Leeds United and Swansea City will have very different memories of striker | OneFootball

Lee Trundle is a Swansea City legend but Leeds United supporters won't have the same fond memories

Lee Trundle is a Swansea City legend and is idolised in the city thanks to two spells with the club where he became one of the most well-known English players outside the Premier League thanks to his goals and trickery.

It showed how well thought of he is in the city when he was recently awarded an honorary degree from Swansea University in their December 2024 graduation ceremonies, but Trundle didn't quite enjoy that same success everywhere.

As well as two spells with Swansea, the striker had spells in the Football League with the likes of Wrexham, Bristol City, Leeds United and Preston, all of which had varying degrees of success, but his time at Leeds certainly won't be fondly remembered by the Elland Road faithful.

Trundle made the move to then League One side Leeds on loan from Bristol City in 2009, and he wasn't quite able to live up to the reputation that he'd built for himself at Swansea City, much to the disappointment of supporters.

After a successful four-year spell with Swansea City, where he had developed a reputation as one of the deadliest finishers outside the Premier League, Trundle joined Championship side Bristol City, but things didn't quite go to plan at Ashton Gate.

He failed to nail down a regular place in the Robins' starting XI and was allowed to leave on loan in January 2009, completing a short-term loan deal to join Leeds United.

Given Trundle's previous form in League One with Swansea City, supporters were understandably very excited by Trundle's signing and expected big things from the striker, but they were left disappointed by what they saw.

His time at Leeds got off to a decent start, and he scored in his second appearance for the club, a 2-0 win over Brighton which saw his one-month loan deal extended by a further month, but that was as good as things got for the striker.

He failed to find the back of the net again, missing a penalty in a 2-0 defeat to Hereford United, and he was left on the bench for his last three games at the club before returning to Bristol City in March 2009.

In total, Trundle scored just one goal in ten appearances for the Whites, and he didn't live up to the lofty expectations that he had set for himself after his previous League One exploits.

Even so, he has no regrets over his time with the Whites, as he told Football League World previously: "You have to take a chance if a move comes up. Leeds United is a massive club, huge support, massive heritage and big history, it was a move that I felt at the time was right to get more football, but as said before, it just wasn’t a move that lasted long, so for all parties was best to return to Bristol City.”

Leeds supporters won't look back at Trundle's time at Elland Road fondly, a stark contrast to how he's viewed by Swansea supporters.

Trundle played in three different divisions for Swansea, scoring 91 goals in 194 appearances in an era that laid the foundations for their future success in the Premier League.

Even after announcing his retirement from football, Liverpool-born Trundle still lives in Swansea and works as a club ambassador as well as still playing semi-pro football in the second tier of Welsh football, and while he may not have been born in the city, he's certainly one of Swansea's own.

Sometimes in football, players and certain clubs just go perfectly and that's what happened with Trundle at Swansea, and it's easy to think about what could have been had he not left for Bristol City in the summer of 2007, with the Swans winning promotion to the Championship the following season.

Whilst Trundle is a Swansea City legend and will go down as one of the club's greatest, Leeds supporters will have very different feelings towards the striker, and will be disappointed that he wasn't able to replicate his Swans form at Elland Road.