Steve Paterson

Steve Paterson
Personal information
Full nameSteven William Paterson
Date of birth8 April 1958
Place of birthElgin, Scotland
Playing positionDefender/Striker
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
?–1975Nairn County
1975–1980Manchester United6(0)
1980Sheffield United
Buckie Thistle
Hong Kong Rangers
Sydney Olympic
Yomiuri
Teams managed
1990Elgin City
1990–1995Huntly
1995–2002Inverness Caledonian Thistle
2002–2004Aberdeen
2004–2006Forres Mechanics
2006–2008Peterhead
2010–2011Huntly
2011–Formartine United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Steven William "Steve" Paterson (born 8 April 1958 in Elgin, Moray) is a Scottish association football manager and former player.

Playing career

During his professional playing career, Paterson played as a central defender and joined Manchester United from Highland League club Nairn County in July 1975. He made a total of six league appearances for the Red Devils over five seasons. He signed for Sheffield United in a £60,000 deal but an ankle injury sustained in pre-season training forced Paterson to retire.

Paterson made his comeback as a player in July 1981 with Highland League club Buckie Thistle. He turned down Dundee United to join Peterhead. He had a spell playing for Hong Kong Rangers before again returning to his roots with Highland League club Nairn County in August 1982. The following February, he rejoined former boss Tommy Docherty at Sydney Olympic and then moved on to become the first European to play in Japan in December 1983. He won cups and titles with Yomiuri before his playing career was again cut short by persistent injury problems.

Managerial career

His management career began in the Highland League with Elgin City, before he moved on to Huntly. In the summer of 1995 he joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who were playing in the Scottish Third Division at that time. Paterson spent seven and a half years at Caley Thistle, their longest-serving manager to date. During this time, he took the club from the Third Division to the First Division and presided over the team's famous victories against Celtic (resulting in the well-known newspaper headline "Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious")[1] and Hearts in the Scottish Cup.

In November 2002, Paterson was strongly linked with the vacant manager's job at Dundee United,[2] but he stayed at Caley Thistle for another month. He was offered the manager's position at Aberdeen and became the club's new boss on 11 December 2002.[3] This move was not without controversy, as Paterson and his assistant Duncan Shearer were each supposed to have agreed a five-year contract with Caley Thistle not long before their departure to the Dons.

Paterson's tenure with Aberdeen was marred by his abuse of alcohol. In March 2003 he failed to attend a home game against Dundee F.C. due to being too hungover, after binge drinking the night before the match. In his biography he wrote: "I awoke at about 2.15pm and went into a blind panic as I realized immediately the enormity of the situation.

"I was shocked and horrified and had an almighty hangover. Not only had I overslept, I was in no condition to attend the game.

"I didn't know what to do. This, I believed, was the end of my fledgling career as manager of Aberdeen.

"Meanwhile, down at Pittodrie, Duncan Shearer had hatched a cover-up story to protect me claiming I had been laid low with stomach pains.

"But the word was out on the street among the many punters who had seen me legless the previous night and there were stories that CCTV cameras had picked me up coming out of a variety of pubs and clubs.

"It was one of the most shameful incidents of my life. I was distraught and in pieces. The magnitude of the story could not be understated." [4]

Paterson and Shearer left Aberdeen in the summer of 2004, after a campaign in which the club came dangerously close to being relegated. His next managerial post was with Highland League side Forres Mechanics, which he left in the summer of 2006.

On 30 October 2006, he was announced as the new manager of Peterhead,[5] a position from which he was eventually dismissed on 10 January 2008.[6]

In March 2011, Paterson left his post at Huntly FC to take up the managers post at Formartine United.

Personal life

In March 2003, Paterson revealed he had an alcohol problem, after famously missing Aberdeen's 3–3 home draw with Dundee due to being too hungover to attend.[7] In October 2008 it was reported that Paterson had lost £1 million from betting.[8] Paterson's biography "Confessions of a Highland Hero" co-written with former Grampian Television presenter Frank Gilfeather was published in November 2009, and was serialised in the Daily Record.

Managerial statistics

As of 10 November 2012
rowspan="2 style="width:130px"|Team rowspan="2 style="width:50px"|Nat rowspan="2 style="width:120px"|From rowspan="2 style="width:120px"|To Record
G W D L Win %
Elgin City Scotland 1990 1990
Huntly Scotland 1990 1995
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland August 1995 December 2002 329 147 92 90 44.68
Aberdeen Scotland December 2002 May 2004 68 23 13 32 33.82
Forres Mechanics Scotland 2004 2006
Peterhead Scotland October 2006 January 2008 51 17 10 24 33.33
Huntly Scotland 2010 2011
Formartine United Scotland 2011 Present

Honours

Huntly
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Aberdeen
Forres Mechanics
Formantine United


References

  1. ↑ "Super Caley dream realistic?". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 22 March 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "Paterson confirms United offer" BBC Sport website (6 November 2002)
  3. ↑ "Paterson named new Aberdeen boss" BBC Sport website (11 December 2002)
  4. ↑ http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/exclusive-steve-paterson---being-1041785
  5. ↑ "Paterson is new boss at Peterhead" BBC Sport website (30 October 2006)
  6. ↑ "Blue Toon boss Paterson departs" BBC Sport website (10 January 2008)
  7. ↑ "Paterson reveals drink problem" BBC Sport website (17 March 2003)
  8. ↑ "£1m bets shame of former football boss Steve Paterson as he checks into rehab" Daily Record (1 October 2008)

External links