Where are they now? Colin West

Ever wondered what former Swans stars have been up to since hanging up their boots?

Well you are in the right place.

As part of a regular feature, we take a look at what some ex-Swansea City favourites have done since leaving SA1.

This week we catch up with former Swans striker Colin West.

Having signed for Swansea City from West Bromwich Albion in the summer of 1992, Wallsend-born striker Colin West wasted no time in demonstrating his goalscoring abilities to the Vetch Field faithful.

After making his debut as a substitute against Oxford United, he netted twice on his first start for the club in a 2-0 victory over Port Vale.

“I had a decent start to my Swansea career,” remembers West, who would go on to bag five goals in his first five starts that September.

“As a striker, you always want to score as soon as possible when you join a new club, and those two strikes against Port Vale are certainly a fond memory of my time with Swansea.”

West scored 12 goals in 33 Second Division matches for the Swans during the 1992-93 season, as Frank Burrows’ side finished fifth in the table and secured their place in the play-offs.

The striker came up against former club West Brom, for whom he had netted 22 goals in 73 league games, in the two-legged semi-final.

Goals from Andy McFarlane and Martin Hayes gave the Swans a 2-1 advantage after the first leg at the Vetch.

But the second leg at the Hawthorns was a night to forget as West was sent off in what proved to be his final appearance for the Swans, who were beaten 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.

“I was getting some stick from the Hawthorns crowd having been a former player and I felt frustrated with how the game went,” he recalls.

“I remember going up for a header with Ian Hamilton and coming down on top of him when he was already on the ground.

“I instantly thought ‘why on earth did I do that?’ but the referee rightly sent me off.

“It was a very sad way for me to end my time with the club.”

West, who had previously played for the likes of Sunderland, Watford, Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday, went on to feature for Leyton Orient, Northampton, Rushden & Diamonds, Northwich Victoria and Hartlepool after leaving the Vetch.

Having obtained his coaching badges towards the end of his playing career, he became Chris Turner’s assistant at Hartlepool in 1999.

The pair guided Pools to the Third Division play-offs in three consecutive seasons.

West then joined Turner as his assistant at Sheffield Wednesday and Stockport County.

West also worked as the reserve-team coach at Millwall and Southend, before returning to Victoria Park with Turner for a second spell between 2009 and 2010.

More recently, he had a spell as assistant manager at Notts County before moving into the same role at Carlisle United under former England international Keith Curle.

“I got to know Keith from my time at Sheffield Wednesday,” West explains.

“He was Mansfield Town manager and we were living in the same area.

“We were talking one day and we both agreed that going forward in our careers, if one of us got a managerial position, we would employ the other person as assistant.

“That’s what happened when Keith went to Notts County and I obviously moved with him to Carlisle United.

“I loved Notts County. We had a really good team there and a fantastic dressing room. It was a shame to leave.”

He continues: “It was hard when we initially went to Carlisle United. When we took over, the club was something like four or five points adrift at the bottom of League Two, but we turned things around fairly quickly to get some wins under our belt and stay in the division.

“We finished 10th the following season and then made it into the Play-offs.

“This season just gone was solid but it was a shame to lose some of our decent players at key times.

“We were in the hunt for the play-offs until late on but, ultimately, we missed out.”

West left Carlisle along with Curle at the end of the 2017-18 season.