31 in the first of the Swansea playermanager's three cup final appearances. "The 20 win over Sunderland proved to very comfortable," recalled Molby. "It's the one game that didn't really feel like an FA Cup final because we were such favourites and we cruised through it. There wasn't that great sense of relief afterwards. It was all a little low key."
Today's Third Division promotion play off final against Northampton could hardly be more different.
Second from bottom after losing to 10 man Torquay in October, Molby has per formed a minor miracle in taking the Swans to the brink of the Second Division, from where they came a year ago. When the full back Steve Jones broke a leg in the home semi final against Chester, the 33 year old Dane found himself back in the frame after missing both play off matches. He now seems certain to grace a stadium tailor made for his rare talent by occupying the central midfield role he has fitted 27 times in an injury bedevilled season.
"I was fit for both semi final games," said Molby, "but I picked teams that I thought were going to do the best for us. We changed to 4-4-2 to keep a clean sheet up there and switched to 4-3-3 to put Chester under pressure from the start down here. It worked because our three strikers all scored.
"If Steve hadn't been injured I'd have possibly gone for the same team but now we'll have to change things slightly. It's important to show players that if you ie in the team and you do well, you stay in.
Rotund but by no means Falstaffian, Molby's sheer physical presence has transformed the Vetch Field. He cheerfully admits to a tack of mobility - and a lack of knowledge of the lower leagues. To that end he shrewdly recruited assistant manager Billy Ayre who steered Blackpool to the Second Division via the playoffs in 1992.
Their pragmatic marriage of the Ajax and Liverpool passing game to a more robust approach when necessary, has proved the key to Swansea's revival. Just three defeats in 12 games to the turn of the year propelled Swansea into the play off places where they have been waiting almost impatiently ever since.
"When we lost 2-1 at Fulham in February the players sensed that, as we were eight points behind them and they had a game in hand, it was going to be too tall an order to get automatic promotion so we set our sights on the play offs.
"We picked on one or two games as big ones, like those against Cardiff and Mansfield and during the others, some of the players went through the motions. But once we knew we were playing Chester in the semis, I sensed the players starting to regroup and look after each other. We took them away to a secret hideaway before the first leg and it paid off."
Swansea's decision to spend the last two nights at England's HQ at Burnham Beeches, has provided Molby with some welcome prematch relief.
"It's always a special occasion when you get to Wembley but, as a player, you don't know what goes on behind the scenes. As a manager, I now realise what a football club goes through.
"I've been involved in everything from sitting out the players with new blazers and leisurewear to softing out the venue for the postmatch party in Swan sea. There were so many things to do - fixing tickets, making travel arrangements and I've got 11 people coming over from Denmark for the game - that victory today would rank alongside those achievements.
"I'm going to be very proud if we win because it's my team and we've done it my way. Northampton are a very direct side, they rely on big front men flicking things on and putting people under pressure but I don't agree that we have struggled against teams with a more direct, physical style. We have beaten Northampton twice in the league but, both games could have gone either way.
Molby's relationship with the Swansea fans could hardly be better: "They've never turned on me - even when we were 91st in the League. We had 350 down at Torquay and they gave the players a standing ovation at the end. We felt at the time that these people deserve better. Hopefully, we can finish it off today for the 20,000 or so who'll be at Wembley."
