Kyle Naughton: Veteran Swansea City defender aims to leave club 'where I found it'
Last updated on .From the section Swansea
Swansea City were a club in a different place when Kyle Naughton arrived in Wales.
Garry Monk was Swansea's manager. His side were ninth in the Premier League, two places behind Liverpool and above the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa and Leicester, and would end the season eighth, Swansea's best finish in the Premier League era.
They paid Tottenham Hotspur around £5m to bring Naughton to Wales - the sort of fee Swansea could not dream of paying these days, but one which has proved money well spent.
More than 260 appearances and seven-and-a-half years later, Naughton is the senior figure in a Swansea squad who have made an uninspiring start to the new Championship campaign.
With his 34th birthday three months away, Naughton is in the latter years of a career which has so far featured almost 500 senior games.
But there is no lack of ambition for a player whose goal is to help Swansea return to the top flight.
"For me personally it would be a big achievement because I feel like the players, the staff and the fans deserve to go back to the Premier League," Naughton says.
"If that can happen while I am here, if I have left it where I found it, I will be a happy man when I do leave."
The Premier League looks a long way off right now, with Swansea licking their wounds after a heavy home loss to Blackburn Rovers last weekend and a midweek EFL Cup exit at League One Oxford United.
Their only point so far came courtesy of a 1-1 draw at Rotherham United on the opening day of the season.
It is hardly the start Russell Martin was hoping for as he looks to improve on last year's 15th-place Championship finish, with Swansea's early-season failings prompting criticism from the stands.
Naughton, though, is unconcerned.
"It is a young team," he says. "There are two or three older heads in there. Me, Grimesy [Matt Grimes], Jay [Fulton], Joe [Allen], we put our arms around players, but it's still early days.
"We are only three games in, so I don't think anyone is panicking."
Nevertheless, a victory at Blackpool on Saturday would be welcome.
Swansea built momentum during 2021-22, Martin's first season in charge after he took over from Steve Cooper.
And though finances are tight - and there are obvious deficiencies in Swansea's squad - expectation levels had risen going into the new campaign.
And because the is no win on the board, Martin's tactical approach has been questioned by some.
Naughton, though, could not be more emphatic in his endorsement of his head coach's approach.
"Since the gaffer has come in, I have enjoyed myself playing this style of football more than I ever have," the former Sheffield United youngster says.
"The amount of ball we have - growing up, you want to be a footballer, and for me this is being a footballer.
"I love it. I am fully with it. I am sure everybody is and that's why people want to sign here.
"You speak to some [opposition] lads after games and they are like 'you are a good team aren't you?'. That's what we want - but we need to finish teams off."
After Blackpool, Swansea face back-to-back home fixtures against Millwall and Luton. It is a chance to get the season going which Martin's side must look to take, for another winless week would leave them under pressure.
Naughton, unlike many in the Swansea dressing room, has seen it all before.
He is confident there are better days ahead for a club which has become home.
"I would be more than happy to finish my career here at Swansea," he says.
For the moment, though, any talk of retirement can wait. Martin's Swansea have work to do - and Naughton is one of his key men.
