Alexander Montgomerie "Sandy" Pate (born 15 August 1944 in Lennoxtown, Scotland) is a retired footballer who spent the majority of his career at Mansfield Town. His position on the pitch was right-back.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Montgomerie Pate | ||
| Date of birth | 15 August 1944 | ||
| Place of birth | Lennoxtown, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Renfrew FC | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1967 | Watford | 15 | (0) |
| 1967–1978 | Mansfield Town | 413 | (2) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Pate began his career at Scottish junior side Renfrew FC, and was signed by Watford in 1965. He had played as a right-winger in his younger days, but was converted into a right-back at Watford, where he remained a reserve behind player-manager Ken Furphy, a right-back himself.[1]
In October 1967, Pate was signed by Mansfield Town, and immediately put into the side by manager Tommy Eggleston. On 26 February 1969, Pate was a member of the Mansfield side that picked up a shock 3–0 win against West Ham United in the fifth round of the FA Cup to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in the club's history.[2]
Pate remained at Field Mill until 1978, and was a member of the Mansfield teams that won the Fourth and Third division titles in 1975 and 1977 respectively, before retiring from the game at the end of 1977-78, Mansfield's only season at the second tier of English football.
At the time of his retirement, Pate had made a club-record 479 first-team appearances for the club (413 of those in league competition[3]). The record has since been broken by his teammate Rod Arnold, but Pate remains in second place on Mansfield's all-time appearance list. He still lives in the Mansfield area. Included in his 479 first team appearances is a near seven year, run of 366 consecutive appearances in all competitions. To this day Sandy still remains a loyal supporter of the club and still follows Mansfield both home and away and rightly so is still regarded a club legend.[citation needed]
In June 2009, Pate was honoured by the club when the supporters' bar at the club's Field Mill ground was renamed the Sandy Pate Bar.[4][5]
References
edit- ^ Bracegirdle, Dave & Hartshorn, Steve (2004). The Legends of Mansfield Town. Breedon Books. ISBN 1-85983-435-3.
- ^ "Mansfield 3, West Ham 0". Stagsnet. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
- ^ "Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database". Neil Brown. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
- ^ Stags' bar to be named after Sandy Pate, Mansfield Chad (29 April 2009). Retrieved on 1 September 2009.
- ^ "Stags unveil the Kevin Bird suite". Chad, 3 June 2009, p.103. Accessed 5 March 2023