John Toshack has backed Brendan Rodger's team to launch their own 'golden era'

The former Swansea City manager told the Evening Post "I will not mind one bit if I am no longer the only manager who has got Swansea into the top division

"What we did is in the past. It was a like a magic carpet ride doing it in that amount of time, and I don't think it will ever happen again like that because of the finances in the game these days.

"But that was 30 years ago and it's not about that any more.

"The lads at Swansea now have done very well.

"Brendan has introduced one or two important players to a squad who have been together for a while and you can see how confident they are.

"Hopefully they can go out and play with that confidence at Wembley.

"I watched Reading quite a bit at that stage," says former Wales boss Toshack.

"I remember going to see Reading play against Nottingham Forest because Chris Gunter, Robert Earnshaw andSimon Church were all involved.

"It seemed to me as though what Brendan wanted didn't quite catch on at Reading, but it's been a different story at Swansea.

"Swansea had been playing the kind of style he wants to play for a couple of years and that helped."

Toshack believes Swansea's owners deserve a share of the praise for the success inspired by Rodgers — and the improvements made since they ousted Tony Petty almost a decade ago.

"You have to give the chairman and the people running Swansea great credit.

"They have run a tight ship, but they have chosen the right people to manage the football club. They have kept things going forward.

"They go about their business quietly and there's nothing going on behind the scenes.

"Really Swansea are an example to everybody both on the field and off the field."

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