Michael Paton

Michael Paton (born 25 March 1989) is a Scottish professional footballer who is currently playing for Queen of the South.

Club career

Paton, a striker born in Greenock,^[1] is a product of Aberdeen's youth academy. He first played senior first team football with Scottish Second Division club Brechin City, whom he joined on loan in January to June 2008. He rejoined the Glebe Park side for another loan spell in September 2008^[2]

He made his Aberdeen debut in December 2008, coming on as a substitute in a 3–0 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.^[3] He scored his first senior goal for the club in a 2–1 loss to Rangers at Ibrox in May 2009.^[4]

Paton became a regular for the Dons in the 2009–2010 season. He managed his first double for the club coming off the bench in a 3–2 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park in the quarter final of Scottish League Cup.^[5] He set up Lee Miller to score the only goal in Aberdeen's 1–0 win over Rangers at Pittodrie Stadium.^[6] The following month, Paton signed a three-year contract extension to keep him at the club until 2013.^[7]

In the January transfer window, he was linked with a loan move with Dundee^[8] but to no avail and stayed at Aberdeen. Paton scored his second league goal for Aberdeen against Hibernian at Easter Road, on 10 February 2010 and his first goal at Pittodrie three days later against Celtic, with a superb left foot strike from the edge of the box.

The next season, Paton playing time was soon reduced, due to arrival of new striker, especially Scott Vernon. Paton missed out a loan move to Morton & Dundee, insisting he wants to fight for the first team at Aberdeen.^[9] In his first appearance of the season, Paton received a straight red card – for the first time of his career – for stamping on Jonny Hayes in a 2–0 loss against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. His red card appeal for three match ban was reserved by the SFA and was successfully rescind, making him return to a next match.^[10]

On 30 November 2010, Paton travelled to Austria for a three-day trial at Austrian Bundesliga side Fußballclub Wacker Innsbruck with the aim of winning a short-term loan deal in the following transfer window. The loan deal was not concluded.^[11]

He was offered a free transfer by Aberdeen during the summer 2011 transfer window, but opted to remain with the club.^[1] At the end of the transfer window, on 31 August 2011, he joined Stockport County on a six-month loan.^[12] He made his debut, receiving a yellow during the match, in a 1–1 draw against Telford United. Having featured five games, Paton scored his first goal, on 1 October 2011, in a 2–1 loss against York City.^[13] Two weeks later, on 11 October 2011, he scored a brace in a 4–3 loss against Darlington^[14] He would one more goal against Bath City and also provided assist for Nick Chadwick in a 2–0 win.^[15] He returned to his parent club at the end of November after sustaining an injury.^[16]

On 31 August 2012, Paton was released by Aberdeen.^[17] His release left him gutted after he was surplus to requirements at Aberdeen.^[18] Meanwhile, manager Craig Brown says Paton's released from Aberdeen was lack of scoring was the main factor of him leaving the club.^[19]

On 28 February 2013 Paton signed for Queen of the South until the end of the season. Paton had been on trial at the club and had played three times in the reserves as a trialist. It was also his first club in six months. ^[20] On 22 May 2013 Paton extended his contract at Queens until 31 May 2014. ^[21]

Controversy

On 7 October 2010, Paton and then colleague Zander Diamond were alleged to have made disparaging comments about Protestants on the social networking site Facebook.^[22] Both players later apologised and were subsequently censured by Aberdeen.^[23][24]

References

External links

• Michael Paton career stats at Soccerbase
• Michael Paton profile at Aberdeen F.C.