the same month and remained with the club for the rest of the 1948–49 season. During his time at the club, Knighton turned down numerous offers from Football League sides for Allchurch, as he was still registered to play for Swansea Town, and described him as a "second Charlie Buchan." At the start of the following season, Allchurch also played for Wellington Town before he was demobilised from his military service, allowing him to return to Swansea. Swansea Town He returned to Swansea in 1949, where manager Billy McCandless had already received offers for Allchurch even though he had not made his professional debut. Despite the interest, Allchurch joined a side that had won promotion comfortably from the Football League Third Division South the previous year and the favoured attacking partnership of Sammy McCrory and Billy Lucas meant that Allchurch continued to play for the club's reserve side in The Football Combination. He eventually received his first call up to the first team on Boxing Day 1949 at the age of 20, making his debut in a 3–0 defeat to West Ham United. Although the Swans lost, Allchurch impressed enough to be handed a second start on 7 January 1950, scoring his first senior goal for the club in a 3–0 victory over First Division side Birmingham City in the third round of the FA Cup. In the next round, Swansea suffered a 2–1 defeat to eventual winners Arsenal but Allchurch again made headlines for his performance with Arsenal player Joe Mercer later commenting that he "nearly frightened us to death" as McCandless and the Swansea board were again forced to fend off offers from several clubs. He also claimed a Welsh Cup winners' medal at the end of the 1949–50 season, playing in a 4–1 victory over Wrexham in the final on 27 April 1950. During this period, Swansea suffered from financial difficulties which saw the sale of several first team players such as McCrory, Jim Feeney and Roy Paul. This allowed Allchurch and a number of other youth players, including Terry Medwin and John King to establish themselves in the squad, Allchurch becoming the youngest player in the club's history to be ever present during an entire season, having played in every league game for the club, during the 1950–51 season. Further approaches from Liverpool, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City were also rejected by the Swans. However, the