Alan Tate (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football coach and retired footballer who is currently assistant manager at Nottingham Forest.
A former defender, Tate spent the majority of his playing career at Swansea City. After retiring from playing, Tate moved into coaching with Swansea, before joining Nottingham Forest in 2021.
Playing career
Born in Easington, County Durham, Tate began his career as a trainee at Manchester United, later earning himself a professional contract. Although he went on to captain United's reserve team, which included such players as Quinton Fortune, Luke Chadwick and Chris Eagles, he failed to break into the first team. Tate went on loan to Royal Antwerp, Manchester United's feeder club, in 2002, making seven appearances in the Belgian First Division. He did not score for Royal Antwerp in the two months he was there, but he did score an own goal against Gent on 17 February 2002, the first goal in a 3–3 draw.
Swansea City
Tate spent two loan periods at Swansea City. He played a major role in the club's battle against relegation from the Football League in the 2002–03 season, before joining the club on a permanent basis on 6 February 2004.
Initially a centre-back, Tate made a successful transition to the right-back slot. He further showed his versatility by playing several matches in the centre of midfield during an injury crisis at the club during the 2005–06 season, which saw him named as the club's Player of the Year. Tate was in the Swansea City team which won the Football League Trophy final against Carlisle United on 2 April 2006. After the final whistle, he and Lee Trundle were photographed holding a Welsh flag bearing the words "Fuck off Cardiff," which had been handed to them by Swansea supporters. The pair claimed to have been unaware of the message written on the flag. On 24 June 2006, both players were fined a week's wages and warned as to their future conduct by the Football Association of Wales, having already received police cautions for public order offences.
Swansea City reached the League One play-off final against Barnsley on 27 May 2006. The match finished at 2–2 after extra time, and went to a penalty shootout. With Swansea trailing 4–3, Tate saw his penalty saved, sealing Barnsley's promotion.
He continued mainly playing at right-back under Kenny Jackett and occasionally midfield to cover for injuries in the 2006–07 season. When former Swansea captain Roberto Martínez took over as the new manager by the 2007–08 season, Tate had lost his place at right-back to new arrival Àngel Rangel.
During the 2008–09 season, Tate covered all positions in defence, including one appearance as a goalkeeper against Queens Park Rangers. After injuries to Marcos Painter and Federico Bessone, Tate played at left-back for the rest of the 2008–09 season. Tate had a superb 2009–10 season as he played most of his matches in his favourite position at centre-back due to Garry Monk's injury-laden season, as well as captaining the side for most of the season. For the 2010–11 season, under new manager Brendan Rodgers, he resumed his position at left-back, although he has played centre-back ever since Monk got injured in an FA Cup tie against Colchester United on 8 January 2011.
On 28 August 2011, Tate broke his leg in a golf cart accident, managing to lodge his leg between the cart and a tree. The injury was estimated to rule him out for up to six months. Despite this, Tate signed a new contract with Swansea on 14 September 2011, keeping him at the club until June 2015. Tate made his comeback as a late substitute for Swansea in their penultimate match of the 2011–12 season at Old Trafford appearing against his former club, Manchester United.
A testimonial match for Tate against Manchester United was granted by Swansea in the summer of 2013. However, it was postponed because Swansea were scheduled to play Manchester United in their first Premier League fixture of the 2013–14 season. His testimonial was played four years later, on 9 August 2017, with a Swansea legends team facing a Manchester United legends team at the Liberty Stadium.
Tate had made 340 appearances for Swansea, scoring five goals in all competitions, which excludes the FAW Premier Cup, which Swansea competed in from 1997 to 2008.
Tate revealed that he was to exit the club in the summer 2015. This was confirmed by Swansea on 28 May 2015.
On 21 July 2016 it was announced that Tate would take up an Academy U18 coaching role, helping to coach the Swans' Under-18s team alongside Eric Ramsay and Chris Llewellyn as well as taking charge of any U17s matches.