‘WE CAN’T LET IT SLIP’ – CRUNCH TIME FOR SWANS
SWANSEA City head to Sunderland today with the Premier League destiny in their hands – and a message from manager Paul Clement not to waste it.
And the Swans boss is adamant his squad have shown the togetherness and belief to make sure they do not let this survival chance slip.
Swansea can take a huge step towards top-flight safety by beating the already relegated Black Cats at the Stadium of Light this afternoon (3pm).
It would see Swansea go four points clear of Hull, who would face fellow relegation-battlers Crystal Palace at midday tomorrow needing to win.
A Tigers defeat would guarantee Swansea a seventh-successive season of Premier League football following a campaign where relegation at one stage looked inevitable.
The opportunity will be roared on by 3,000 fans who have had their tickets paid for by the players – and Clement insisted his stars are in no mood to let them down.
The Swans chief said: “We have worked very hard to get to this position and we don’t want it to go to waste. We are prepared for it, prepared for a tough game but from a physical standpoint, effort, commitment, I’m 100 per cent sure we won’t get outworked.
“You can’t control luck, misfortune, refereeing decisions against us or for us, but we will make sure we are prepared because we and I know we have to get it right.
“Everybody has worked really hard to get to this point, now it is that last little push.”
Clement admits he would have accepted the current scenario following his appointment at the start of January; the side were then bottom of the division with half the season gone.
But, after a storming start, Swansea had to fight back to overcome a dreadful run of form that saw many questioning the Liberty survival spirit.
Clement, though, is convinced there is now the spirit and quality to finish the job after two wins from their last three games, saying: “Players have stepped up and taken more responsibility. Before the last game Wayne (Routledge) spoke in the dressing room just before we went out against Stoke. He had his civilian gear on because he’s injured. He came in just as we were about to go out and he said: ‘I hope you all know how important this is. I hope you know.’
“They were the last couple of words, then out they went and did a good job.
“It’s an example of the connection and understanding of this club we have which could give us an advantage.” As could the travelling fans, with Clement adding: “We want to give them a team to be proud of.
There have been difficult games in my time where there was frustration, but at this crucial point they are behind us and we need them to get over the line.
“They can’t play or score or tackle, but they can give a little bit of extra to players when they may feel tired, in periods where we might be under pressure they can help.”
THERE was once the two of them, stood underneath the Vetch’s Centre Stand clock, or on the balcony at Bury, the winners’ box at Wembley.
They arrived as boys on loan, becoming men for all seasons in all divisions.
The partnership broke up a while ago now. Leon Britton is back at the heart of things at Swansea City, still having his name sung, still performing heroics. Alan Tate is watching on with the rest of us.
As Swansea – the club that became his home after an opportune move from Manchester United almost 15 years ago – take on his boyhood team with their Premier League future at stake, it’s assumed that the retired Tate would be itching to be part of things at the Stadium of Light. It’s assumed he’d be eager to do his bit against the Black Cats rather than watch on with the rest of us.
“What could I do?,” comes the response, devoid of cliché.
“Let’s be honest, I would have struggled. I got as far as I could. I had a brain, but my limitations were my athleticism, I was never the quickest. In the games I played in the Premier League, it was a struggle.
“In the Championship, I would come up against players who might have had more ability but didn’t have the football brain I had. In the Premier League, they were athletically better, but were just as clever and it was a level I couldn’t cope with. You reach your levels in everything and that was mine. I was fortunate enough to play a few games for the club in the Premier League but I wasn’t good enough to play on a regular basis.
“And there’s not a bit of me that wishes I was out there on Saturday. I don’t miss it. I left everything on the field when I did and when I finished I couldn’t give any more. I can’t miss it because of that.”
And, in one answer, it’s obvious that Tate has lost none of his honesty that always delighted supporters and media from his playing days.
Not all liked what he had to say, be it rivals or even his own manager. The now 34-year-old is reminded of the time he addressed issues behind the scenes in the early days of Michael Laudrup’s reign, bluntly telling how Swansea had played as a group of individuals and that they were heading for trouble if steps weren’t taken.
It brought the problems to a head to be addressed, but Tate – having already seen a broken leg deny him a season of top-flight football – didn’t play for the Dane, nor Swansea, again.
“How can I regret it? It needed to be said,” is his view on it now.
It leaves you wondering whether Swansea could have done with his character in the dressing room at times this season, the Manchester United youth product always appearing to have that essence of Gary Neville in his standards and expectations of himself and others around him.
He was always a fans’ favourite, something Tate says goes beyond his involvement in the side that beat the drop out of the Football League.
“I think you could go on with all different reasons and moments why there’s an affinity,” he says when asked why there is such a connection. “But ultimately I think it comes down to that I always used to think I represented them on the pitch, they saw themselves in me. I used to think if they could get out there and play they’d play like me. Committed to the club, no matter what.”
Thankfully, the club have ensured his attributes and affinity have not been lost totally from the Liberty. Tate is speaking from the club’s Landore academy facility having started to cut his coaching teeth with Swansea’s youth sides, coaching from Under-15s up. He insists his honest traits are still used – if not with the same senior bite – but it’s more about encouragement.
“I love it, honestly,” he says, hoping it’s the first steps of an ultimate ambition to manage at the highest level. “I love the day-to-day of it, but also watching these young lads grow and get better, improve technically, improve as people and as players.”
Players who just about remember him. “It turns out one of the boys in the 18s – Liam Cullen – I took out as mascot when I was captain for one game,” he smiles.
“But then I was chatting to another about the United side that won the treble in ‘99 and he turned to me and said ‘Tatey, I wasn’t born then’. I thought ‘Oh God ..... ’”
If he was Sunderland by birth and Swansea by choice (“Whatever happens, it’s home now”) then Tate is Manchester United by design. Lessons learned at the knee of Sir Alex Ferguson are being passed on in South Wales.
“What United give you is a mentality where nothing is ever good enough, that you don’t just accept things or be satisfied,” he says. “That’s got to come before anything because you’ll never want or get the extras, you won’t do the extra sessions, you won’t do more than someone else, you won’t get past League One. The mentality is something you need in kids. Ability is coachable. Mentality is difficult to get into them.”
Sat in the gleaming new facility that has given Swansea category one status, while the first team train at state-of-the-art facilities at Fairwood, does the player who saw the other side at the start of Swansea’s rise recognise the mentality at the club now?
“It’s getting there,” he says. “Visually we’re pleasing with what we’ve got, things are in place, but mentality? We need to do better.
“Like, I hate it when people say ‘Look at where we were in 2003’ or ‘Look where we were ten years ago’. Forget that, it doesn’t matter where we’ve come from, that’s gone. It’s a completely different club. It was a completely different club when we moved to the Liberty. A completely different club after Roberto (Martinez) came in and changed things. 2003? We’re not that club.
“You can’t change the fact that game was hopefully the biggest we’ve ever faced – hopefully because we never want to be in a situation
where the consequences are that drastic again – but we need to get away from this mentality that we can accept just being in the Premier League. No.
“Top-half, top six... looks impossible, but why? It’s impossible to do what we’ve done. We need to keep looking forward.”
Though he says the spirit of that Hull game in this modern-day survival fight is welcome, Tate isn’t concerned that the effort he and others put in during that period is at stake. Chiefly because of the manager.
“It hasn’t been good enough at times, but it’s not my place to say anything,” Tate says of events on the field before Clement’s arrival. “The role I have means I haven’t been in that dressing room, the squad environment. I only knew Francesco (Guidolin) and Bob (Bradley) to say hello to, but with this manager I have a good relationship. We’ve spoken quite a bit, but you can see anyway, he’s the right man.”
Tate reveals – minus the details – that he was asked his opinion on the club’s situation ahead of the Stoke game and, as you would expect, gave an honest answer.
But there is no reason to doubt there is honesty when he doesn’t give a moment’s hesitation to saying the side will do what’s needed in the next two games under Clement.
“We’re in the right hands 100%,” he says. “The manager we have is on the right path, definitely.
“And he’s made sure it’s in our hands, which is all you ever want. Now it’s go and do it because there’s no-one to blame now. Go and beat Sunderland, go and beat West Brom, no-one can affect you. I think they will and then we can look ahead with a manager who has things in place.
“The wrongs that happened at the beginning of the season have been righted and we’re on the right path. But, again, it’s about that mentality. Don’t accept it.
“Don’t be complacent. Don’t think this manager will settle for it or the same next year, he’ll want to kick on and improve not only the first team but the rest of the club. Everything can be improved.”
It’s a clarion call that Tate won’t be able to give (“It’s not my place any more”) so will leave it down to his old partner Britton, a player who he says isn’t as quiet as people may think, but who is louder with his deeds.
“He’s got his opinions, don’t worry about that,” he says of his fellow stalwart.
“He has the respect of everyone and he leads by the way he conducts himself. I know about the DVDs, the meals, the tickets, that’s what Britts is.
“That’s how he leads. He’s not a shouter and if he went in and tried to get into people’s faces or screaming in the dressing room they’d see through it. He can’t change what he is.”
Neither, it seems, can Tate. Not that anyone at Swansea would want him to, the honest man who will always demand more.