Life’s lessons help Dyer’s push to rejoin the Premier old guard and inspire a new generation
Swansea veteran has come through a hard year but is ambitious on and off the field, writes Mike McGrath
Nathan Dyer can put everything in perspective after his roller-coaster year. There has been devastation that his mentor, Cyrille Regis, died suddenly. His daughter was born prematurely and spent the first two weeks of her life in intensive care. That was followed by the joy of Ataliyah returning home healthy.
In terms of football, it brings into sharp focus what is important and after a decade at Swansea City he calls it his home; a family. And there is nothing like a derby against Cardiff to provide a reminder of what it means to play for the club.
“If you win and you score, you’re a king for three months,” he says. “When I first came I managed to score in my first derby, at Ninian Park, and that was an eye-opener to what it means to the people. They don’t forget. I spoke to someone today and they remembered what I did in those games.”
That was almost 11 years ago, a 2-2 draw. Today’s clash could be his last derby as he is in the final year of his contract, but he hopes he has more years at the Liberty Stadium.
At 32 he has seen the rise, fall and rebuild of the club. At the heart of it has been the club’s identity. “When I arrived they were called ‘Swanselona’,” he says. “The club had a philosophy from when Roberto [Martinez] took charge: to play good football. That’s always been the club’s key, to appoint managers with that mindset and not drastically change that.
“At one point it did get lost and it was hard for players and fans to see. The last couple of years it’s been a bit of a struggle losing players and trying to get players in that play the same way. But I think the players we have now, we’re looking good.”
Dyer is the only survivor from the team promoted to the Premier League under Brendan Rodgers in 2011.
Rodgers had a big impact on Swansea – and Dyer developing his game. “It was more manmanagement,” Dyer says. “He gave you that confidence, that arrogance on the ball, and when you step out on the pitch to say, ‘I’m good enough to be here, if not better’.”
Dyer won the League Cup under Michael Laudrup and his only spell away from the club was a season-long loan at Leicester, when he helped win the Premier League title.
While Jamie Vardy and co were the heroes, Dyer played his part with the winner after trailing 2-0 to Aston Villa.
Dyer now wants to join Vardy as a Premier League player performing in his thirties, with promotion a target as one of the experienced players in Steve Cooper’s young squad at the Liberty Stadium.
“James Milner just signed a twoyear deal with one of the best teams in the world,” Dyer says. “It’s down to how you feel and whether you are fit enough. You need to have that faith in yourself and managers still see you as an asset. On top of playing well I feel I can provide experience and knowledge to a lot of other players. A lot of boys ask me questions that I can help them with on their journey while continuing with mine.”
It was Regis, the former West Bromwich Albion and England striker, who helped Dyer. “He was like a second dad to me from the age of 14,” Dyer says. “He developed me as a person. He would ring me and ask, ‘How are you feeling?’ Not, ‘How are you doing on the pitch?’ And I don’t think a lot of players get asked.
“I spoke to him the day before he passed away and he was just seeing how everyone was. It wasn’t just to me. For one man to touch so many hearts. I want to be like that, trying to help other people as much as myself.” Earlier this season the arrival of his daughter Ataliyah brought the whole spectrum of emotions. “We had a miscarriage four months before my wife fell pregnant [with Ataliyah], so it has been a difficult time,” Dyer says. “She had a very hard pregnancy and was told at the start we might lose the baby, which was always at the back of our minds.
“Her waters went early so she was in hospital for that long and I had two little ones that needed looking after at the same time as me going to football.
“[Ataliyah] was in intensive care for two weeks. She stopped breathing when she came out and they thought she might have a hole in her intestines so she was nil by mouth for a very long time. That was hard when she arrived and I wasn’t able to hold her.” Dyer calls her a “miracle” of his eventful last year, with perspective of what is important.
‘I scored in my first derby and that was an eye-opener to what it means to people. They don’t forget’