INTERESTING NEWS: Following Steve Cooper’s growth, Swansea
Tate has been Cooper’s assistant throughout his senior managerial career, starting at Swansea City before spells with Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, and it’s fair to say that he’d have been put in an awkward position had the Welshman opted to join the Bluebirds.
Swansea legend Tate is idolised in the white half of south Wales following over a decade’s worth of service to the Swans which saw him help the club go from struggling in the lower echelons of League Two to reaching the Premier League in just eight years.
However, being a Swansea legend means that you’re never going to be well-received by the supporters of your biggest rivals, and to say that Tate would have been unpopular with the Bluebirds’ faithful is an understatement.
Alan Tate will be relieved he doesn’t have to make Cardiff City call
As soon as reports broke stating that Cooper “would relish the opportunity” to become Cardiff’s manager, supporters from both sides of the South Wales Derby divide realised that meant there was a realistic chance that Tate could be the Bluebirds’ assistant manager.
Of course, a day later these reports were put to bed by Wales Online, with the former Swansea boss reportedly eyeing a job further up the pyramid, but it begs the question of what would have happened had Cooper joined Cardiff.
Despite managing Swansea for two years, the majority of Cardiff supporters have no real problem with Cooper, but they certainly do with Tate.
Tate was famously fined alongside Lee Trundle in 2006 after Swansea won the Football League Trophy for brandishing an anti-Cardiff flag on the pitch in the city’s Millennium Stadium, and that coupled with his status as a Swansea legend means he’s disliked in the Welsh capital.
Tate made 321 appearances for the Swans, including a number against the Swansea , where he wasn’t afraid to get stuck in and leave a mark, meaning he is probably up there with Trundle as one of the Swansea players most despised by Cardiff supporters, and it really would have been a shock if he became their assistant manager.
It would have left Cooper in a difficult situation as Tate is clearly someone he respects, trusts and wants to work with, but it would have been a surprise if Cardiff’s hierarchy had allowed the former Swansea defender to join the club with him.
Thankfully for Tate, it looks as if Cooper joining Cardiff is a non-starter at the moment, and he’ll be relieved that he doesn’t have to make a difficult decision one way or another.
Alan Tate as Cardiff City’s assistant manager would have been unthinkable
While Tate was born in Durham, he’s certainly an honorary Jack, and joining Cardiff City was probably a non-starter for the 42-year-old.
When Tate left Swansea in 2021 to join Cooper at Nottingham Forest, he penned an emotional letter to the Jack Army, which ended with: “This is NOT goodbye, this is THANK YOU, I LOVE YOU, I WILL MISS YOU and I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN.
“Once a Jack, always a Jack. Tatey.”
Given the connections that he has with both the city and the club, he would have found it hard to follow Cooper to Cardiff, and given his reputation amongst Cardiff supporters, they wouldn’t have wanted him there anyway.
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