Tate Salutes "Mr Evil"

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Alan Tate will know a thing or two about tea cup throwing managers. Having spent his formative years at Manchester United he will have at least seen or heard about some of the Scots famous rants that have been thrown at some of the World's biggest stars. And when Roberto Martinez was handed the managerial reigns at the Liberty earlier this year there were plenty who voiced concerns that "Mr Nice Guy" was in town and it was not what was needed to bring a talented squad into line and turn them into the promotion challengers we all wanted.

But that is something that Tate says is not the case and goes as far as to say that the opposite could be true. Speaking to the Wales on Sunday, Tate said "There was all that talk of him being too nice for the job but I can tell you now that's not the case after what he's put us through so far.

"What he had us doing even before we went to Sweden was really tough and our estimation of him has certainly changed. I would go as far to say he is evil - and that's being kind!

"We're beginning to get ready. It's been tough but that's what you expect when you're heading into a new season wanting to achieve what we want to. We knew it was going to get harder out here and we've been proved right.

"But even before we left for the camp he had us running around Singleton Park, doing different sets with different coaches and making sure we did a certain amount of laps in under 20 minutes. It was hard.

"But to be fair, an easy pre-season doesn't get you anywhere and deep down nobody wants it easy - we want it to hurt. All the players wanted to be aching that next day to show how much we want this, and the fact we did showed just how much we put in.

"It will be good preparation for the big season we have coming up.

"When he was captain here he was always big on team spirit and when he first came in as manager he asked me in a meeting what I thought was missing.

"I told him then that I thought the spirit around the team needed lifting. We missed that when he left as a player and he's looked to put that right now. Of course, we know it takes more than just that to earn promotion - but it wins you more points than it loses so we want that to show when we start back.

"He's not been Roberto the team-mate since the morning he came back into the club. He's distanced himself from us when he has to and he's not been afraid to take some big decisions already."