Mark Patterson On Bolton, Sheffield United And Playing Under Bruce Rioch And Howard Kendall | OneFootball

An interview with Mark Patterson, by Callum McFadden for WFi.

You started your career at Blackburn Rovers and played over 100 times for the club. What are your memories from playing at Ewood Park?

“First and foremost, it was my own team – my own town club. Making my debut when I was about 18 years old was just great, playing at home. Of course, in the Blackburn End, all my mates used to congregate there, and then we’d go to the pub after the game. Just great times, a lot of good memories there. Later on, things went a bit pear-shaped.”

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When things did go a bit pear-shaped, how did you handle that?

“To be honest, it was difficult. I was still a young man, around 22. Being a local lad and not having the best of times, supporters do tend to turn on you a bit, and they did with me. Even going downtown on a Saturday night in Blackburn, if you’d not had a particularly good game, you’d get reminded of that in most of the pubs you went in.

“That was how it used to be. It made me grow up a bit, made me stronger, and you learn to deal with it. When they told me I could leave the club, I felt it was time for a fresh start anyway. Looking back, it was probably a good thing.”

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That fresh start came at Preston. Why did you choose Preston at that time?

“It wasn’t really a case of choosing. John McGrath, the Preston manager, got in contact with Don McKay. He fancied me going down to Preston. At the same time, Ronnie Aldersley, who played for North End, went to Blackburn. I think Don McKay probably instigated the move because he wanted Ronnie.

“It turned out to be a good move. I went to North End on the old plastic pitch, which actually was great for me because it meant lots of pure football.

“John McGrath insisted on us playing football – he was so fond of playing out from the back. For the 18 months I had at Preston, I’ve got nothing but great thoughts and thanks to John McGrath and Les Chapman.”

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After Preston, you played for Bury in the first of two spells. How was it playing for the club in both spells, and how sad were you with what eventually happened to Bury?

“In my first spell, I played about two or three months of proper old-school football. I really enjoyed playing there at that time. We had good players like David Lee on the right wing. There was a lot of socialising, a lot of alcohol.

“After 18 months or two years, though, the money dried up.

“Mike Walsh pulled me in one day and said, ‘We need to pay the wages for the next couple of weeks. Christmas is coming and Bolton want you. Would you go? And by the way, we can’t pay you what we owe you because we can’t afford to. But if you go for £60,000, we can pay the wages.’

“That was the first spell.

“The second spell wasn’t as nice. Stan Ternent was in charge. He’d had success with promotions and had players he trusted.

“When I arrived, coming off spells at Sheffield United and Bolton, we had a practice match. Stan had the keeper throwing it out, us lumping it into the channels, and chasing it.

“After about 10 minutes, I asked Lenny Johnrose and Nicky Daws if we could get it down and play. Lenny said, “Not a chance – we’ll be out of the door if we do.”

“Then, during the practice match, the ball dropped to me, I controlled it, and passed sideways. Stan stopped the game, asked what I was doing, and when I said, ‘Getting it down to play,’ he told me to get in the stands and watch how Bury played.

“I was just over 30, recently out of the Premier League under Howard Kendall, and now I’m in the stands watching a training session. It wasn’t the best start – and it didn’t go very well after that.”

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“He wasn’t the sort of manager who barked orders. He was laid back, didn’t say a great deal. A lovely fella and we had massive respect for him because of what he achieved – what a fantastic player he was.

“But he wasn’t the sort of manager I was used to. Mickey Brown sort of ran the show. I don’t think Phil managed again after that. Lovely man, but not the right manager for me.”

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When Bruce Rioch came in, was it obvious right away that he was the manager?

“Absolutely, Bruce was similar to Sam Allardyce in his philosophy. When he came to Bolton, he sat us down and said, “This is what you’re going to be eating. This is what you’re going to be drinking. This is when you’re going to drink it.”

“This was 1992 in the third division. We were sitting there thinking, ‘I play golf in the afternoons; McGinley goes to the pub; Phil Brown goes to the snooker hall.’ But Bruce had us doing two or three sessions a day.

“We all bought into it. After a few months, we could play with our eyes closed because we knew exactly where we needed to be. If you didn’t meet his expectations, you were out of the team.

“The success that followed – promotions and FA Cup runs – shows that it worked. He brought in good players like McGinley, and Andy Walker was already there. His methods took us to a different level.”

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How did you find the younger players coming through, like Alan Thompson and Jason McAteer? Did the senior pros wind them up?

“Oh yeah, we did.

“Jason McAteer made it public once. He’d only been at the club two minutes. He dragged the ball back, nutmegged me, and ran away. Well, that wasn’t happening again. The next time he tried it, he was put in his place!

“We used to have initiations – lads standing naked on tables, singing songs, while we flicked boiling tea bags at them. The tea urn had six or eight tea bags in it, so they were getting hit with hot tea bags while trying to sing.

One day, Bruce walked in and said, ‘Stop it, this is ridiculous.’ And the initiations ended right there.

“Stubbs had all the ability in the world. Once he stopped playing ‘World Cup’ balls from centre-half to the wings and learned to defend properly, he became a very good player, which his career shows.”

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You can’t comment first-hand on Bruce’s time at Arsenal, but given his tough style, do you think that works at Bolton but not with big characters like Ian Wright?

“Yeah, absolutely.

“It’s well documented. Football was changing. Arsenal had success under George Graham, and then Bruce came in with a different way. It didn’t quite work for him there.”

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Bolton were successful under him. You then moved to Sheffield United and worked with Howard Kendall. What was he like at that stage?

“Fantastic. An honest man. His way was a mix of football and the social side.

“He’d known me since I was 15. One day after training, he dragged me back onto a train and told me I’d been magnificent. Years later, he took me to Sheffield United when they were in the Championship. He said, “I want you to get us out of this league.”

“He trusted you. If you worked for him, he’d be great with you. He was a legend in Magaluf – I don’t think he missed a year between about ’74 and ’97.

“When he finished me at Sheffield United, he was brutally honest. We’d just signed Nicky Henry. On the bus going to Barnsley on a Friday, he sat next to me and said, ‘You’ve done very well for us, son, but now you can go because I’m going to play Nicky Henry.’

“He said he’d pay what they owed me. He didn’t beat around the bush. That was the type of man he was.”

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After working under managers like Bruce and Kendall, what was it like entering coaching and management yourself?

“I enjoyed coaching with Russell Slade as his assistant. But when I tried managing, I wasn’t very good.

“I’m a disciplinarian, but things changed from the 90s onwards. You couldn’t treat young part-time players the way we were treated. You couldn’t be Bobby Saxton.

“I was too set in my ways, couldn’t relate to the younger lads. When you push too far, they stop performing. I tried, but I wasn’t a very good manager.”

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Let’s finish by talking about your book, Old School: A Proper Football Education.  How do you think fans of your old clubs will react to the book?

“It’s frank and honest.

“It’s not just the stats, promotions, and good times. It’s about stories – managers nearly drowning in rivers, dogs attacking each other, fights down tunnels. It’s an honest read.

“For example, playing against Sheffield United, I was running down the left wing, and Kevin Gage punched me. I’m thinking, ‘What the hell was that?’

“Things like that happened. The book covers them all. It’s an easy, honest read, we’re selling plenty, and I’d recommend it to anyone.“