Derby Telegraph

Path cleared to the future as Paterson says farewell to Brewers

MARTIN Paterson was allowed the respect of leaving Burton Albion officially on the day his short-term contract expired, yesterday.

That is what he had agreed with chairman Ben Robinson and the manager had a statement lined up by the League Managers’ Associatio­n. The Brewers had a short statement lined up to follow it.

And they soon followed up with a statement that coaches Gary Mills and John Dreyer had also left in what looks like a real clearing of the decks for the future.

If you are Martin Paterson, the best thing that can come of his four months in charge is that he learns a great deal from what was a helter-skelter crash course in the ups and downs of football management.

He pointed out when he came in that he already had seven or eight years of coaching at a good level, mostly under Michael Duff but he would have been aware that it becomes very different when you are the main focus of fans’ admiration or anger.

He leaves without a sacking on his CV and the value of the arrangemen­t he had with Robinson becomes clear. Both parties made it plain from the start that the deal was until the end of the season, after which there would be discussion­s about the future.

Both parties had hoped that things would have gone well enough to make those discussion­s productive but it did not turn out to be the case.

If Robinson felt that Paterson’s standing with supporters had become so damaged that regaining the ground would be impossible, he was probably right. Paterson would surely have thought similar.

When you have played at Premier League level, as he has, no amount of not tuning into social media will stop you knowing what supporters think.

In terms of media relations, Paterson began politely but cautiously and that was perfectly understand­able. A mischievou­s humour soon surfaced once he had weighed people up.

As his career goes on, he may think about varying what he says a little. There are only so many times you can repeat the phrase about the “non-negotiable­s” and he used the word “ultimately” rather a lot, almost as many times as Gary Crosby used to say “obviously” but not as many times as Wayne Rooney says “errm.” Obviously.

Those non-negotiable­s – maximum hard work at all times, basically – are true enough but Dino Maamria and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbain­k often referenced them too and there was more than one occasion when I felt I could have been listening to any one of the three summing up a match.

That is not so much a criticism of Paterson as an observatio­n about modern coaching. You can tell they’ve all been on the same courses.

The best managers will take from those courses but apply their individual­ism to the job as well and who knows, in future, perhaps Paterson will do that.

It all started so well. He had as close to a free hit for openers as you could get, an away game against Derby County, and while it mattered that Burton lost, the way they came back from 2-0 down to 2-2 and deserved the point Conor Hourihane’s stoppage-time winner denied them was what people took away from the match, rather than the fact that they were played off the park in the first half.

The first win, at home to Charlton Athletic, was achieved efficientl­y against an Addicks team who, at the time, were in disarray.

Perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight, Paterson might not have celebrated it quite so hugely with his fistpumpin­g in front of the fans.

His two predecesso­rs, and Nigel Clough, and in fact most managers, often talk about not getting too high when you win or too low when you do not and this was not an example of adhering to that.

We know that Paterson was hampered by the circumstan­ces at Burton that saw a string of senior strikers leave on loan, leaving untried loanees to shoulder the attacking burden. It will have been a harsh learning curve for them as well as for him.

As things turned sour, as performanc­es became poorer and the game-plan, more often than not, was not working, Paterson generally conducted himself well.

He was honest and as measured as you can be with a microphone thrust under your nose live on air and therefore no option but to respond to the question when he was asked if he had considered standing down after the humbling 4-0 defeat at home to Oxford United.

By then, fans were pouncing on his every word and it is the nature of things that they were repeating only the words which made him look bad, never the ones that did not. People interpret how they choose to. The same can be said for results. The Brewers stayed up because Stevenage beat Cheltenham Town on the last day, apparently. Well, beating Stevenage themselves a couple of weeks before had something to do with it as well and it was something their rivals could not do.

The highs of tactically sound away wins against Leyton Orient and Bristol Rovers and a determined win at home against Reading were countered by a few too many lamentable performanc­es, such as Carlisle United and Cheltenham Town at home and an utterly bereft display away to Fleetwood Town, a last-day memory no-one would have wanted to take away from the season.

For all the relief he must have been feeling, Paterson’s celebratio­n at the end of that game was illjudged.

He is too smart not to learn from it but that doesn’t help Burton Albion.

It looks, absolutely, like the right decision for both parties to move and and what happens next is the big focus now.

“I would like to say what an honour and privilege it was to be Burton Albion manager.

“I thank the Chairman, Ben Robinson for trusting me with the opportunit­y and supporting me in my role on a daily basis.

“My remit was to keep the club in League One and I am delighted the club remains in the division, with the foundation­s to improve and continue the club’s success.

“I would like to thank all the players and staff for their hard work and trust. Walking into a football club on your own can be hard, but everyone made me feel instantly welcome and I am so grateful to all.

“There were tough periods, but we came through as a collective with dignity and humility, meeting the objective of staying in the division with two vital wins out of the last four games. It was a reward for trusting our process, never giving up, and being honest and good people. This was my proudest achievemen­t in football and I enjoyed everything the job and responsibi­lity entailed.

“I leave knowing I pushed the players to be better and worked hard to improve them, no matter how small the margins, which is a big part of my work and process. I was very proud to be able to field some young, homegrown players in big matches and help them in the early stages of their careers.

“Thank you to the fan base for continuous­ly supporting the players, home and away. Burton Albion is a proud Staffordsh­ire club, with its culture and core values being one for the community and supporters. I hope I have played a small part in helping the club to move forward on its fantastic journey and I wish everyone connected with Burton Albion the best of wishes for the future.”

Paterson will learn from a real helterskel­ter crash course in the ups and downs of football

MANAGER Martin Paterson has left Burton Albion following the expiry of his short-term contract.

Paterson joined the Brewers in January after Gary Mills had acted as caretaker manager following the departure of Dino Maamria and the former Northern Ireland striker will now look to take on new challenges.

Chairman Ben Robinson MBE DL, said: “Martin took up the managerial position under very difficult circumstan­ces in January and he worked extremely hard with the support of his backroom staff, which saw the club secure its League One status.

“The club thanks Martin for his efforts and wishes him well for the future.”