Tate: Wearing A Swansea Shirt Motivates Me

Defender Alan Tate continues to prove what a true jack he is, after saying that simply pulling on a Swansea City shirt before a match is enough to motivate him during a season.

The former Manchester United trainee has a special bond with the club and on Saturday he will start his 8th season with the Swans.

Brian Flynn signed him from Old Trafford in 2002 and he played a key role that season as we avoided the drop to non-league. In the final match of the 02/03 season, after beating Hull City 4-2 to stay in the Football League, Tate showed a t-shirt under his jersey with the words 'Once A Jack Always A Jack'.

Tate is one of those players that is happy just to play for the club, and he's never concerned at which position that might be. He had a bad spell under Kenny Jackett when he didn't get along with the former manager, but in the last year he has found his way back into the first team - out of position at left back.

Tate told Wales Online:

"We`re definitely aware that it`s going to be tough and perhaps we won`t have that surprise element we had last year coming up from League One - teams might be a bit more familiar with how we might set-up.

"But it`s one thing knowing about it and it`s another thing stopping us playing the way we can.

"We`re confident in ourselves and confident in our own ability and that`s what counts.

"We play a lot different to everybody else and it`s a not a type of game teams come up against every week.

"That will always be in our favour."

"The predicted league tables or people`s verdicts won`t be pinned up on a wall or anything like that.

"The same was said last year, that we`d struggle and all that, but I don`t find any motivation in proving it wrong.

"The motivation comes from within yourselves and wanting to do well for the club. Pulling on a Swansea City shirt is motivation enough for me.

"And as long as we`re comfortable with ourselves and with what we can do we will be a tough team for anybody to beat, no matter what anyone says about us."

Paulo Sousa and his side will be looking to get off to a winning start on Saturday as they travel to Championship new-boys Leicester City at the Walkers Stadium.

The team will be boosted with an excellent travelling support of 3,000 plus.

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