Stacey John-Davis reflects on decade at Swansea City

When Stacey John-Davis joined Swansea City Ladies in 2013, she was looking to take the next step in her footballing career. She had no idea that 10 years later she would still represent the Swans having won every domestic trophy possible.

John-Davis was playing when the Genero Adran Premier was formed in 2009, featuring for Manorbier Ladies and Newcastle Emlyn Ladies before joining two-time champions Swansea City.

Arriving as a 21-year-old, the forward didn't envisage that she'd still be at the club 10 years later. She was simply aiming to continue her development and improve on a personal level. 

A decade on and John-Davis has four league titles, two Adran Trophies and two FAW Women’s Cups to her name, as well as a string of personal accolades, including being the three-time league golden boot winner.

The forward is proud of her incredible stint with the club, but feels that representing Swansea and Wales in the Champions League is the standout achievement from that period.

“The 10 years have absolutely flown by, I can’t believe it,” she said.

“It’s a great achievement and I’m really proud of it. To have been at one club for 10 years is quite some stint for a player, so I’m really proud to have reached it.

“I didn’t join the club with any long-term goal in mind, it was more of a short-term goal to better myself and to test myself as a player.

“To be winning leagues and playing in the Champions League; they are up there as some of the best moments of my time here.

"Not a lot of footballers in Wales, male or female, can say they have played Champions League football, so to have that feather in our cap for quite a few of the players is a top achievement alongside personal accolades.”

Over the past decade, women’s football has made huge strides, on and off the field, while the record for an attendance at a domestic women's games in Wales was broken three times during the 2022-23 season.

And John-Davis has seen that consistent improvement in her own team, which has left the Swansea set-up almost unrecognisable from when she arrived all those seasons ago.

“Women’s football has come on massively across this period of time, and Swansea has gone up another level every single year on and off the field,” she added.

“There were times when we were having to play in extra-large men’s kits and stuff like that, but now we’ve got the women’s fit kit and our own training space.

"We've played at the Swansea.com Stadium twice, it’s a massive step from where we were 10 years ago and I can see it continuing to grow massively over the next 10.”

The move to the Swans will always be a landmark moment for John-Davis’ footballing career. Arriving as a youngster, she has become one of the most recognisable and decorated players in the women’s game in Wales.

A key aspect of life as a Swans Ladies player for John-Davis is the impact that it has had on her life, helping her both mentally and physically.

“Football pretty much is my life now," she said.

"It consumes my life, but mentally it has had a massive impact on me.

“Playing for the Swans has been my release from a lot of things, regardless of what is going on in life. I think a lot of people can say that when you step on that pitch for 90 minutes, a lot of life’s struggles and stresses do disappear and it is all about those 90 minutes.

“I think football has had a massive impact on my life as a positive, but I think that Swansea and the support network around the club has been great and has really meant a lot to me.

“I wasn’t in a great place when I joined the club, but I didn’t realise that at the time.

"In my first season I had injured one of the MCLs in my knee and I didn’t realise how much of a struggle I was in personally and mentally until that happened.

“The following season Ian Owen [Swansea City Ladies manager at the time] put me into the reserve team and at the time that was really hard to take.

"I personally thought I was better than that but he knew that it was right for me at the time as a player, I’ve spoken to him for years and I’ve always said that it’s the best thing he did for me as a player.

“It made me look at myself and improve myself to get stronger and to get fitter, I wanted to get back to that first team and it gave me a drive that I didn’t have before. It really helped me as a person to reflect on myself and to reflect on my performances.

“It helped me think about how I look after myself off the pitch, especially later on in my career because I have to do it. That was a turning point for me, even looking back at photos over the 10 years I think it’s visible to see since then I’ve really knuckled down and put myself first.”

Despite all the success that John-Davis has had across her football career - both personally and with the team - she remains hungry for more.

The 2022-23 campaign serves testament to that. In a season where she turned 31 and younger players lit up the league, John-Davis netted 15 times to finish as the Genero Adran Premier’s top scorer for the third season in a row.

However, personal accolades aren't as important as performing for her team, and he motivation is to help her side reclaim the title once again having missed out on top spot for the first time in four seasons.

“I think it’s just ingrained in all of us that we just want to win and succeed," she reflected.

"Success is the best feeling, the drive to go on and succeed next year is always there regardless of what was won the year before.

"We always want to go and better that on and off the pitch and lift as much silverware as we can at the end of the season.”